18 Months

Oh this kiddo :) Ryan is absolutely full steam ahead these days, and it'd do us well to just realize that it's not ever going to slow down with this one. I regularly refer to Ryan as our "troublesome tot", and the nickname fits him so very well right now. He is absolutely blossoming in every way right now, and has turned into his own little man. He's super independent (unless he's sleepy or hungry, in which case he is ALLLL about his Mama and cannot function without her), and wants to do things his way. He is growing like a weed, and runs everywhere, wagging his little arm back and forth when he goes.

Physical Development

Ryan is growing at the speed of light, it seems! He's solidly into size 2T clothes and pjs, and size 5 diapers, although he comfortably fits into size 6 diapers as well. He is 32 inches tall and weighs 28lbs 6oz.

When Ryan waves, he doesn't wave side to side, but rather up and down like a floppy wet noodle. It's pretty adorable, but hard to capture with a picture :)

He runs all over the place, although he ends up falling a good chunk of the time.

Teething

Ryan still has the same 19 teeth (as you recall, his one bottom one takes the place of two, so he only has 19 instead of 20). We keep thinking that maybe we're working on molars, as we've had some rough nights of sleep and a cranky little dude on occasion, but still nothing to show for it. His other teeth are coming in a lot more pronounced, though, and his cheesy smile shows his two front teeth pretty well. It's adorable :)

Sleep Habits

Does "on Mama" count? This kid is a major mama's boy, and he gladly sleep like a champ right next to me all night long every night. He'd nap there too, if I let him. Every time.

He's not sleeping great, if I'm being completely honest. He's always up at least once in the night, and we've pushed the newborn back into her rock 'n play so that he can join us in bed again, so we all can get some sleep. He DOES go to bed in his own bed, though, and doesn't tend to join us until after midnight. We continue to put him down in his own bed on the offset chance that he'll just sleep through the night, but it has happened exactly once in 4 months, so we're not holding our breath.

On the weekends, he and Kinsley end up usually napping at the same time, and usually both of them will be napping on me, which I don't mind at all, as long as I don't have to pee lol

In order to fall asleep, he has to be sucking on his two fingers of his left hand while twirling my hair with his right ;) Those two fingers are going to be such a problem for us in a year or two :(

Speech Development

Ryan is just starting to really pick up more words going into this month. While he started his second year with a solid grasp on "Mama", he now has that down pat, plus "Dada", "Pa" (for Grandpa), "Yeah", "Nah", "No", "Down down down" (to get out of his high chair), "Woof woof woof" for the sound a dog makes, "Dis", "Dat", and probably a few others I can't think of right now. It won't be long before this kid is jabbering nonstop!

He makes this sort of hissing sound when he doesn't know a word but is interested in something, which is accompanied by this look. I don't really know why he likes to make that sound so often, but he has done it since he was a baby, so it's just one of his things.

Eating

Ryan is a pretty decent eater overall, but he has his days. He's very opinionated about what he will and won't eat, and if it's one of those things he won't eat, it'll end up on the floor. He likes to eat with utensils these days. It can be frustrating for people to try to feed him who don't know these little quirks, because he might be cranky because he's hungry, but you gave him the wrong thing to eat, so he's now hungry and mad because he wants something else but can't tell you what he really wants. Or...you might have gotten the food right, but forgot to give him a fork and spoon, and therefore he can't eat it, even though he wants to and even though he's ravenous.

We have, however, managed to do well with getting him to say "done done done!" when he's ready to be finished, but I have to remind him a lot, and Mark isn't good at reinforcing it, and we haven't told them at daycare to do that either, so...sometimes he forgets.

Toddler Behaviors and Discipline

This kid has hit the tantrummy toddler stage hard already. We've got everything from flailing limbs to huge crocodile tears to screaming to just about everything else you can think of. I'm mostly used to it by now, but being in the thick of it for the third time, I can just say that I'm really weary of this stage of development. I'd like to say I do my very best to avoid them like the plague (i.e. make sure he gets solid naps, eats enough, and things are pretty level), but who am I kidding: We've got 4 kids, including a newborn. We see his tantrums more than we'd like to.

But really, the kid is mostly happy most of the time. We find him laughing way more than we find him crying. However, we do have the whining, simply because it's hard to know exactly what he wants with such a limited vocabulary at this time.

As far as discipline...we're mostly sticking with re-direction at this time, but if he's being dangerous (i.e. kicking at his baby sister), we'll give him a little swat on the leg, and we get the face above for a minute or two, and then he'll stop. Since every kid is different, we're hoping that time outs are MUCH more effective for this kid than they ever have been for his big brothers. We'll be heading into that territory soon!

Likes

• Being one of the big kids ;)
  
• Being a big brother
  
• Checking stuff out with his Daddy :)
  
• Being sweet to his baby sister. He LOVES her. ADORES her. Wants to kiss her every 2 seconds and hold her hand :)
  
• His big brother Kendrick
  
• Leading the pack
  
• Corn on the cob
  
• His big brother Cashel :)
  
• Sucking on his fingers and playing with Mama's hair :)
  
• Riding in the Tula
  
  
• Being part of the fam :)
  
  
• Dancing like a WILD MAN! (I SO wish I'd taken a video by now - I've GOT to capture it because it's adorable)

Dislikes

• Being told "no"
  
• Being constrained when he's got places to go and people to see lol
  
• Having his diaper and/or clothes changed.
  
• The "changing of the guards" at the church nursery. However, this is a huge improvement from the crocodile tears and wailing until we got back when we left him during Sunday School.
• Not being able to come up on Mama's lap with Kinsley.
• Not getting to do what the big kids are doing.