Happy 18 months, Brothers!

These boys have grown up so much in the past few months. They are talking more and more, they are verrrrrrrry opinionated, they have definite personalities, and the toddler meltdowns are in full swing. I'm not going to lie, 18 months is adorable but it is also HARD. I pray every morning for patience, wisdom and perspective, but just about every day all of those qualities are tested before 9 a.m.  Why, you ask? Behold, a meltdown in progress:

But let's focus on the awesome -- the talking! They now say around 20 words: mama, dada, no-no, bye-bye, uh-oh, baby, night-night, dog, ball, block, banana, hey, tickle, oh (used in surprise), Big (Randy's name), Bubba (I think this means Brother), turtle, whoa, fish (Reid--sounds like "pissssh"), duck, and Elmo/Momo. They're doing a lot of babbling, and you can tell they totally know what they're saying, because they'll say the exact same phrase over and over again, with faces full of expression. They can also tell you what a cow, cat and monkey say, and they know where their noses, ears, eyes, hair, tongues, and belly buttons are.

They are BUSY. They really never sit still. I mean, never. They're into fake laughing and fake smiling (and fake coughing, fake sneezing, and fake nose-blowing), and it's hilarious. They wink (really a prolonged blink), give high-fives, and hold their hand to their ear like a phone when we say "Can you say 'Honey'?" 

They're starting to really play together, and when they get along, it's the cutest, sweetest thing ever. They play a version of hide-and-seek, they like to stroke each other's hair, and during mealtime they do whatever they can to crack each other up, which usually involves throwing food, spitting it out, or dumping milk onto their trays and playing in it. Speaking of mealtime, we've also officially transitioned out of high chairs and into booster seats. 

They love doing the hand motions to "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and "If You're Happy and You Know It." Their favorite book is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" They won't sit still long enough to really watch TV, but they seem to like Barney, Sesame Street, Thomas the Train, and Super Why, because they linger the longest for those.

In other growing up news, we also turned their carseats around about a week ago, and now they're officially forward-facing! They don't really seem to notice a difference, except on Friday they got to watch a movie in Honey's car on the way to the Children's Museum for my birthday so that was kind of a big deal. I didn't take my camera to the museum, but my mom got a couple of shots with her phone:

  
Now onto the point of this post: 18-month photos and stats! No one was especially excited about getting their picture taken yesterday. We tried first at our house, which resulted in the first photo above. Then we tried again at Honey's house yesterday afternoon, and had moderately more success. But it didn't start off that way:

Things got a little better, but not much:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reid

At his 18-month checkup, Reid was 35 inches tall (99th percentile) and weighed 29 lbs 9.5 ozs (96th percentile). His head measured 20" (99th percentile). 

 

 

 

We're not above bribery...

 

 

Grant


At his 18-month checkup, Grant was 35 1/2 inches tall (99th percentile) and weighed 29 lbs 5.5 ozs (95th percentile). His head measured 19 1/2" (94th percentile). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dealing with the meltdown with a little distraction...

 

I can't believe it's been 18 months, and I can't believe how much these babies have turned into sweet, hilarious, naughty, precious little boys. Your mama loves you, Brothers!