Noah at 18 months

Oh, em, GEE! My baby is turning 18 months tomorrow! Which is kind of good, because I have a new baby coming in April, but kind of sad, because he is getting more and more grown up every day.

I am going to start off by probably damning myself. Noah from ages 12 months to about 17 months was.not.fun. He cried all.the.time. Seriously, y'all. I was about at the end of my wit with him. Yes, my nerves during that time? Completely frayed. I probably would have blogged about it, but I was too busy trying to get Noah to stop crying. I took him to the doctor. I put a pacifier in. I stood behind him when he rifled through my pantry pulling out multiple items trying to make him happy. John Michael and I would sing incessant songs to him driving in the car (where he was most unhappy). I turned his carseat forward-facing because I thought he was getting carsick. Nothing worked.

Don't be frightened, moms of 12 month-olds. JM had a difficult period around 15 months, but it was nothing like this. All kids are different, so your child may be fine, but my expressive Noah was an unhappy boy. Teeth may have played a part, as he got his molars and quite a few others, but I honestly think that being unable to communicate with us was the main thing. He would stand in front of the pantry and it was like he didn't know what he wanted. Drove me crazy! I am a pleaser and I wanted to please him! Granted, I am a pleaser within reason. I don't let my kids have whatever they want, but there is only so much crying that one can hear before you start getting desperate. At times, I gave him candy and he threw it on the floor. I gave him cookies and that didn't work, either. He actually spit out ice cream, on occasion. What in heavenly hooks was going on with this child? I blessed him with holy water, because for a time, I was worried that he was possessed! Who spits out ice cream? Aye yi yi! And, seriously, this phase happened when I was pregnant. It was terrifying to picture having a newborn baby (who if I recall correctly is no picnic with the sleep deprivation), a constantly crying almost 2 year old Noah and John Michael, who is sweet, but has his own issues, mainly like needing a lot of attention!!!

Thank the heavens, the past 6 weeks or so have been A BLESSED BLESSED CHANGE! Noah all of a sudden started cranking out new words every day. And, do you know what? He has been Mr. Sunshine!!! Mr. Easygoing!!! It's like a totally different kid. I swear his language has turned everything around. I'm back to enjoying being around him, rather than singing "it's only a phase... it's only a phase" in my head to keep from throwing myself in front of a bus.

One of my favorite things that he does is nod his head "yes" or "no." This is extremely helpful. The man knows what he wants. If you ask him if he's hungry, he'll sign "eat", go get out a plastic bowl from the drawer or stand by his high chair and say "up." He says milk, wa wa or juice if he's thirsty! It brightens my day when he comes up to me with a smile and says "dis!" if he needs helps with something, or says"nanny" for banana, "ice" with a lisp, "hi" when he walks into a room, "neigh" for a horse and "lights" for any Christmas tree lit or unlit. He loves to push things in the doll stroller, the most amusing being things you wouldn't think would be pushed, like a TV remote. He is still a pretty great sleeper, sleeping in past 7:30 on many days and taking a good 2-3 hour nap every afternoon. He loves to wave bye-bye to people when we leave places. The other week we walked down South Congress and he walked up to people in restaurant windows, waving to all and making people smile. Such a little flirt. He also loves to snuggle. This morning I asked him for a hug and he actually came up and put his head on my shoulder. Sigh!

Now despite all this wonderfulness, this child does have a few flaws. He has a really hot temper. If he gets mad, he will totally throw a toy across the room. He LOVES to throw food at dinner. When he is done eating, he is DONE. If we let him in the high chair even a second past when he is done, which sometimes is pretty quick!, we all risk getting hit in the head with a broccoli. He still has his nukkie, but we have pretty much curbed it to bedtime and hope to have weaned him completely by Baby H3's arrival. He refuses to hold your hand in a parking lot, so still needs to be held (hoping this goes away by April!). He also does not respect us if we say "no no" and actually thinks it's funny when he does something that elicits that response. Stinker! He also still does not watch TV. My kids really don't watch much TV compared to the US average and we don't have an Ipad or other media that they can use (late adapters), so I feel totally comfortable saying I wish my kid would watch TV!!! Sometimes mama needs to take a shower! He'll watch Elmo for about 30 seconds, but that's it.

Anyway, Noah, we love you, bunches. You have a funny personality and the warmest smile.

You like to make yourself comfortable in all places, in this case on Uncle Joe and Aunt Pam's bar stools.

You like to snuggle with your non-snuggling brother and crowd his space

You make your cousins laugh because you really like to lay in the grass. Not roll around, but just lay and look up at the sky.

We love you, Noah Charles!