18 Months Old

Well, Oliver is almost 19 months old.  So, I think it is time to do an update on our little man.  

Oliver loves playing with Madeline and they usually play really nicely together.  Madeline usually has big plans for how Oliver should play, and he doesn't always go along with it.  But, for the most part, they have lots of fun together.  This morning he laid on his chair while Madeline gave him a checkup with her doctor kit.  He even let her check his eyes while she pried them open with her fingers.  He was happy to play in her "train" in the picture below.  You can also see that he has something around his neck.  I believe it is one of Madeline's headbands.  He loves to put things around his neck, like necklaces, stethoscopes, pretend scissors, toy pliers, basically anything that he can make stay around his neck.

He is happy to watch any cartoon.  But, he gets especially excited about Blues Clues (which he calls "Gues Gues") and Elmo's World (Which he calls either "Melmo, Elmo or Momo").  I think I remember Madeline being obsessed with both of these at this age as well.  When Joe or Steve (on Blue's Clues) sing the Mail song he starts dancing and then wails at the appropriate spot.  (You probably have to watch Blue's Clues to know what I am talking about.)  Oliver is quite the dancer as well.  He loves to shake his hips when he hears music.  

 He can now climb out of his crib.  We spent a week trying to put him back in each time he got out to see if he would just stop.  Nope.  Some days he would finally stay in after about 30 minutes.  Other days it would be 1 1/2 to 2 hours later.  So, a friend offered her crib tent to us and it has been a God send.  No more escaping.  He was pretty funny though when he escaped (when I wasn't in tears).  He would come to his door, open it slowly and then wait for us to come and see him and then run away really fast.  It was definitely a fun game for him.  Sometimes he came with different blankets over his head like he was a ghost or something.  

Oliver loves to accessorize.  He is often seen with purses over his arms.  Or anything that has a strap that can be hung on his arm.  He doesn't care if it is purple or pink or fuzzy or sparkly.  If he can put it on, he is going to wear it.

He also loves putting buckets on his head and neck.  Don't worry he isn't choking and he will scream bloody murder if you try to take them off before he is ready.  

 He loves to color.  He asks by saying something that resembles "ca ca" and draws on his hand with his finger and then gets really excited when we say, "do you want to color?"  He usually ends up eating the crayons.  But, he gets a few marks on his paper. 

He is just starting to talk within this last month.  We were beginning to wonder when he was going to talk.  But, now he seems to be picking up words all the time.  Although he can say "mommy", he still tends to call me "daddy".  Here are some of the things he says.  

-Gu’s Gu’s – Blue’s Clues

-Melmo – Elmo

-Nah nah – Madeline

-Da-ie – daddy

-Ma-mow – mommy

-Pa-Pa - Pawpaw and papa (his 2 favorite people)

-Gi-gi - Gigi

-Nana - Nana

-are you? – Where are you? (This sounds so sweet)

-mooooooo - moon (Usually he yells this over and over when he sees the moon.  There isn't much he gets more excited about.)

-chee – cheese (he says for actual cheese or for the camera)

-ca ca - cracker

-apple-apple

-ap-ple- airplane

-copter – helicopter

-muh muh – milk

-bur- bird

-bye guy – bye bye

-mwah – blowing kisses

-o – when he finds o’s

-bu-ble – bubble

-te – toothepaste, brush teeth

-ni ni – night night

-noo noo - noodles

He loves his milk right now.  It is the first thing he asks for in the morning.  He doesn't eat much else for breakfast.  There isn't much he likes except for Madeline's crust from her butter toast and some smoothie.    I guess his favorite foods would be noodles, green beans and crackers.  It's hard to get him to try much.  If he doesn't want it, he will just not eat it and he is happy to fill up on milk.  And he may be happy to even throw a fit about it.  

He definitely has a strong personality.  When he's mad or upset, you know it.  It usually involves screaming and fit throwing.  But, when he's happy, he is super happy, sweet and snuggly.  I would definitely define him as strong willed.  We have not found any discipline that is effective for him.  He is happy to ask for more.  And he is constantly testing, actually it is more like passing, the boundaries and looking back to see what we are going to do about it.  We are constantly trying to figure out how to make him obey.  So far, prayer is the only thing that works.  And we are certainly praying for God to work on his little heart to mold it, shape it and soften it towards Him.  We pray that one day that strong will, will be bold and strong for Jesus. 

Even though he keeps us on our toes, there is something about him that is so lovable.  I just want to squeeze and hug him all the time and he lets me a lot.  He is funny and already finds out what makes us laugh and does it again to make us laugh more.  We love this little guy to pieces and are so happy he is a part of our family.