18 Month Old Link

I like that I can look at Link and still see him as a baby. A year and a half old now and rapidly growing and developing; but he's still a baby and this makes my heart sing. When Robbie and I realized earlier this month that we haven't been able to spend as much one on one time with Link as we did with Meo (obviously), we decided to make more of an effort to give him alone time with each of us more often. So we have been working in more time to focus on just Link, particularly with helping him learn new words and gestures to express himself. And in that teaching state, it's easy to see him as the small, skilled child you are helping him to become and before you know it the babyness slips away. But as he was running around tonight, a naked Linky giggling and playing with his big brother, I remembered how much of a baby he still is and it made me grin. And what a sweet, snugly babe he is.

Pediatrician Visit Measurements:

• 22 pounds 6 ounces (25%)
• 31 1/2 inches long (25%)

Developmental highlights this month:

• Has gotten pretty good at counting from one to ten in both English and French. Sometimes he starts counting in English then finishes in French but we are cool with that :). 
• Can sing the alphabet. It's not clear yet, but it certainly is obvious what he is singing and he seems to have all the letters in the right spots. I attribute this to his love of singing which has made it easy for him to memorize the alphabet song.
• Is learning his animal sounds. So far he has a great "mooo", "neigh", "baa", "quack", "woof woof" (which sounds more like "fwha fwha" and he says as he goes after doggy kisses on trails), "back, back", "oink" and he's working on his "cock-a-doodle doo".
• We've been working on his pointing skills. He hadn't been pointing to a lot of things and looking back at videos of baby Meo was realized how much more Meo was pointing at this age. So that last week we've been making a big effort to point things out to him and we've already noticed a big difference with his ability to point things out to us. We've also been making sure to make more direct eye contact when we talk with him and ask him to look at us when we are trying to get his attention. and have noticed that it has improved his ability to focus on us. He's a busy guy, but helping him to slow things down, focus, and point seems to be helpful and satisfying to him.
• Has a bunch of new words this month. At this point he is pretty good at mimicking any word we try to get him to repeat, and he is constantly babbling. All his words aren't clear so we can't always understand what he is saying unless he is directly repeating what we ask. But we are starting to be able to understand more and more of the little conversation he carries on as he scampers about the house playing pretend with toys, us and Meo. His most notable new words this month are: Moby (now he knows all the family members), thank you, bless you, and dog.
• Songs he likes to sing as he walks around (he sings A LOT): "Still I Fly" (from the Planes soundtrack), "Old MacDonald", "Hello" (from music together), and his favorite "I See Fire" and "Misty Mountain" (from the Hobbit sound track).
• Physically he is able to go up and down stairs, is starting to jump, loves to run, climbs EVERYTHING, kicks and throws balls, spends a longer time in his bed sleeping by himself at night (2-3 hours instead of 20-60 minutes), can do shape sorting, stacks blocks, does chunky puzzles purposefully, makes LEGO towers, dances, blows bubbles, goes up and down slides independently, likes to pour with measuring cups, and loves to do "down dog".
• Link gets a kick out of climbing on us and jumping on our bellies, is starting to follow directions better (like put your shoes away) and very good about sharing with Meo when Meo asks for something or wants to make a trade. He loves to be snuggled and held but is also content playing toys with Meo for long stretches. It is so cute watching them interact and play pretend now, especially since Link is started to hold up his end of the conversation a little more.
• This month he was officially diagnosed with asthma. It's only a cold-induced asthma so when he is not sick he has absolutely no symptoms (runs around and plays normally). But because he has needed a liquid steroid the last two times he has had colds because he had to work too hard to breath, we all decided to put him on preventive medication so it hopefully doesn't get to that point the next time he gets sick. So now he has an inhaler twice a day and does awesome with it. He comes right over to take his inhaler and sits still, then goes to the bathroom and practices rinsing and spitting into the sink and gets his teeth/mouth brushed (to avoid thrush from the medication). 

in the dryer with his toothbrush