Eighteen Months!

Dillan has grown so much since his last checkup - he is now a very busy, very active, very verbal eighteen month-old!  The last few months have been by far the most accelerated in terms of growth and development. Someone told me that this period is called 'Language explosion' and boy, is that right!  A few months ago, Dillan could say a few words here and there, but when we tried to teach him new words, he would mainly stare blankly back.  Now, he is learning at least one or two new words or sounds every day!  We are totally enjoying this really fun age, as he learns to communicate so much more effectively with us now.  As expected, he is also becoming Mr. Independent, and wants to do everything 'his' way, resulting in some pretty interesting battle of wills at the Mah household.  We are learning more about the disciplining and boundary-enforcing part of parenting these days!  At eighteen months, Dillan is:

- 25 lbs 7 oz and 33" tall
- saying a TON of new words:  moon, football, star, teacher, turtle, juice, josh, yellow, no, bible, and many others
- loves making animal sounds - funny how many versions of 'rar' he can make for different animals
- nods head yes and no
- starting to learn his alphabet - his favorites:  A, Y and B
- learning his colors - thinks everything is lell-o (yellow) at the moment
- loves playing with balls - kicking, throwing, hitting with a play golf club, etc
- starting to get picky with food, but still eating lots
- getting introduced to potty training (still a long ways away, but it's a start!)
- enjoys dancing and bopping head to music
- started Mother's Day Out 2 days a week
- LOVES watching football with Daddy
- self-feeding with a spoon
- enjoys scribbling and decorating papers (and people) with stickers
- favorite toys: trains, blocks, gears, stackable cups
- favorite books:  anything with elmo, Goodnight Bible, Noah's Ark, Monkey pop-up book

'Doctor' Dillan at his checkup


Cuddling with Grandpa



Getting into trouble in Grandma's kitchen


Balloons!




Clowning around