Patrick at 18 Months

How is my little man a year and a half old already?!!  Seriously.  As I was looking at Timehop this weekend it was showing me all of his 6 month pictures...and now, I'm sitting here blogging about how he is 18 months old!  Time, you are officially going too fast.

"I weigh HOW MUCH?!!"

Although this post is a day late, I wanted to delay it till after we went earlier today for his 18 month check up so I could include all of those fun-filled official stats for your viewing pleasure.

Patrick is 29 pounds and 2.2 ounces and is in the 95th percentile for weight.  He's 34 inches long and in the 93rd percentile.  His noggin clocked in at 19 1/4th inches and in the 87th percentile.  Yeah, keeping consistent my little chunk--dude is a solid rock.  I'd expect nothing less.  And everyone who said he'd 'thin out' and plateau when he started walking, I call your bluff.  He's like 5+ pounds up from that weight!

Here are a few milestones and tid bits that Patrick has recently?? achieved...or I guess since he was 15 months old.  Enjoy.

• Little dude is rocking 2T pants and 3T tops.  Some of his 2T pants are a bit snug, but the 3T ones are sooooo long we just kinda squish him in the 2T ones.  He wears a size 6 shoe, but I think he's actually more of a 7, because we've really had to sausage his foot (he does have gigantically fat feet though) in his shoes recently.  Now that it's gotten colder he pretty much lives in pants and long sleeve shirts or jackets, which are adorable until I have to shed so.many.layers. to change his diaper.  So at home most of the time he just runs around in his diaper...and maybe a shirt too if we're feeling like getting that dressed for the day.
• He has 1 speed: FAST.  He runs EVERYWHERE.  He does not walk.  He does not slow down.  He has earned the nickname Hurricane Patrick because, well, he is.  Every.single.toy. in his room, the family room, or basement are instantly pulled out and strewn about about 3 seconds after he gets in there.  He plays with said toys for about .2 seconds and then moves on and destroys something else.
• Thank the good Lord above that Hurricane Patrick is still an amazing sleeper.  He goes down for bed each night between 8-9pm, and sleeps till 8-9am the next day.  He usually takes a 2-4 hour name around 1pm every day, so that's lovely too.  And he goes down for naps and bedtime amazingly well--we put him in there wide awake, and he'll talk or play with the thousand stuffed animals in there for a bit, then fall asleep.  He loves his crib and loves being in there--I am SO VERY thankful.  Side note: the plan is to move him into a new room/big boy bunk beds the spring when #2 comes...however, if he's not ready for that, I'm not pushing it.  We'll go buy another crib for the mean time if we have to!  I don't want to do anything to destroy that boy's amazing sleeping habits.
• Patrick still has 16 teeth...the same he had at 15 months.  Next ones up are another set of molars, which I'm sure will pop up anytime, since he seems to get his teeth early.  Lately he loves chewing on his fingers (aka reverting back to 4 months old) and it's quite gross when he pulls out his slobber filled hand and wants to hold mine.  Ewwww.
• He talks UP A STORM.  Mostly in Patrick language.  He's mastered a few words: mom, dad, tank you (thank you), tooter (Scooter), peeas (please), uh-oh, oh-no, bamsa (grandpa), bams (gramps), and I'm sure a few others.  He will mimic almost any words we say, but most of them don't sound anywhere close to what they should sound like :)  He basically does this awful sounding "uh uh uh uh uh" whine when he wants something and can't say it...like he'll go stand next to the basement door and just whine and point and hold the doorknob cause he wants to go downstairs.  I'm glad he can tell us (physically) what he wants now but I'll be soooo happy when the whining is done and he can actually say it (cause then he can verbalize temper tantrums! yay!)
• He has started to whine and cry when he doesn't get his way (aka drop everything to go play downstairs).  This is where I'm no 'mom of the year'--I don't give in.  We try and distract him by offering him other things to do instead, but I refuse to bribe him or give into his whining and crying.  He's done this at stores and restaurants too, and I'm sorry to my fellow patrons, but I'm not going to be that mom that gives in to her kid just cause we're out in public.  I'll sacrifice people's ears for a few seconds now to instill skills (aka you don't get what you want just cause you throw a fit) that will last the rest of his life.  I'm going to try and keep a stone fist with this, because, I know he's little, but he's got to realize that just because he whines and cries doesn't mean that'll get him what he wants.
• He definitely understands A LOT.  Geez, probably a lot more than we think he does!  He can follow simple directions (come here, go get that, pick that up, etc...) but he's also mastered ignoring directions that he doesn't want to do (go pick up your toys, come here let's put your PJs on, etc...)--shocker right there.  He's learning where different body parts are (eyes, nose, elbow, etc...) and I'm sure will begin mimicking pointing to where they are.  He definitely is strong-willed and stubborn--if he doesn't want to do something, he's not going to do it.  Fantastic.
• He still LOVES Scooter.  He especially loves tackling Scooter and giving him hugs (go check out the adorable hugs he gave him on Halloween over here).  Scooter is not a fan of this and quickly runs away as fast as he can.  He'll even growl or snip (rightfully so, Patrick is abusing him!) at Patrick and Patrick just giggles.  But they are best friends, because Scooter will come snuggle up to him when he's sitting on the couch, or obediently sit beside his high chair waiting for food to drop when he eats.  They definitely have a brotherly love-hate relationship, and it's adorable.
• Can walk up/down stairs if he's holding onto a railing or someone's hand.  Can also crawl up and down them as well--this is something he only recently mastered, because he hasn't had much practice (we only have the stairs in our basement going down and we don't go down there too often).
• Has become obsessed with the basement.  He LOVES it down there (primarily going up/down the stairs) and loves his slide and ballpit.  He also likes cruising around in his police car in the basement as well.  I love that he loves it down there because it will definitely be the kid's playroom/hangout in years to come.
• Still sucks his thumb, and is absolutely obsessed with his 'nappy' (prefold cloth diaper "blankie").  He has to have his nappy in the car and for nap/bedtime.  However, if you give him one at any other time, his thumb will instantly go in his mouth and he'll just cuddle his nappy.  Thankfully he isn't attached to just one, so we rotate and wash the ones we have frequently.  He also loves Walter still, and I've already bought a replacement for if/when he loses the one he has, and then ones to keep at both of the grandparents' houses.
• Loves EVERYONE.  Seriously.  He definitely knows who his mama and daddy are, but is happy and content with just about anyone, especially his grandparents and aunts and uncles.  I'm very glad he doesn't have crazy attachment issues and is good with really whoever is watching him.
• Still has the attention span of a gnat, but I think it's getting better.  He is Hurricane Patrick, after all, and Hurricanes do not like to stay still.  I'm hoping he downgrades to a tropical storm soon so we could actually get through reading an entire book or heck, an entire TV show.
• Doesn't really have a keen interest in TV.  He'll watch it for a couple minutes, then move on.  Although he does like cartoons, and does seem to like Dinosaur Train and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  I will plop him in his crib sometimes when I need to take a shower and get dressed and don't want him 'helping' me with that, and I'll turn on Toy Story or Finding Nemo and he does like those movies too.  I'm not upset that he isn't fixated on TV, but boy, sometimes it would be nice to know that I could glue him to the TV for a bit to get some stuff done.

So that's about all I've got for Patrick's 18 month update!  He is truly growing like a week and learning new things each and every day.  Although I am sad that I don't get to spend each and every day with him, I do look forward to our afternoons and evenings and weekends SO MUCH MORE because of it!  And knowing I have an entire summer to spend with him too is nice as well.  Until 21 months...grow Patrick grow!