Month Eighteen

– 9.2kgs and 73 cms tall. (Or not so tall!)
– Size 4 shoes.  He is tiny!  He is even smaller than Ellie at this age. Although his feet are bigger.  I do not know how to fatten him up – SEND ALL THE ADVICE PLEASE!
– Has all but four teeth, and two are well on their way.  Strangely, everything has come through except for the four canine teeth. He loves brushing them, with whoever’s toothbrush he can get a hold of.
– Has started really running around and just being a child of mass destruction really.  Which is TOPS for me.  REALLY.  I love seeing what I have in every single cupboard in every single room of the house on a daily basis!
– I’ve considered cutting his hair this month, BUT I’m not ready yet.  He looks like a little surfer dude with his blonde curls and blue eyes and his boardies that are always too big for him, it would break my heart to lose those many, many curls. He doesn’t seem to run hot like Juddy did, he has no fat to keep him warm, so I can’t find a reason to cut it. Everyone I speak to is all ‘please don’t cut it’ and making me feel better about that. However, his hair is really, really long and some days it has a real Farrah Fawcett look to it.  I’m sure he is going to give me grief when he is older as to why it took me so long to cut it.
– The personality has really, really come through these last two months.  He is a crack up and he loves laughing and making people laugh.  He loves to mess around and be cheeky.  The faces he pulls, I just can’t even explain –  Lord help me this time next year and beyond. What is cute now I KNOW will be very difficult later.  I KNOW BECAUSE I HAVE LIVED IT 😳😳 But hopefully I will be able to remember him at this age because it is the cutest time. A little mischievous clown this one who makes all of us laugh so hard.
– The talking is hilarious, he will tell me that he ‘dropped it over there’ and insists on saying ‘Tank you’ and ‘Peas!’ instead of Ta.  He really loves talking on the phone and his conversations of jibberish are sweet.  I mean, he said ‘Happy Birthday GrandPop’ last month.  He will say ‘it hurts, ouch’  The kids likes to chat.
– Loves the bath and the shower, HATES the pool and the beach. 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️
– Has started pretending to pee like Judd does in the toilet.  And off the side of the deck.  And on the trees in the backyard. At this rate he will be toilet trained before Eloise.
– The separation anxiety has been brutal over the past fortnight.  He screams the minute he cannot see me, or touch me or be as close to me as humanly possible.  Right on time for an 18 month old I guess, although I’ve not known kids to have separation anxiety quite like mine.
– Because the separation anxiety was so bad and he was insisting on sleeping with us and generally deciding that he had to be lying on top of my head and using his legs to kick Mark in the head all night long, Mark spent a few nights up with him to sleep train him. He is now down to a morning and night feed, and is generally sleeping through. If he continues this well we will try to drop the night feed in a week or so. I’ve been really proud of how well he has done, especially as the last time I tried he went on a food strike and I got mastitis. This is leaps and bounds.

– We even took a short trip to Dunsborough this month, just before Christmas, and he loved it. Was a star for the car trip, which let’s be honest, cars and long trips with kids are a bit 😫😫 but he went well and was so excited to see his own port a cot at the hotel. Port a cots are not our favourite thing; Mark and I tend to avoid them, but this one was ok and he seemed comfortable for the short time he was in it.
– Loves to dust and vaccuum.
– Loves pizza.  And Kinder Surprises.  Kinder Surprises are life.  And popcorn.  Otherwise, he is #cleaneating all the way.
– Sings along in the car with the kids.  Particularly likes Moana and the new Beauty and the Beast soundtrack.  All the kids really like the Mob Song and Smith sings ‘Kill the Beast!’ Loudly. Seriously, 🤦🏼‍♀️ *face palm*.  He really loves to dance to music, ads, Happy Birthday. And he’ll cheer on anyone on the TV, he loves to get involved.
– We’ve found he has the strange natural way of playing the piano, and I’m wondering how early to start lessons.  Haha, like every proud Mum, I think he’s a genius, I know it sounds very weird but I guess you’ve got t see him in action. 😂 i’m sure a piano player would say ‘uhhhh no.’

– Is our toughest cookie yet, he is extremely good with pain and just seems to shake it off. Even getting his needles, Ellie was more upset then he was, she was distraught that he was in pain momentarily. A little legend this kid. And with an older brother who never stops and an older sister who just wants to shower him with love, it’s for the best.

Month Seventeen