18 Month Update

We had our 18 month checkup last week.

Here are the stats:
Weight: 29.5 pounds (75-90%)
Length: 34.5 inches (95-97%)

I just learned that I've been incorrectly calling length as height. They mark his length laying down until he is 2, then they measure how tall he is (height) standing up, and the difference is that height is an inch or two less than length, which would explain why at 34 inches of length he is still not tall enough for the 34 inch height requirement at LegoLand.

Zack Stats at 18 months:
-Tooth count: 11, thanks to the 4-teeth-in-one-day experience. (6 @15mo)
-Weight: 29.5 pounds (26 @15mo)
-Length: 34.5 inches (33 @15mo)
-Words:Zack is not a quiet baby, he talks almost all the time. Again, we've lost count of words, but he can understand sentences and commands and can say about less than half of what he understands. His pronunciation has greatly improved and there are words and phrases he can say that sound as clear as that of a regular child's, such as "All Done" which he says when he is finished with his food, and "My-kle" which sounds JUST like "Michael" but means "Motorcycle" (the first time he said it i looked around for a Michael wondering how he new to say it so clearly). He has surprised us by following commands correctly like "Zack, can you run around the fountain?" and "Zack, can you show me where the bee stung you?" He doesn't seem to have any favorite word because in the last week or so he is literally repeating the last word of any sentence he hears, most of them are new words, like "Taco", "Giraffe", "Umbrella" which he can now identify as well. Oh, and we are now correctly saying "Tobey" instead of "Bo-tey". He likes pointing at things and verbally identifying them. At the 18 month checkup our doctor was amazed at his grip on words as he correctly responded to the bee sting question. Zack then started to babble words about some pictures on the door and she said "Oh! he's using expressions!" She said Zack is exhibiting everything that a 2 year old should be doing and that he seems to be absorbing language well so she encouraged us to challenge him by introducing more words, a second language, or music (viewed as a language). I haven't heard him say a complete correct sentence yet but we are close with "Yummy Banana" and " Want to see Meow". He can identify and name his friends and caregivers from daycare "Kayla, Ella, Anna, Gregory" and the latest tough one "Rhiannon." (he also knows all the parts of the face and understands that other people and animals have them. We bumped into a very friendly cat and after saying 'meow, meow', zack proceeded to touch each part 'nose', 'eye' (VERY friendly cat), and 'ear' - he also has a little pig toy that he does the same thing to with the addition of 'tail' and 'feet'-Jen )

Interesting side note: we just started participating in a study at Stanford's center for infant studies that tracks vocabulary development for kids from 18 mo to 3 years. At the end of the study they will present to us a complete list of spoken and understood words by his age. Should be very interesting!

-Special Skills:The gross motor skills of climbing, running, kicking, throwing, dancing are lots of fun. We hardly use a stroller anymore because he prefers to walk. He hasn't started jumping yet, but that may start soon. (Bean bag tackling, however, has become a fun sport. He throws himself into the bean bag screaming with delight and then rolls around until he falls off at which point he laughs and giggles, gets up and does it again. Tobey likes to participate in this as well and sometimes gets clobbered as Zack leaps into the bag on top of Tobey. -Jen) He's really enjoyed swimming and likes to jump in from the edge into the water and into my arms. He can't swim on his own or climb out on his own, but with minimal support he can do it. He kicks well, uses his arms, and can go underwater with great comfort. Reading books is still fun and we've gone to the library. Drumming and dancing to music seems to be a lot of fun and so I'm going to explore some Music Together classes with him instead of Gymboree. We've tried experiments in drawing/painting but he doesn't seem to be an interest for him yet. (Although he does come home from daycare covered in paint from the various activities they do there. -Jen )
-Food:eating mostly people food and starting to have more interest in fruit. He can eat a lot when he wants to. He has been getting better about trying new food. We use a sippy cup for convenience, but he can (and likes to) drink out of an open cup. The challenge has come in throwing food down to the floor when he's done for Tobey to eat. Additionally he like grabbing dogfood and tipping over Tobey's water dish. All that is going to be tough to continue to control. (He also thinks it's fun to put food into his cup of milk when he's done eating but still has energy for playing - another reason we prefer the sippy cup for now-Jen ).
-Naps: Still one a day from 12-2, although he may steal a cat nap in the car occasionally. Bedtime has slipped 30 min to 8pm but he still sleeps through the night until 7:00am , thank goodness! (not much change from 15mo)
-Other notes: we've noticed that in the last week he has started to "pretend" with his toys.
He had two small people toys and marched them onto a toy bridge and and babbled words for them while moving them. His favorite toys are his water table and his Brio train set. He absolutely loves loves loves to play with cars, trains, tractors that are of the Brio size or larger. He also has a large plastic car that he can sit in, and he will entertain himself by packing it up with toys, getting in and closing the door, sitting down at the steering wheel for about 5 seconds, (saying 'beep, beep') and then getting out and unloading. I guess he is imitating the car trips he's gone on. He is now interested enough in TV to sit through an entire episode of sesame street without getting fidgety, (he even laughed at Grover being silly) although we try to limit TV exposure. Also, when he falls down and even bumps his head, he rarely cries or gets upset anymore - I guess he is used to it by now.