Toddler Will at 18 Months

Will turned 18 months last week, so he is fully into the toddler stage, especially now that he is finally walking! Here is what Will is like at 18 months. 

Growth: He weighs almost 23 pounds and is 32.5". He seems big to us compared to Paul but he's on the smaller size weight-wise - just not petite like Paul. He has such a long torso so he is mostly wearing 24 month tops/pjs but he wears 12-18m bottoms. He started wearing shoes now that he's walking and I think they are size 4.5-5. He has all of his teeth except his 2-year molars. 

First: He is finally walking! He was an even later walker than Paul was which surprised me. I think having ear infections from 11-13 months really impacted him. He had a gross motor delay at 12 months that was pretty significant, but shortly after getting tubes at 13 months, he started to pull to standing, walk along furniture, crawl, etc. It just took awhile for him to walk but oh well! His doctor commented on how dramatically his gross motor skills have improved in the last 6 months. 

- He also changed rooms at school. He's in the toddler room. We were excited for this move because they learn so much independence and only nap once/day in that room but we were sad to say goodbye to his infant teachers. But he new teachers are great so the transition has gone pretty well overall.

Words: He has a moderate speech delay but his doctor isn't too concerned about it and said it will likely resolve by 21 months. He had a hearing loss during the winter from the non-stop ear infections so that is probably contributing to the speech delay. I'm not too worried about it. This is where being a 2nd time mom really helped. I worried about so much with Paul but now I know that things tend to work out, and if they don't, there are interventions that can be done. Paul's speech really exploded when he moved into the toddler room so hopefully that is the case for Will, too. His favorite word is "hola." We call him our little Walmart greeter because he LOVES saying hola! He also says mas for more, uh-oh, ball, woof for dogs, and dada. The little stinker does not say mama which is annoying since he can say the "ma" sound. But I guess he doesn't feel like he needs to say my name since he can easily make it known that he wants me.  

Loves:

- Water! We did swimming lessons this spring which he loved so I signed him up for the summer session. He also loves bath time and has really wanted to get in the water at the lake so I think he might be our water baby. He also enjoys playing with the water table. 

- He loves going for walks and will be happy in the stroller for very long periods of time. We took 1.5 hour walks quite a bit during his quarantine and he was happy the whole time. He gets incredibly excited when he sees dogs, says hola to people, and likes seeing water on our walks. I feel fortunate that we live in a such a beautiful area for walking with lots of dedicated walking paths along water.

- He adores his big brother Paul. They definitely fight over toys and fight for my attention, but they also laugh a lot and Will looks at his brother with such love and admiration. 

Dislikes: car rides that are longer than an hour, getting out of the bathtub, and waking up from naps. He wakes up in THE WORST mood! That's really about it, though. He's a pretty happy little guy most of the time. He also still has major stranger danger and won't let anyone besides me, Phil and his teachers at school pick him up. Sadly he won't let my mom pick him up but hopefully that changes this summer since we'll see them more often.

Eating: he is still a pretty good eater, especially compared to Paul. If you eat something around him and don't want to share, you need to be sneaky. Otherwise he will incessantly say "ma?" (he's pronunciation of mas) until you share with him. His favorite food is blueberries. We joke that he eats so many he might turn into a blueberry. He has his first donuts in May and LOVED them. 

Health: Covid aside, he's had a much healthier stretch over the last 3 months compared to the 6 months before that. In my last update, I wrote about an ER visit, urgent care visit, and his tubes surgery. His covid case was super mild so we are grateful for that and hopeful that he'll be able to vaccinated in the next month. 

Overall, he's a happy, bright little guy. He's quick to laugh and pretty happy overall. He does seem more mischievous than Paul but maybe I am forgetting what Paul was like? I am glad that we have moved into the summer months because it is way easier to entertain Will when we can go for walks and go to the park. I will say that 12-24 months is not my favorite stage because they have such short attention spans and can't communicate well. But it's nice to know we are 1/2 through this stage. Everyone talks about the terrible 2s, but I found the 2s more enjoyable than this stage of toddlerhood! We'll see if that is the case with Will!