18 Months! (20 months, really...)

(this is the face he made when I asked him to smile for the camera...)

I'm a little behind on updating for Chase, but it's been a bit busy these past two months...anyway:

Chase was 18 months on November 21st.  At his doctor's appointment, his stats were as follows:

weight - 21 lbs 4 oz - 5%
length - 32.5 in - 50%
head circumference - 46.5 cm - 10-25%

(we really do try to feed him a lot, though it doesn't look like it...)

He is so much fun at this age.  He's still not quite intelligible unless I know what he's trying to say, but he is getting better at actually trying to say things.  He loves dancing to music, but usually wants to be held while Buddy or I dance around.  That was getting pretty exhausting when I was 9 months pregnant.  Not sure why he loves dancing so much (it sure doesn't come from Buddy or I), but it's really cute how excited he gets.

(Chase playing with one of his new toys lately.  I haven't told him that it's bad luck to open an umbrella inside...wait, is that really a thing?  I thought someone in middle school told me it was bad luck, but now I can't remember...)

He's starting to show his personality more, too.  He's a little imp with the things he thinks are funny.  Like when Mommy and Daddy say "no", or when we make throw-up noises (I have no idea why this is funny to him).  He loves to direct people to do what he wants, too-I think I have a video of this somewhere.  He'll start dancing or drumming or spinning and then point at everyone in the room individually to make them join in, too.

(Daddy and Chase with beards)

(this is him directing us to join him drumming on the plastic tubs)

He still loves baby einstein, and will take any opportunity to watch it.  He loves being on the computer for that reason (we watch most of our baby einstein on youtube), for youtube videos of just dance 3, and for some online games at pbs.org and fungooms.com.

(yes, he can fit a record number of straws in his mouth.  His mouth is surprisingly large :) )

I think it's partly due to baby einstein, but he is really good at knowing his shapes, and can do puzzles of simple shapes pretty easily.  He has a melissa and doug wooden shape puzzle that says the shape when you put it in its spot. It's really cute to hear him try to repeat the names of the shapes--especially "octagon"("op-a-guh"), "diamond"("bun-dah"), or "circle" ("gir-cuh").

One thing I think is pretty cool is that he can recognize a few words when we write them out in all caps.  He knows DAD, MOM, CHASE, NANA, and POP POP.  We tried to get him to learn MASON, but he hasn't quite gotten it yet.  Since he pretty much knows all of his shapes, we've been working on the ABC's, numbers and colors.  I bet he knows more than we think, but he doesn't talk well enough yet to show it :)

He had a bit of an adjustment the first few weeks, but Chase is turning out to be a great big brother.  For the most part he ignores Mason, but he asks more and more often to hold him, and he's great at giving Mason his binky, or has even tried to help wipe his eye (the one with the clogged tear duct).  I'm sure they'll be great friends in a year or so.