18 Months

At 18-months, Ben is full of energy, life, an curiosity. Although he is at times stubborn, angry and strong-willed, he can also be oh-so-sweet, precious and adorable. We love this little guy more and more every day!

Ben rarely sits still and is into everything. He likes to try on Kevin's or my shoes and walk around the house in them. He also likes to go around closing all the doors and occasionally we find him stuck in another room since he can't get them open yet! He loves taking all the pots and pans out of the kitchen cabinets, especially when I'm working in the kitchen which always makes for an interesting obstacle course for me. :) Although he plays with his toys a fair amount, he is usually drawn to non-toy items to play with (i.e. water bottles, Daddy's cell phone, boxes, computer mouse, VHS tapes, anything left on the kitchen table, etc). Abby usually left most household things alone at this stage, so it is quite the learning experience having Ben getting into everything (including grabbing my glasses off the table and breaking them - twice.). Oh, and as of this week, he can open the refrigerator by himself, which is fine when he is just getting his milk cup out but not-so-fine when I find him taking out the contents and spreading them on the kitchen floor!

His speaking abilities are far behind Abby's at this stage. He says probably 20 or 30 words and can repeat many more if you ask him to, but he only uses a few on a regular basis and his pronunciation is not the best on the rest (Mama, Dada, sister, light, bite, please and all done are probably used the most). Comparatively, Abby was using subject and verbs together already, had a vocabulary of well over several hundred words, an could identify by word several colors and letters (I'm glad I blogged about it here, or else I would have a hard time believing the difference!). At times I forget that Ben probably understands just about as much as Abby did at this age, but that he simply can't express himself as well. When he follows somewhat complex directions perfectly or points to something we're talking about that I didn't even know he understood, I then realize there is a whole lot more going on in his brain than we can see! It will be nice when he can talk better though! But for now, we get a kick out him calling every kind of drink "milk," find it silly that when he wants to be picked up he will say "bup" or "mup," and there's just about nothing as cute as his enthusiastic "Bye-EEE!"

Ben is still my picky little eater. He does not have a very large appetite to begin with, but sometimes his pickiness leads him to eat only a few bites at a meal and makes for a very fussy boy afterward. Many people have told me, "Don't worry about it; he'll eat when he needs to eat." But his attitude and behavior following a meal in which he eats well compared to one in which he refuses all offered foods is very different and causes me frustration. Currently, he does love many fruits (Bartlett pears, bananas and strawberries being some of his favorites), but he won't eat any vegetables and he rarely will eat main dishes that I make. And it's nearly always a mystery of what he will like one day from the next. For instance, sometimes he'll just gobble something down (like a potato and ham casserole I made the other night), and then refuse it altogether the next couple days.

I still occasionally find him sleeping in the adorable bottom-up-in-air position. :)

From day one, Ben has had issues with waking up from naps or nighttime in a happy mood. When he was younger, he was completely inconsolable upon waking until I would nurse him. After he weaned, he would usually cry for 20-30 minutes after every waking. He would want up, then down, held/not held, drink/no drink - it was like he couldn't figure out what he wanted and nothing we did would help. As he's gotten older, the amount of time that he's upset has lessened (sometimes to only a few minutes), but we've also resorted to a few tricks. In the morning, Kevin usually gets up with Ben and puts a short video on. We've also found that incorporating his obsession with lights into a get-up routine has helped. For quite some time, before bedtime, Kevin or I would walk around the house with Ben turning off all the lights. More recently, we started turning on all the lights when Ben wakes up (especially the three lamps in the living room). This has given Ben something to look forward to when he wakes up (usually the first word out of his mouth is "light!") and usually helps to take the edge off his fussiness. Oh, and he also LOVES his blanket as you can see in the picture above. He definitely has to have that with him for awhile after he wakes up too. :)

One of Ben's favorite activities is driving. He LOVES to pretend to drive and actually throws temper-tantrums about getting to go sit in Daddy's pick-up or Mommy's car to "drive" for awhile. At least we can now work in the garage at times other than just when the kids are napping, because Benny is perfectly content to sit in my car inside the garage for as long as we'll let him (we've done it up to an hour!) while we work nearby.

As a final thought about this stage, we have really enjoyed Ben's growing cuddliness and loving. He has never been much of a cuddler, but over the last few months the hugs, kisses and quick cuddling have definitely increased. We love it! Sometimes, I'll spontaneously tell Ben, "I love you," and he'll come over and give me a big kiss back. Nothing beats sweet, slobbery kisses from a sweet little boy (or girl :)!