18 Months

18 Months

 

Babies, no more.  We have full on talking, running and opinionated toddlers.  It's amazing how much two little people can change in just one year.  A year ago, they weren't even crawling.   I am sad the baby stage is behind us, but I do love seeing their personalities emerge more and more everyday.  Over the past month, R&B have both started real talking, which means we need to watch what we say because there seems to always be a little parrot around ready to repeat.  I love being shocked almost daily when they say new words that I didn't know they even knew. This year has been more fun than Lee and I could have imagined.

Brady is ALL boy!  His mind, right now, seems to be filled with only six things:  blocks, balls, trucks, climbing, reading and his pacifier.  One of the first words out of his mouth every morning "bock" (blocks).  He loves building towers and knocking them over.  Unfortunately, Rooney loves knocking them over more than building so she takes advantage of his efforts and often knocks down his masterpieces before he is ready to see them fall.  Little sisters...what can he do?

His favorite word is baball.  He started saying daball, but has changed it to baball.  He loves throwing, kicking and carrying any ball or round object of any size.   He loves kicking his soccor ball and yelling GOALLLLL.  Most food is now called "yum yum baballs" just before he throws it across the room.  His arm is pretty impressive, even if it is his right one, much to his father's dislike. 

For a few months now Brady has pushed his trucks, cars, anything with wheels around on the floor.  Much to my surprise two weeks ago at the park he came up to me and said, "Momma, tuck voom, voom" and pointed at the truck parked on the street.  I didn't know he knew the word truck or that they said voom, voom.  Since then every walk is filled with him pointing at trucks and yelling VOOM, VOOM.  I should not be surprised its one of his first words, since we have read the book, The Little Blue Truck, no less than 10 times a day since Christmas!

We have a climber on our hands, the higher the better.  We have been forced to rearrange our entire apartment.  Especially after I saw him climb up one chair, over to another one, onto a buffet and then reach up to our mounted television for balance as he started to climb onto our mantle.  UGH.  He doesn't know the word down, yet, so when he gets stuck on something and can't get down he yells, "UP, UP, UP".  Oh, dear son, please stay on the floor!

Brady only sits still when he is reading either by himself or being read to.  While he will listen to almost any book, he has 4-5 books that he rotates throughout the day and usually reads about 5 times each day.   Rooney gets frustrated with the repitition and Lee and I have these books all memorized.

We were always really good about limiting his pacifier use to just sleep time, so much so, that he calls it, "Night-night".   A couple of weeks of illness and teething led to him getting it during the day and now we are trying to break this habit.  Poor little guy is asking for it every ten minutes.  We are hoping this ends very soon!

As for Rooney, or should I say Miss Khan, as she might say with her eyes or actions, she's all girl with a whole lot of attitude. Rooney continues to demand the attention she wants, be it from "mama, mama, mama" or from anyone else in earshot who has something she wants or who she wants to pick her up.  

While she's not quite the climber Brady is, Roo has definitely become a lot more active the last couple of months and can usually keep up with her brother. She's constantly on the move and has gotten really good at going up and down the stairs, usually making it up and down at least three flights before she either loses steam or realizes that someone can carry her. Between them though, they're wearing a pretty good path into our hardwood floors between our room and theirs (really Brady's) on the other side of the apartment.

Roo's vocal skills get better everyday, as is her ability to recognize animals and repeat what they say.  She usually tells her dada to "Have Good Day and Be Good" as he walks out the door for work every morning.  Singing some version of the alphabet while trying to get to sleep is the newest addition to her repertoire, and may be part of her difficulty actually getting to sleep. It's a nightly battle of wills between Lee and Roo, which Lee always, thankfully, wins except for that one time, but not after a good two to three hour fight. Never let it be said that Roo doesn't stand her ground.

Speaking of standing her ground, Roo has developed her Grandma Gallagher's love of shoes. Not only does she pick the shoes (soo) she wants to wear, but she'll let you know when she doesn't like your choice and she'll require multiple pairs depending on the time of day, outfit or activity at hand. I kid you not, last week one day, she wore four different pairs for four different things - all on her own choice.

Our little diva's (her doctor's word) love of shoes is only rivaled by her newest love...Elmo. Unlike the college-sized football that she'll carry around, not just play with around the apartment or at the park, but actually carry around (or hold it in the stroller when out for walks) and not leave home without it, Elmo is known by name and sight. While Brady and Roo are limited in the amount and frequency of tv they watch, Sesame Street has recently become a saving grace, first when Roo, Brady, and Stacey were all sick a few weeks ago while Lee was away. Since then, Roo will now often ask for Big Cousin Ben's Elmo pajamas at bedtime by name. It's the cutest thing to hear her say Elmo in that squeaky not-so-little toddler voice, which carries across a room and apartment so strongly that you would not believe that loudness is coming out of a 19 pound body.

A rare moment when he lets her play with the blocks and she doesn't knock them down

 

Enjoying her puppet show

 Rooney learning to count