18 months!

I neglected to do a post celebrating Benjamin's latest milestone...and anyone who knows me should know how I am about milestones!  So here's a check-in on how my little one-and-a-half year old is doing.

18-month stats:
30 lbs 11.5 oz (he was up 3 oz when we took him in 4 days later...so it's safe to say he's basically 31 lbs)
33.5 inches tall
49 cm head circumference

Those are all pretty much "big".  Height is around 90th percentile, weight is closer to 95th, and head's up there too.  It's actually good that he's proportionate, and it totally makes sense.  From all reports, his daddy was a sizable, well-built toddler, and look at him now - he's tall and muscular, built like an athlete. 

What's our little Benji up to these days?

Talking.  Talking all the time.  About a quarter of it is recognizable words.  The rest is gibberish.  He's got quite a burgeoning vocabulary (and to think, we were worried about his hearing once upon a time!).  Our favorites of his words are "shooooes" and "ouSIDE?".  His favorite lately seems to be "Eh-mo!".  He loves watching Sesame Street, and gets especially excited about seeing Elmo on-screen.

Reading.  He looooves to be read to.  He'd happily spend hours bringing you a book, sitting in your lap, letting you read to him, taking that one back for a new book - lather, rinse, repeat.  Sometimes I'll find him sitting at his bookshelf, books spread out all around him, thumbing through one after the other.  It should be no surprise that this habit of his completely warms my heart.

He's still not a runner.  He can motor on down the hall pretty quickly, but true, fast running?  Hasn't come yet.  I'm okay with that.  He's active, but not hyperactive.  He's more of the inquisitive, people-watching type.  Sometimes I'll take him down to the park and he'll just stand there, staring at all the activity around him. 

He's a lover, and a biter.  He's great at giving hugs, especially the kind that require a running start and diving into your open arms.  He loves to laugh, especially at his Daddy.  We're also working on curbing his biting behavior - which, strangely, he only lets loose on me and his friends at daycare.  Go figure.

So that's the story with Benjamin right now.  He's a wonderful, awesome, amazing little kid, and I feel so lucky to be his mama.