18 Months

Our sweet little boy is no longer a baby, though his sparse hair still gives him a baby look. I haven't thought of him as a baby in a while, but lately it has really struck me how much of a little man he has become. Owen's independence seems to be growing so quickly. His world if filled with boundless energy and curiosity. A lot of time I feel like I'm just trying to keep up.

Owen's 18 Month Milestones:

• Climbing seems to be increasing all the time. Up on chairs, onto the couch, everything. He even manges to figure out how to climb and stand on some of his toys. This seems like such boy behavior to me.
• More words seem to be coming all the time. Loves seeing puppies and saying with exclaimation "Puppy!". He's starting to repeat some words. But what he'll say one day may not come out the next.
• Understands simple directions. My favorite is "Throw the dirty diaper away" and he takes the diaper to the kitchen trash. Of course I caught him putting new diapers in the trash, so I don't think he quite gets that chore is only for the dirties. He is also good about finding his shoes. He'll even bring mommy or daddy's shoes. What a helper!
• Points to some body parts correctly. "Owen, where's your tummy?" results in him lifting up his shirt and pointing to his belly button. It is so cute.
• Shows affection by giving hugs and blowing kisses goodbye.
• Feeds himself, drinks from a cup and uses a spoon and fork without much help.
• His crayon strokes on paper are getting better and better. He used to just tap the crayon and make lots of dots, but he's developing more of a scribble.
• Will sit for a short time and look at pictures in a book and listen a bit to stories. His book attention span isn't very long, but he does best with interactive books or super simple ones with pictures that he can identify.
• Can point to a body part. For example, when you ask "where's your tummy?" your child will point to it.
• Owen is very curious. He likes to grab and move almost anything within reach. Daddy will sometimes let him run around a store which is my worse nightmare because he grabs whatever he can. Yikes.
• Owen loves to build and stack with toys.
• Like to copy what other people do. If mommy is walking down the stairs holding the handrail, he wants to do the same. If Daddy is typing on the computer, he wants to "type" as well.