Devin- 18 Months

Devin Joseph had his 18 month check up on April 11th (which happened to be at the same time that Garrett had his eight day check up. That was an experience!) Since my brain is so fuzzy, I can't recall exactly what he measured and weighed, and I am far too tired and lazy to go dig out his stat sheet. But I do remember that he was right on track on growth and came in at about the 50th percentile for both weight and height. Everything else checked out just fine and he is a thriving, happy, and healthy little guy! Having these babies less than eighteen months apart has left me feeling like a chicken with no head, and although I'd like to be able to record a complete play-by-play about his development at this stage, these are the things about Devin that I can think of right now.

-He has a fantstc mop of curly blonde hair, and we are terrified to cut it. Ethan also had beautiful blonde curls and after his first real haircut, it started growing in straight! So we are a little scissor shy right now.

-His vocabulary consists of Mom, Dad, uh-oh, hello, mmm mmm mmm (as if "no no no" which Mom says all the time) and this funky little car noise of sorts. He knows that all of these "words" make us laugh, and when he is in trouble, he starts going down the list of his cutisms and knows he will get out of trouble imediately. And it always works!

-He wears a size four day diaper and a size five night diaper.

-He wears eighteen month pants and 2T shirts.

-He wears a size six shoe.

-He rarely cries, and when he does, we know something is realy wrong. He is the sweetest natured kid around!

-He climbs on ev-ry-thing. If he can get his feet on it, he will climb it! And he usually falls, but he has determination and tries again and again. The poor kid is always covered in bruises and goose eggs because of how much he falls. But does it stop him? No way.

-He wants so badly to be one of the big kids. Now that Garrett is here, he wants to be included in the big kid stuff even more.

-He unknowingly knows all the vowels. He walks around saying "A E I O U" all the time. He probably picked it up from a kids' show. He can also recognize letters as being letters. Whenever he sees a letter, he shouts "A" no matter what letter it actually is.

-He has not had any real jealousy issues with Garrett. Maybe it's becaus he's too young to know what's going on! He loves to get the binky and tries to put it in Garrett's mouth. Devin never took a binky so he thinks they are a novelty. He also loves to stroke his head and give him loves (kisses on the top of th head). I think these guys will be great friends!

-If he can ever get over this cold he's been carrying for weeks, he gets to start nursery at any time.

-He is the ultimate Daddy's boy. Mom is usually chopped liver the second Dad comes in the door. He seems to have a sixth sense in the evening and knows when Dad is coming home. He starts watching the front door and sometimes takes his toys down by the door to wait for him. As soon as he hears the keys jiggling in the door, he jumps up and starts saying "Dad! Dad!" He only wants Dad when he is sick or when he wakes up during the night. This has worked out well since Garrett was born, because Mom and Dad can play man-on-man at night. Mom takes care of Garrett, Dad takes care of Devin.

-We still call him Moo, Mr. Moo, Baby Cow, Fatso Face, and Dev Dev.

-When he gets scolded, he has mastered the sad glare to shoot at us. It never gets him out of trouble, but it sure is cute!

-He is a great eater and will eat almost anything I put on his highchair tray. Oh, if ony this phase would last all through childhood!

-He still takes a bottle of milk at naptime and bedtime. We will eventually break him of this, but lately we have all been in survival mode around here so now is not the time.

-He is such a happy boy and he fill our lives with joy everyday! We sure love our Moo!!!