18 Months

It's almost impossible to believe that Finn is 18 months old tomorrow (Monday).  A year and a half.  He's changing so much every day, it's hard to keep up with him!

He is so much fun right now, and also so challenging.  He loves to be silly, and especially loves it when he does something that makes me laugh.  He has the best belly laugh I've ever heard, and tends to use it most when he's being tickled - oh this boy loves to be tickled.

 

Exhibit A: extreme silliness

Dinnertime is messy.  Very messy.  He's a great eater - he eats way more foods than I do (today in addition to the chicken, pear, cheese, black beans, tomatoes, rice and cheese we shared, he also ate blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, yogurt, olives and avocado, all of which I don't like).  But when he doesn't want something - or he sees something else he wants more - he'll throw all his food on the floor.  Often he does the throwing while making direct eye contact with me, a defiant gleam in his eye. I know he knows he's not supposed to do it, but I can't figure out how to make him stop. I think he's too young to take him away from the table and tell him the meal is over when he starts doing that, but today I did try something new.  I got him out of his chair and told him he had to pick up all the food he'd just thrown on the floor and put it in the trash before he could eat anything else.  And he did it.  I don't know if it will end up acting as a deterrent - in fact, I usually have no idea if I'm ever doing the right thing when it comes to discipline, but I'm slowly learning.

Getting Finn to do what I want him to do, when I want him to do it, is also a challenge (ok, so this is going to be a challenge for the rest of my life!)  In swim class we would always say, "Bye Bye" to floats and other props when it was time to let them go, and I've carried that over into every day life.  It has helped tremendously.  Instead of saying, "Finn, it's time to put your pacifier away," I say, "Tell your pacifier bye-bye," and he does it.  It's amazing.  It's not 100% of the time, but pretty darn close.  The advice I read years ago about giving toddlers a 5 minute warning, and let them know what was next on the agenda also works wonders.  He rarely throws a fit about coming inside anymore now that I give him several warnings that it's about to happen.  If he's fighting something I need for him to do (like putting on his shoes this afternoon), he frequently will become more cooperative if I tell him what we're going to do next (going outside once his shoes are on).

He loves animal sounds - dog, cat, cow, horse, duck, mouse, bird, elephant, lion, owl, wolf - and one of his current favorite books is an A-Z book of animals that we have either sounds or signs for each animal.  Except newt. I have no idea what to do for a newt.  And today, when we were reading the book he pointed at the newt and said, "Newt!" I guess that's all we need for that animal!  He is still loving feeding the cats, and then calls them when their food is ready, "KITTIES!" He still can't figure out why they don't come when he calls them.

Books are another favorite.  I'm pretty sure we read 20 books today.  He also loves music, and has the funniest dance moves I've ever seen.  He loves songs that have hand motions along with them, but hasn't started singing along with any of his favorites just yet.

One thing that makes him so much easier than he might otherwise be is our ability to communicate. I am so glad that Nanny M was willing to work on signs with him, too. With the two of us continuously working on signs, he picks up 1-2 new signs a week.  He was able to use sign language so early that he now uses his own gestures along with signs and words to try to communicate to me.  Sometimes when I'm not understanding him I can see the wheels turning in his head as he tries to figure out how to get his point across. There are still plenty of times when I just don't have a clue what he's trying to tell me, but most of the time we figure it out.

He loved Halloween.  Our ghost Boo is still on the porch upstairs, and he says hi to him every morning and kisses him goodnight every night.  He was so sad when the neighbors put their ghosts away last week.  I wish I'd gotten a picture of his sad face that night. And so I bought Boo some reindeer antlers and will put those on him with a little tinsel after Thanksgiving, and plan on keeping him up as long as it makes Finn happy to see him every day.  I can't wait to see how he reacts to all the Christmas stuff going up in a few weeks.  I might even take a chance on my full sized Christmas tree this year.

I still constantly have that nagging worry about his neuroblastoma at the back of my mind.  My wishes at 11:11 alternate between wishing for a pregnancy (always with the conditional healthy baby request) and wishing for continued good reports on his scans.  His next scan is December 27th.   I can't wait for the day when we can go to once a year scans.

Eighteen months.  I can only imagine how different he's going to be another 18 months from now!