barberic wife: 18 months old!

Cooper is now 18 months old (+ a week) and had a great check-up at the doctor today! He weighs 26 lbs, 13 ounces (almost 82%) and is 33 1/4 inches (75%). I know I've said this for the past 6 months, but we no longer have a little guy...we have an active and growing toddler! I think this is the first time that he has already been wearing the clothing size for his age by the time he gets to it (used to be a few months afterwards). He started wearing 18 month clothes around Christmas and those are still mostly fitting great.

Cooper has become quite the talker! I'm impressed with his vocab and couldn't even begin to name or count all the words he knows. He knows some of: his friends' names, shapes, body parts, food, songs, animals and sounds they make, objects, etc. He is beginning to string together multiple words and one of my favorites is after someone sneezes and he says, "blushyou" (bless you) in a voice that is deeper than any other time he talks. I also love when he says, "guut" (goat) and "I jopped it" (I dropped it). He is getting better about saying words all the way, although he still says "ehh" for egg. It's funny though because some words he can pronounce so clear, like "El-la" (Ella).

We have had a few rough nights with sleep lately. I'm not sure what is waking him up or why he isn't settling back down, even though he's clearly tired. We had 3 nights in about a span of 8 days where he was crying and standing in his crib and it was hard to get him back down (even after he fell asleep or with a couple hours passing). Hopefully it was just from traveling and adjusting back to routine.

He is still a great eater. His new favorite thing is using a fork at every meal. (And he is very persistent about getting his "fork" which often just sounds like we have a cussing toddler). He is getting better at using it effectively, even on foods that don't require a fork, like bananas.

Cooper is getting better at climbing and getting up on things. It's been hard for him because he wants to stick his whole foot on something and step, rather than using his knee and pulling up. His height is right at the point that he can use his foot and sometimes get up and he's improving on using his knee and pulling up. He is starting to love climbing up on the couch and sitting there like a big kid.

We bought a potty chair a few days ago thinking that we might start letting him sit on it some. He has started to tell us "I poo poo" when he's pooped, but it's either when he is going or after the fact (never in advance). I think it will still be a while before we potty train, but maybe he can start getting used to the idea. He has also said "I poo poo" when he toots, so still some learning to do about figuring out the difference.

We have had a few battles, that shouldn't even be battles...like taking off our coat to get in the car seat (this has become a huge deal--being so upset to take it off) and sitting in a high chair at a restaurant (throws a fit and wants to sit in our lap). He is also continuing to test boundaries and see if the rules are still the rules.

Some recent pictures:

Loves climbing stairs (like this night where went to expend some energy at the mall and he spent 20 min at this staircase)