Jack: 18 months

Sleep

Jack is definitely a good sleeper!  He goes down between 7 and 7:30 and will sleep 12 hours.  We try to put him down for a nap around 1:30 or 2 and he will sleep 1.5-2 hours!  And when he wakes up - watch out, world!  He is refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to rock!  He also is not the type of kid that has to be out of the crib and up the minute his eyes open - he will lay in there and play and laugh and have a big time!

Eating

So this has been an interesting situation lately.  It is definitely an all or nothing type thing, and I think a lot of it has to do with teething.  It seems that one day, he will be obsessed with eating and cannot get enough, and then the next day he throws everything on the floor and only wants to drink milk.  He actually didn't gain any weight between his 12 and 15 month appointments (the pediatrician wasn't worried since he is also extremely active) - we just started really pushing the milk and things took care of itself (he gained 2 pounds between his 15 and 18 month appointment)!  Actually, tonight he ate pork tenderloin, bananas, cranberry sauce, and rolls - but yesterday, almost everything went on the floor (which Sadie loved)!  He loves little muffins or mini pancakes for breakfast, and then he loves chicken fingers, mac and cheese, cheese quesadillas, grilled cheese...I see a very cheesey trend :)  He also loves fruit - blueberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, grapes, bananas, strawberries.  We are trying to do a good job making sure he is learning how to use a fork and spoon - and he does a pretty good job most of the time.

Weight

He was 25 pounds, 5 ounces (25-50th percentile)!

Length

He was 34.75 inches (50-75th percentile)!

Size Clothes

He is wearing a few 18 month things and then some 24 month things!  He is in 24 month jammies for sure, and I need to transition his clothes to the 24 month clothes.  I can definitely tell his 18 month clothes are starting to get snug.

Size Diapers

We just switched to size 5 diapers!

Hair color

His hair is a little darker than Katie's - maybe a dirty blonde/light brown!  And he has enough to wear we have to brush it in the mornings and after naptime!

Eye color

He has blue eyes!  But the very middle sort of looks hazel-ish or green-ish!  Very pretty eyes!

Teeth

As of now, he has 12 teeth!  He had the bottom molars cut through around December 16 and then the bottom teeth on either side of the front teeth cut through around December 23.  He means business when he is teething!  Whew!

Looking Like

He definitely has different "looks" - but people often comment how much Katie and Jack look alike - as in, you can totally tell they are siblings!  Jack sometimes looks like Brad's dad, and Brad too.  And my dad's parents swear that he is a spitting image of my dad at this age!

Nicknames

Jackadoodle, The Dude, Broski, Jacky Wacky

Favorite toy

Jack loves any kind of big, snuggly stuffed animal!  He also has really gotten into cars (which is good because he got a lot of car stuff for Christmas)!  And when we are home, Sadie is one of his favorite things to play with - he snuggles with her, sits with her, climbs over her, pounces on her...it sure is a good thing she is a patient dog!  He also likes to play with the kitchen and push the grocery cart.  He got several Little People toys for Christmas - and I think the Noah's Ark one is his favorite :)  He also likes any kid of ball - and throwing it.  He throws the ball with his left hand pretty frequently, and when he colors, he favors the left hand most of the time.  I guess we will see what happens there!  He also loves Weebles, Daniel Tiger, and Elmo!

Favorite Book

He loves the Moo, Baa, La La La book by Sandra Boynton!  He finally, over the last few months, has taken to books.  Downstairs, he always goes for the pumpkin book he has!

Firsts

Over the last few months, Jack started mother's day out, which he loves!  His teachers are fabulous and he really likes to play with his friends!

Talking/Words/Sounds

He probably has 20 or more words that he says.  He still points and squeals or grunts when he gets excited, but he does have some words that he says.  I made a list before his 18 month appointment and here are a few of the ones I came up with:

mama

dada

Sadie

Sis

Katie

ball

bear

beep

doggy

hi

bye

pumpkin

book

birdy

woof

cheese

please (sounds like cheese)

Elmo (sounds like bee bee)

baby

uh-uh (to say no)

Anything else?

 Jack is still all over the place and full of energy, but I can definitely tell that he has some focus!  He loves to play with Katie - she really is his best friend I think!  We were in Target this morning and all of a sudden I look down and he is hugging Katie and patting her on the back (in a loving way)!  It is so fun to see them interact and to see how sweet and loving Katie is to her brother!  Jack has such a sweet, funny personality - he is rough and tumble and then will come and snuggle.

And here are a few pictures from just before Jack started mother's day out up until just a couple of days ago!