18 Months Old!

18 months old



You're kidding me! How can I be that old now?
Believe it or not, this was the best shot this month. lol

He was LESS than thrilled about the photo
session today. Ahem.

 

Weight: Jack weighs 29.4 pounds according to my scale. (87th percentile for weight)

Length: 34.5 inches tall (94th percentile for height)

Wearing: size 5 Huggies diapers (with the overnight diapers at bedtime), 18 month pants (finally close to leaving this size), 24 month/2T shirts. He is able to comfortably wear size 2T sleepers.

Feedings: Jack drinks 16ish ounces of milk a day. He also steals the big boys' juice whenever he can. :) The pickiness continues, but we know the boy is getting what he needs to grow. Um, just look at him!

Favorites: Jack's new favorite is his brothers' blankets. He steals them off of their beds and carries them around the house. He likes to cover himself up and plop on them. It is too funny to watch.
 

Least Favorites: Good grief, don't try to make him try a food he doesn't want. Jeez. You'd think you were murdering him. Sigh. He doesn't care for not getting his way or being told no. He doesn't like for me to use my stern voice--it always makes him cry.

Issues: Jack is still not walking on his own, although he is so close! (He has the whole one finger walk down pat-even runs while attached to my finger.) But, with a lot of coaxing, he had walked independently for short distances. I am still not concerned about it, though, because I KNOW he is capable of walking when he chooses to do it (especially now that I've seen him).
 

Personality: Jack has been a little lover this month and always makes sure to come get his snuggles and kisses.

Areas to work on: Jack needs to work on his patience. lol! He also needs to start mastering the whole walking thing. Mommy's back is getting sore. ;-)

New Things: Jack is starting to do the whole dancing thing now. LOVE it!

Randomness: Jack's favorite game is Patty Cake. His favorite song for me to sing is the "ABC" song, which I do when I brush his teeth. He hears that song and calms pretty quickly.

~~~

Some things Jack is expected to do: (milestones for eighteen months)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)

• Will "read" board books on his own - Yes. Jack likes his books
• Scribbles well - Getting better here.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)

• Strings two words together in phrases - Nope.
• Brushes teeth with help - Yes.
• Stacks four blocks - Yes.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)

• Throws a ball overhand - Yes...and look out.
• Takes toys apart and puts them back together - Hm. Do stacking blocks work for this one? If yes, then yes!
• Shows signs of toilet training readiness - Yes, he has been on the potty. Personally, I think he'd do anything the big boys do. :-)

~~~

Jack's two month stats are here.
Jack's three month stats are here.
Jack's four month stats are here.
Jack's five month stats are here.
Jack's six month stats are here.
Jack's seven month stats are here.
Jack's eight month stats are here.
Jack's nine month stats are here.
Jack's ten month stats are here.
Jack's eleven month stats are here.
Jack's birthday celebration is here.
Jack's twelve month stats are here.
Jack's thirteen month stats are here.
Jack's fourteen month stats are here.
Jack's fifteen month stats are here.
Jack's sixteen month stats are here.
Jack's seventeen month stats are here.

Cute Big Boy Saturday

This was the boys after dinner tonight. Isaac has dubbed them "food drunk" when they behave like this. It's hilarious to watch!

Conversations With 4 Year Olds - Staying at Grandma's

My mom was over tonight, so of course I had to ask the boys if they wanted to go to her house with her for the night. To be honest, I ask them if they want to stay with her every time we're with her.

Tonight's exchange went a little like this:

Me: Do you want to stay at grandma's tonight?
J: Yes! I can watch Sprout at grandma's!
Me: You're right. She does have Sprout on her TV.
J: Oh, look. Mickey Mouse Club is coming on TV. I think I'm going to have to cancel my day off at grandma's... (Does that mean that he thinks he needs a day off from us, or what?)
S (adding his two cents almost the second Jason stopped talking): I want to go to grandma's!
Me: You do?
S: Yes. (turning to my mom) Grandma, can you take me?
Grandma: How am I going to take you?
S: First you go to the door...
Me: Okay, Shawn. If you go to grandma's, you're going to have to go right to bed. It's bedtime.
S: I want to go to bed. Mommy, can you take me?
Me: To bed?
S: I want to go to bed.
Me: You don't want to go to grandma's?
S: No. I want to go to bed now. Can you take me?
Me: Ooookay, Shawn. I'll take you to bed.

Sigh. It's always the same. They agree to the idea initially. They never end up taking the plunge and staying. (Unless they've had no say in the matter that is.)

I knew full well how the conversation would end, but now I find it funny to see what kind of excuse they'll come up with each time to get out of it. Besides, one of these days they're not going to change their minds... ;-)

Mind Over Matter

My mommy says that if I put my mind to it, I can do anything.

I wonder if I can bend this spoon with my mind.

Bend Spoon, Bend!

Well, what do you know? It's bent.

With great power, comes great responsibility.

Am I in trouble mommy?

OK, maybe it wasn't ALL mind over matter.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is Isaac's birthday! The boys were pretty excited about the whole thing. They even helped me shop for daddy's present and wrapping this year.  :-)

We had a small celebration complete with cupcakes...

They are all trying to blow out the candle. Jason got to it first.

Shawn's turn to blow it out!

Mmm...red velvet cake!

More please!

Happy Birthday and all that, daddy, but I am
partied out!

a present (more to come later)...



A car so daddy can play. (After he opened it, Jason spent the next few minutes trying
to convince him that sharing is caring. Isaac was too smart for that ploy!)

and lots of loving for our favorite guy!

Happy Birthday, Daddy! We hope you know just how special you really are because we're so lucky to have you in our lives.

Reading

Jason got his new magazine today. To say he was a happy camper is an understatement. This boy loves him some new magazines! Lol.

This month's "Chirp" magazine was about fairy tales.

Learning about the animals often used in fairy tales.

"Frogs soak up water through their skin" was a fascinating
detail apparently.

Bears eat squirrels? They're not going to eat our
squirrels (we have many that run through our backyard)
are they? That would not be good!

Overheard

S: Are we going to go in the water? (Take a bath)
Isaac: No, Shawn. Not today.
S: But dad. I'm reeeeealllly stinky...

~~~

J: Mommy, my eyes are not letting me be awake. They keep closing!

~~~

S: (at 5 am in the morning) Mommy! Mommy!
Me after I dragged my tired behind in to see what he needed: What, Shawn?
S: (whispering) Mommy! It's three o'clock in the morning! Is it time to get up?
Me: No, Shawn.
S: Okay. (and back he goes to sleep - Me? Not so much!)

~~~

Isaac: Was dinner good?
J: Yeah.
Isaac: Do you want some more?
J: No, I'm done. That sure is a lot of food for a little guy like me.

Special Day

It was a special day around these parts today. Today was grandma's birthday!

They were so excited for grandma's big day. They even made her some gifts.

Jason's gifts on the left, Shawn's gifts on the right.
Um, it just occurred to me that Jack didn't give grandma a gift. Oops.

We sang, helped her blow out her candles, and watched her open her gifts. Then we had lots of yummy cake.

The boys loved it all.

Happy birthday, grandma. We love you very much and are blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for all that you do!

Grandmothers and roses are much the same. Each are God's masterpieces with different names.  -- Author Unknown

With love,

Stacie, Isaac, Shawn, Jason, and Jack

Keeping It Real

Lest you think it is all rainbows and sunshine over here...

I had every intention of taking a nice photo for Cute Baby Saturday. The problem was that today was one of those day. You know, those days--the kind of day where everyone is cranky and argumentative and just plain exhausting.

It started off innocent enough. The boys went outside to play in the sand. They were having a good time together and playing nicely for the most part. Then I had the nerve to bring out two buckets, one red and one yellow, for them to dump sand. I have no idea what I could have possibly been thinking, because you know they both wanted the yellow bucket and NO they didn't want to share with each other. Good grief. Cue lots of arguing, shoving, and screaming at each other. Sigh.

Then, when it was time to come in, they both had meltdowns of epic...I mean EPIC proportions. (Interesting thing about my guys. They feed off of each other. When one gets worked up over something, it tends to make the other ratchet his emotions to meet the other's intensity.)

Quiet time couldn't get here fast enough, I tell you that.

I got them settled in bed and all was calm. Jason fell asleep (hallelujah). Shawn was awake but winding down quickly. I went into the living room to recover from the morning.

That's when I heard the unmistakable sound of a head hitting the ground. I jumped up and headed for their room to find Shawn on the ground, holding his head. He started to scream just as I entered. I scooped him up to comfort him and found a golf ball sized lump on the back of his head. Poor guy.

He wanted to go to sleep of course (hello...concussion? You're not supposed to sleep after hitting your head like that!), which after keeping him up a bit I finally let him do. I ended up checking on him every fifteen minutes or so to make sure he was okay.

Shawn's crying woke up Jack from his nap early. (Interestingly, Jason slept like a baby the whole time.) He was not a happy camper about the rude awakening and made sure he showed me his disapproval at every chance.

The big boys ended up sleeping for around an hour and a half. Sadly, my hopes for the sweet version of my children to appear after quiet time were quickly dashed. We ended up battling it out for the rest of the evening. I was so, so glad when bedtime finally rolled around.

Fun times, if I do say so myself.

Ahem.

So there you have it. Thankfully my amazing little angels usually have more good moments than bad on any given day. There are the occasions like today, however, when they give us a healthy reminder of how good we have it on the good days!

Oh, and needless to say, the cute photo op just didn't happen.

The End of Summer - Summer Bucket List Recap

Today is the official last day of summer. Soon, the long sunny days will give way to early darkness and cold. Boo. (I miss it already!) I'd say that this year, Team Lopez had a pretty amazing summer. We played a lot, laughed a lot, and just had fun together.

One thing that helped us make the most of this summer was our Summer Bucket List. I knew we had made a pretty lofty list, but I think that the list alone inspired us me to make sure we made the days count.

Summer Bucket List 2012

1. Go to the beach - No. We didn't get to this one. You'd think, with us living so close to the beach, that we'd get there more often than we do. Hopefully we'll be able to get there before the boys go off to college!

2. Build a sand castle - Sort of. This one we did a modified version of outside in our cool sandbox. The boys had lots of fun in the sand this summer.

3. See a shooting star - Yes! Ok, like I said, it may have been a plane, but the little people thought it was a shooting star and they were AMAZED. That is all that matters!

4. Go to the library and get a library card - No. That is still on my to do list, though.

5. Learn how to write our names really well - Meh. We worked on it a bit, but not a lot. Neither boy is great at it yet.

6. Go on a picnic - No. We did "picnic" in the living room, though.

7. Do some crafts - Yes! See the post here.

8. Go out to breakfast - Yes! We did breakfast for dinner. It didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped, but we did it! See the post here.

9. Stay in our jammies all day! - Yes. Numerous times! :-)

10. Go on a treasure hunt - No, we didn't get to this one. I do have plans for something.

11. Watch a movie - Yes! We saw a couple of home movies this summer.

12. Have a sleepover in the living room - Um...no. That just didn't sound like fun to me. lol.

13. Do a science experiment - Yes! See the post here and here!

14. Learn to swim - No. I bought some floaties, but we never did get to use them.

15. Learn to ride a bike - No, but I did hear from a little bird that some boys may be getting bikes sometime in the near future...shhhh!

16. Play in the backyard - Oh yes! We did this a lot! See here, here, here, and here.

17. Get ice cream - Yes! Post here.

18. See an animal we've never seen - Yes! Post here.

19. Read a book we've never read - I'd have to say no to this one. We did read a lot of books, but none of them were new.

20. Do a random-act-of-kindness - How horrible that I have to say no to this! Jeez. (Isaac says that they entertain people and brighten their day when we go out, so that should count.)

21. Read - Yep!

22. Explore 3 new parks - Well, we got in 2 parks unless you count Disneyland. lol. See here and here.

23. Go on a nature hike - Nope.

24. Go to Disneyland - Yes, it's the highlight of the summer! See here, here, here, and here.

25. See fireworks - Yep. See the post here.

26. Go to the zoo - No, but we've been there before, so I don't feel so badly about this one.

27. Go see the jets at the airport - Nope.

28. Go on a road trip (sorry guys, we're staying in CA) - Nope again, unless you count the trip to Anaheim.

29. Visit friends - Yes!!

30. Go to the fair - No. We didn't go this year, which is surprising because Isaac and I have a tradition to go every year. :(

31. Laugh a lot! - Oh YES!

32. Learn new jokes - Yep. We learned some new jokes and practiced our delivery.

33. Go see where Mom and Dad work - Nope.

34. Spend time with family - Yep. :-)

35. Eat watermelon outside and make a mess! - Yep. See the post here.

36. Go to Alameda Park in Santa Barbara (and the turtle park) - No. I thought that would be fun, too.

37. Go to the Cross - Nope

38. Go to an aquarium - Nope

39. Go to a water park - Nope

While we didn't get to everything on our list, we certainly did enough to make the summer memorable!

All You Need

You see, he needed a crane for his construction site, but he didn't have one.

So what's a boy to do?

Create one, of course.

All he needed is a few legos, a piece of train track, Mr. Potato Head's arm, and a little imagination.

Voila!

A crane!

Pretty impressive, right? :-)

Mostly Wordless Wednesday - So Proud!

We played school tonight. :-)

Jason reading.



I'm so proud of him!

Lucky Me

I am, you know. I am very, very lucky. :-)

Monday Moments - Flick

I'll let these pictures speak for themselves...

Sunday Six

Six things I want to remember from last week...

1. Jack has started a new thing during dinner time--he's started the head shake argument. lol. He's a notoriously picky eater, so I am often telling him that something is "yummy," so he'll try it. Now when I say something is yummy, he immediately shakes his head no. We go back and forth with me telling him how good something is, while he vigorously tells me it isn't. He'll try whatever it is and then shake his head the entire time he eats it, I assume to further convince me of my poor judgement. Cracks me up. This boy is a character.


2. This weekend, while the big boys played in the mud, Jack was happily sliding down the slide. He repeatedly held our hands on the way down and would belly laugh when he hit the bottom. After a few attempts, he got a bit bold and pushed Isaac's hands away from him. He could do it himself! He could, that is, until he actually started moving. Then he looked a lot like this:
   
   
   
   Heh, heh. Is that not the cutest face ever? I love that he is independent enough to think he can try something on his own!


3. While the boys were outside playing in the mud, Shawn belted out "I love dirt" over and over again in this melody. It was hilarious. After they were finished, we tried to get some of the mud off of them while they were outside. Shawn turned and said, "Daddy, why do we have to get clean? I like it!" He's such a boy!


4. The boys got their first exposure to tacos tonight. (What? Don't judge!) Isaac took a big bite out of one while Shawn watched. Isaac asked him if he wanted to try some. "Yes, daddy! I want to kiss the taco, too!" lol. He did and he liked it. :-) (Jason wouldn't even try it. Sigh.)
   


5. I've started talking to the boys about their upcoming birthday. (How can they almost be 5?!?) Specifically, I've been trying to narrow down what they might want for the theme of their party. Jason is all over the place when it comes to the theme he wants, but there is one thing he has down for sure. He figures he should have said party tomorrow. He was generous enough to say that if we did have the party tomorrow, we wouldn't need the decorations. lol. He's helpful like that!
   


6. J: Dad when are we going to go?
   Isaac: In two minutes, Jason.
   J: How many is that? (while he holds up his hands)
   Isaac: You have to count to 60 twice.
   J: I don't have enough fingers for that. Can you show me?
   Isaac: Just count your fingers six times.
   J: (fisting and then opening his hands) 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60...10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60. Can we go now?!?

Cute Big Boy Saturday - Muddy Buddies

You'd never guess we played in the mud today, now would you? :-)

This wasn't even the worst of the damage either!

 

 Fun times!