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2/29/2016

Colton is 18 Months

I cannot believe our little guy is 18 months old. It feels like I had him just yesterday!
Somebody got up on the table and snuck a donut...
This is our favorite age so far. I am not very sentimental. I don't long for the days Colton was a newborn, but know I will long for 18 months when he is older. Colton is so much fun. We laugh at so many things together and play so many games. He understands pretty much everything we tell him and ask him to do, and he actually listens. He says about 30 words (list below), and says more every day. I love seeing him learn and explore. He loves being mama's "helpful boy" and will do anything to be praised as helpful (putting laundry in the washer/dryer, picking up garbage, putting away toys, etc.) Colton loves building with his mega blocks, running around with anything over his head/face (laundry baskets, toy buckets, etc), jumping on the trampoline, going for walks, but most of all, Colton loves music. He absolutely loves watching music videos, and singing at the top of his lungs, His favorite songs to sing to are Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift, and Hello by Adele. He will sing, on tune, the right notes, and say the words he can understand. It is hilarious. He also loves joining in singing the hymns at church, much to the delight of everyone sitting around us. He has also started making up his own songs, singing "memo memo" (elmo elmo) over and over while looking at an Elmo story.
Feet kicked up looking at the ipod we use as his sound machine, little thief...
At night he knows we put on pajamas, then he runs to the bathroom saying "teeth teeth" and waits for dad to sit him on the counter and help brush teeth, then drink out of the faucet. He then runs back into his room sits down and folds his arms for prayer, where at the end he says "ama" (amen). He also folds his arms every time he sits in his high chair to bless the food.
This past Saturday we worked outside as a family all day. Jared cut some huge branches that were hanging over our house and we had a ton to break down and throw away when a very nice man with a trailer pulled up and asked if he could take a bunch of branches to the dump for us. We quickly started filling up his trailer, well Colton ran around picking up handfuls of sticks, and would run them over to the trailer and drop them in. It was the sweetest thing in the whole world.
I have also been encouraging Colton to play on his own more, and his favorite thing is to sit in his room and read stories. He has never liked being read to, he prefers to turn the pages at his own pace and study the pictures on his own. He also loves pulling out the scrapbooks upstairs and turning the pages, pointing out family members he recognizes.
He has always disliked keeping his shoes on after he gets in his carseat, so we have been working on keeping his shoes on like a big boy. Every time he keeps his shoes on when we arrive at our destination he taps his shoes to show mom how good he was.
Colton has been obsessed on Dada, and will do anything to mimic him. He loves to do pushups with him, or lay on the trampoline when he does, or anything dada is doing.
We are working on nursery. His first Sunday he did absolutely great and we were able to leave him in there no problem. Since then he has realized he doesn't love when we leave him. So yesterday I just sat in nursery the whole time. He played great with the other kids, didn't cry at all, and loved eating his snack, and of course singing songs. He didn't need to be by me, but he did periodically check to make sure I was still in there. I figure after a couple patient weeks to show him that he's not being abandoned in a scary place, I'll be able to leave no problem and he will love it there!
We are still working on eating with utensils. I think Colton is left handed, he picks most everything up with his left hand, but as you can see, he uses his right to shovel food in...

I am so obsessed with our boy, he is so sweet and I love seeing his mind work. I say "he is the cutest kid in the whole world" about 20 times a day, and really don't know how his little brother will be able to compare to him. I can't believe there's less than two months we have left with Colton as an only child. He has taught us so so much, he made us parents, and made us fall head over heels for him. He will continue to teach us and humble us I am sure, but for the next 2 months I just want to soak him in. This is the first time I have ever said I wish he could stay this age forever!!
Words Colton knows as of 2/29/16:
Dada, Mama, Grandpa, thank you, go, car, shoe, sock on, ball, bar, bath, more, teeth, cheese, cracker, amen, Damon, Kah (skyler), Co (Nicole), Cool (sunglasses), block, elmo, Barney, water, cookie, binkey, night night, diaper, mickey.
Animals he recognizes and knows their sounds:
Dog, cat, monkey, cow, horse, lion, tiger, snake.
Height is 32" (41st percentile) and weight is 26lbs (53rd percentile). I just went and bought him a bunch of 24 month clothes, he has been exact in all of his clothes sizes his whole life, and it makes getting clothes super easy!