18 Months

Colin is 18 months old...or just old enough for me to stop counting months and say he's a year and a half.  He's 50th percentile in length, weight, and head size.  Perfectly average.  His vocabulary is expanding bit by bit.  It's not all clear yet but here's the list: 
Dog
Cat
Duck
Uh-oh
Shoe
Sock
Eyes
Apple
Bubbles
Outside
Yeah
Yep
Hey
Bye bye
Da Da
Block
Ball
Puppy
Up
Baby
Lights
Potty
Water
Balloon
Yes
and as of today...No.

 I had not been looking forward to "No" entering his lexicon.  I'm still not quite sure he knows how to use it.  Whenever you ask him a question, the answer is almost always "yeah" or "yep".  But then, I tend to ask him questions that I already know the answer to.  For example:  Are you hungry?  Do you want to go outside?  Do you want to take a bath?

Today I was loading the dishwasher and Colin grabbed a butter knife.  I took his hand in mine and said "no", placing it back in the dishwasher.  He smirked and immediately did it again.  This time I said "no", placed the knife back, and...he hit me.  I said "No hitting" and carted him over to the "time out corner" where I sat down behind him.  He looked over his shoulder at me, looking sad, and said, "No!"  I guess it was bound to happen eventually.

 Colin seems to eat nonstop.  He almost always finishes every meal I prepare for him, and asks for one or two snacks between meals.  He's not picky as far as flavor goes, but he doesn't seem to like fresh vegetables.  Too crunchy I guess, but he'll eat most things cooked.  He can drink out of regular cups quite well but enjoys making a mess as soon as his thirst is quenched.  He can also drink out of straws but tends to tip the cup up even when using the straw.

Colin often asks to go to the potty these days, but its mostly fun and just for show.  Actually eliminating into the potty is rare.   He says "uh oh" after he wets himself sometimes.  I got him some training pants but he's not quite ready yet since he doesn't really care whether he's wet most of the time.

The big improvement in the last few weeks has been in his sleeping habits.  Over spring break we transitioned him into his own crib.  Not long after, he started going to sleep without fussing or crying at all.  No, we didn't let him cry it out- he's just more confident now.  He still wakes in the night but usually only once or twice...meaning I am getting as much as 7 hours of sleep in one chunk!  Until a few weeks ago I hadn't slept more than 4 hours at a time since he was born.  No wonder I've been so scatterbrained, huh?