Bobby is 18 months old! (Back on January 20th)

You can take that exclamation point to be filled with tearful emojis.  Why do they have to grow up?  Why does time keep moving?

Okay, I'm done lamenting the slippage of the precious moments for now.  Bobby did turn 18 months despite my est efforts to stop him.  He was 24 lbs and 31.1 inches long, putting him in the 25th percentile for weight and 43rd percentile for height.  This makes him my smallest 18 month old boy all around, the lightest and the shortest.  His head circumference was 49.8cm (93rd percentile.)

He's completely caught up in his development in all categories.  On the detailed forms I filled out there were only a few things that I couldn't mark accomplished yet.  Things like walking up and down stairs while holding my hand, making a straight line on a paper, and putting two words together consistently are not things he is yet doing.  The stairs is my fault of not taking the time to encourage it mixed with his overly cautious and reluctant personality.  He's close on the two words together one.  He just doesn't do it a lot yet, just occasionally.  He lost interest in coloring so we hadn't been doing much of that lately.

Bob really gets along well with everybody.  He prefers the girls when he wants another mama, Isaac and Drew when he wants to play.  He's at that age where he and Judah don't get along as well because they always want the same things, but that will pass.  

His low weight doesn't surprise me since he is such a horrible eater.  Around October or November he started refusing even foods he's always loved and we have yet to leave this picky phase.  Some days he barely eats anything.  I am having to blend up veggies and add them to applesauce and hide his veggies under a spoonful of hummus to get him to eat anything.  I used to be able to get the other kids to take a bite of something that they didn't want if I was holding hostage a favorite fruit that I could offer after each bite.  He refuses to do this anymore.  In his defense, he was getting molars for several months and then he moved straight into some kind of never ending diarrhea thing and then right into this respiratory thing.  Maybe one day he'll feel good enough to try his old favorites again.  For now I am trying to be sneaky and wait it out.

For some reason Drew loves to cuddle this baby, but wouldn't think of putting his arms around Judah.  The age difference, I guess?  I wish he'd get along better with Judah.

He had immunizations to get and the "shot lady" had bubbles this time.  He liked those bubbles and the lollipop that she gave him afterwards, but he was not a fan of the endless shots.  He cried, "All done," over and over after she finished.  The "shot lady" thought he was a smarty when he was talking, but I think she was just being nice.  He's verbally closest to what Drew was at this age, but he's not quite as willing to repeat every word.  He repeats some words and sometimes he doesn't.  Like Drew did he knows his Mass rules and tells me using signs what they are.  He has been getting better at behaving in Mass, but he has to be taken out briefly some days.

He's started to watch TV with the kids for a short time, but we don't do any kind of TV much.  When we do, I 'd say it's mainly when he's asleep anyway.    I love how this picture shows those curls on Bob and Drew.

He loves bubbles, cars, stars, and moons.  He still likes books and ducks, although not as obsessively as a month or so ago.  We turned his car seat around this month before going to Austria.  He loves to look at all the cars.  He still sleeps with Elmo and Grover, calling them both "Elmo."

He hates diaper changes, especially cold wipes.  He can usually be distracted by something.  He started to fight bibs and his highchair recently.  I think he's at that asserting oneself stage.  If I try to switch his spooon to the correct position he'll have a fit.  We just have to ignore it.  Even my sweetest babies have gone through this stage sometime.

He is doing puzzles like this.

He takes two naps from 9:30-11:30am and 2:30-4pm most days.  He's sleeping until 7am most days now.  

I gave him his first trim with scissors because I can't bear to cut off all the blonde curls.  His hair grew a lot at the crown and because of his double crown it would stick up in the air.  It curls, but when hats are going on and off all day the hair just gets to be a frizzy mess.