Updates

I thought I better get some stories and pictures up here for the great Grandmas.

The Superbowl for John was a milestone event. The television was on for 3 hours, and Mommy and Daddy did lots of cheering and yelling.  Almost on a daily basis, John will still point at the TV saying, "go go go tosdow!" and cheer.  He will also do that whenever he sees any sports player in a picture (like a football player we have in another picture frame elsewhere in the house.) His sporty uncles are very proud.

We broke down and got the kid his first real haircut. I had trimmed his bangs a couple times but was at a loss as to what to do about the curls we hoped to keep.  Luckily, we had a really nice experience and his hair is still curly and a lot better shaped than before. And she was fast.  He really didn't even notice she was cutting his hair!  After the haircut we found out the place we went to (kids place) that the arcade games were all free.  If we had known that...we would totally have played them during his haircut...haha...yes, us parents are very grown up!

Is feeding a child always a battle? No matter what stage they are in? Sheesh.  We had a few rough months with dinner time...mostly John barely eating then being starving very early the next morning.  Sometimes he eats a ton, sometimes almost nothing...like toddlers do.  I've found he does best if a few favorites are all out on this segmented plate (oh, what we do to get them to eat!) He does love using a fork or spoon though and is pretty good with both. We will definitely repeat Baby Led Weaning as a feeding method with kid #2.

Our family really loves our sunglasses.

Being silly.  

John is super into books.  And his push-cow toy.  And his play kitchen. And playing outside. But definitely significantly books.  He has several Sandra Boynton books (fellow moms recognize that author immediately) and these books are all particularly linked. On the back cover of each one in the series is a picture of ALL the books in the series...we have like maybe 5 of 8 or so. John will intently study the back cover of one book, looking at all the pictures, then point out which book he has that he wants read next.  I'm hoping to find the rest of the collection...instead of forking over $ for new...I know, cheap mom.  Plus there are several different collection/series, but luckily John is mostly only interested in one so that is the only one I am trying to "complete." LOL.

Pregnancy #2 (oh you didn't know? You didn't read the back of our Christmas card? Don't worry, apparently no one did) is coming along, nearly at the end now.  There have been a lot of challenges with this pregnancy and I am more than happy about being done with it, come May. I won't go into detail because no one wants to WebMD this stuff.  John thinks my big belly is funny but generally won't pay attention to it.  We are trying to teach him to say "Baby" but he will only sign it.   He is quite verbal but not great with annunciation - and doesn't' like repeating "B" words since he can't say that sound.  But he seems to be developing normally (just not verbally advanced!) so we aren't' too worried.  He prefers to call for Daddy almost all the time, which is just fine with me at 6am when we hear from his crib, "All Done. Daddy. Dad-deeee!!!"  Hey Babe...he wants YOU! Ha ha.

I'm planning a St. Patrick's Day supper with one of Zach's local cousins, corned beef, etc and Black and Tan brownies.  Yum!

Other stats I might be interested in remembering later, at 18 months John was 31 inches and 22.5 lbs. Sleeps 7-6++ usually plus a 2ish hour nap. Favorite foods are cereals for breakfast (usually also a waffle because they are fun to make), peas, salmon, potatoes, cheese, yogurt but especially smoothies (hello Sweet Tooth.)

Ok...so we are still alive...thats all I have for now. :)