Carson Anthony: 18 Months

Carson is 18 months...officially a year and a half!  I think I'm going to be one of those moms who uses months instead of years for way too long.  Oh hi, this is my son, he's 48 months!  Haha!

Carson had his 18 month well visit on 11/20 and he weighed in at 26lbs (53rd percentile) and was 32.5" tall (42nd percentile)!  His Daddy even surprised us by meeting us at the doctor.  I'm so glad because Carson is a handful once we get back to the room and have to wait for the doctor!  There is so much to get into and so much to climb on!

  

What Carson Loves Right Now: 

-Carson loves books!  He's always loved books but within the past month it's one of the most popular "activities" in his playroom.  He loves to bring me a book and sit on my lap while I read it to him.  He does a great job of pointing things out and turning the pages for me.  His current favorite book is one of the books we read before bed each night, Say Goodnight.  It's a very short and simple book but he LOVES it!  We usually read it at least 5 times in a row...no joke!

-Carson loves his shape sorters.  He has two different shape sorters and they've really helped him to learn his shapes!  He loves his elephant shape sorter and his animal park shape sorter {clickable links!}, both made by Infantino.

-Carson STILL loves balls.  I don't think this love will ever fade.  :)  It's hard to find a place in my life that hasn't been overtaken with balls.  I think we have 4-5 in my car right now and he always leaves them in multiple rooms of the house!  He has been practicing playing catch with his Daddy with a soft football and he's getting really good!  He also loves kicking balls around and playing "soccer".

-Carson loves playing peek-a-boo!  If I cover my face with my hands he will cover his face and say "gone"!  He also loves hiding behind the curtains and popping out.

-Carson also loves his LeapFrog Letter Factory Phonics {clickable link}.  I originally ordered this when I saw a great price and wanted to save it for Christmas but my husband INSISTED we give it to him early.  Ok, you don't have to twist my arm!  Carson is obsessed.  The songs are pretty repetitive but he loves it and he also loves just playing with the letter tiles.  I still wish they made the fridge phonics though.  :(

Carson LOVES reading.  He gets pretty into his books and this is one of his favorites:

-Carson's favorite foods haven't changed a ton.  He still loves peanut butter sandwiches (I think he could live on those), bananas (plus most other fruit), and applesauce!  He also loves pancakes and waffles for breakfast.  He loves pretty much any kind of snack - nutrigrain bars, graham crackers, puffs, goldfish crackers, etc.  He's a snacker!

What I Love Right Now: I'm loving that Carson can play independently but also loves for Mommy and Daddy to be close by.  He loves bringing toys over to play with me and like I mentioned above, he loves reading books while sitting in my lap.  He loves to hold our hands and walk with us which melts my heart EVERY time!  I'm loving that he waves to absolutely everyone (even when they are totally turned the opposite way).  He loves making people laugh and smile and his smile is contagious!  I'm loving that he's getting into that random toddler stage where he gets attached to strange items.  Lately he loves getting into our pantry and getting out a particular box of fruit snacks.  He'll carry it around the house forever and take the snack pouches out of the box and put them back in.  Sometimes he'll hand the pouches out to whoever is at our house and then come back around and collect them!  

Here's a short video of Carson practicing some of his shapes:

Some of our Biggest Struggles: For a while, Carson was throwing little "tantrums" when he couldn't figure something out.  I think his lack of speech can be frustrating for both of us!  If he was trying to do something and couldn't do it on his own, he would start screeching...loudly!  We decided to ignore this behavior and when the screeching subsided we would gently ask if he needed help.  Now he has learned to sign (and make a noise) for help and it's so much better!  I also struggle with Carson's picky appetite.  There are some foods that he LOVES but it's so hard to get him to eat vegetables!  Luckily he'll still eat the pouches and veggie burgers.  I've tried to get him to eat what we're eating but usually he doesn't seem to care for much of it.

Exciting Milestones & Physical Changes: Carson has added some more words this month including "yea" (quite often with a head nod) and "mm-mm-bah" which is how he says 'apple'.  It took me a while to figure out he was saying apple but I'm sure now that it's definitely his way of saying the word!  Our pediatrician cracked up when we told her and had him say it!

Carson also added another tooth this month - a lower lateral incisor!  Now he finally has more than 2 teeth on the bottom front!

18 Month Word List:

• "all gone"/"gone" (always with upturned hands and a shrug)
• "done" He hasn't been using this word anymore, he usually just says "gone"
• "up" (sometimes sounds like "uhhhh")
• "Mama" He has said this in the past, but it's not consistent enough to make the list!
• "Dada"
• "daw" (dog)
• "bird"
• "book"
• "ball"
• "vroom vroom"
• "duck"
• "wawa" (water)
• "shoooos" (shoes)
• "puh" (pillow)
• "tuh" (truck)
• "trsssh" (trash)
• "mm-bah" (apple)  Not sure where he got that pronunciation!
• "yea"
• "boo!" (are you surprised he learned this around Halloween?!)
• "whoa!"

**The last 4 words on our list are new this month! 

Animal Sounds (7): Cow, Elephant, Pig, Fish, Duck (although it doesn't sound like a quack...more like "duck! duck! duck!"), Sheep, and Chicken (which really sounds like he's clearing his throat for some odd reason!)
*We've been practicing tiger, but he doesn't quite have it yet!

Body Parts He Can Identify (16): Head, Hair, Ears, Eyes, Nose, Cheeks, Mouth, Tongue, Hands, Fingers, Feet, Toes, Tummy, Belly Button, Knees, Shoulders.  

Signs Carson Uses: eat, more, milk, all gone, help
*We haven't been teaching new signs since he's starting to verbalize more!

Things We're Looking Forward To: I'm excited to take another special vacation with Carson and his friend Hallie!  We went to Florida with Hallie and her family back in April and this time we're headed back to Florida to visit Fort Lauderdale!  I feel very fortunate that we're able to take nice trips and make memories together.  I can't wait to see what the kids think!  Here is a pic from last April when they were about 11 months: