19 months

Today our little guy is 19 months old! (You know, before I had a child, it sort of irritated me when parents responded to "how old is he/she?" using ___months . . . I understood for babies - but come on, once they're one, just go with ___ years, right? But now I get it a little more -- as a parent you don't want to start labeling in years - that means your little one is not so little any more! Although I do think age two is a good time to transition to years, because "my child is 28 months" does sound a little silly, and people just mentally convert that to years - oh, so he/she is two.

Anyway, I digress . . .

Braden truly is a toddler - he's on the go - all the time!

Last weekend we enjoyed the beautiful weather and headed out to the ballpark to cheer on cousins Addie and Alex at their softball games (and Aunt Holly at her first umping gig!) Braden preferred to be allowed to explore the ballpark (and would have loved to get out on the field).

Alex at bat

Addie pitching

and Holly behind the plate (Addie is pitching)

Since this blog is sort of our on-line baby book (seriously, I sometimes check the blog archives if I don't remember when Braden met a particular milestone), so I give you (in no particular order) . . .

19 facts about Braden at 19 months:

1. Favorite fruits: strawberries, melon, bananas (he eats at least one 'nana a day!), and lemons (he loves to eat them when they come as garnish on a restaurant drink)

2. Favorite veggies: green beans, corn, broccoli, stuffed mushrooms

3. Favorite snack: goldfish or teddy grahams

4 Favorite book: Opposites by Sandra Boyton (this changes frequently)

5. LOVES to be outside

6. When outside, he still loves his swing,

7. but also really likes his little mower, especially if we have the real lawnmower out too

8. Wearing size 18 mth clothes and size 3 diapers (and we finally switched from our very favorite Pampers swaddlers to Target brand)

9. Has the BEST giggle, and loves to play hide and seek (you can find him by his giggle)

10. Is starting to talk more - he picks up a few new words each week! Off the top of my head, words we hear consistently include: ball, car, shoe, cheese, down, yum/mmmm, light (ight)

11. Words we've heard: hot, toes, cow, truck, tree, train, go, up

12. Has figured out that our drinks are usually tastier/more interesting than his drinks, and will beg for a sip, especially if said drink has a straw

13. Continues to work on those 2 year molars . . . therefore still has a runny nose/drool much of the time

14. Can throw a ball overhand (hard!), and (to Daddy's pleasure) often uses his left hand to throw

15. Still loves water/bathtime - and showers! (It can be hard to shower without B trying to join you at our house!) . . . he loves to stand in the tub and let the shower spray him right in the face

16. Can almost open a door - yikes!

17. Can go quickly up and down steps on his tush (learned that quite awhile ago) and is now starting to step up and down a few steps at a time without help

18. Takes one afternoon nap (1-4 hours, depending on when/where), and sleeps from (avg) 9 - 7 at night.

19. sleeps all night IN HIS OWN CRIB!!!! A couple of weeks ago when B was sick and would not stop crying (day or night) no matter what we did, we finally plopped him in his crib and let him "cry it out." After a couple of nights, he'd just lay down at bedtime (no rocking needed) just like he used to, and go to sleep. I haven't mentioned it because I didn't want to jinx it, but we're now 3-4 weeks in, so I think it is safe. Whoo hoo! We sometimes have to do a "binky check" in the middle of the night, but that's it - he's back to sleep. Billy and I are LOVING this!