18 Months

cannon, 18 months

Dear Cannon,

You are only 18 months but these last six months have seemed to transform you from a baby into a full-blown toddler!  You are 32.5” tall (50%), 26lbs 5oz (75%) and have a head circumference of 46cm (75%).  You started wearing 2T clothes right on your 18 month birthday when somehow your tummy was poking out of all of your shirts overnight. 

My favorite thing about you right now is your innocent excitement and your total lack of inhibition.  If you like something there are very extreme facial expressions, dancing, and slurs of excited yet undistinguishable words that are sure to follow.  You are always really happy to go outside, see a puppy, lay eyes on a pretty girl, or be offered more food from the Cannon-approved list.  Your favorite foods are ketchup, blueberries, yogurt, baby food squeezie packs, fruit snacks, hummus, raisins and hot dogs.  The ultimate treat in your book is a fruit and yogurt parfait from McDonald’s.

We mostly offer you parfaits when we are out of town and eating more fast food than normal.  In these past six months you have been to Florida to enjoy Disney World with Grandpa Chad, Momo, and all of Daddy’s former Chatham Town roommates and their families; Washington DC to see the sites; and Utah to visit all of our wonderful family there.  During our trip to Utah you were especially taken with Uncle Nick and Aunt Gabby.  It seemed that every time Aunt Gabby walked into the room you watched her with big romantic eyes, just waiting to see if she would notice you.  Uncle Nick put his good looks aside and enticed you with puppies, candy and outings to the park, Chuck E Cheese, the pet store, and Cabella’s.  It did not take long for you and Uncle Nick to form a rowdy friendship that I hope will last forever. 

In talking to Grandma Shari, it sounds like you and Uncle Nick were actually quite similar as babies.  You are both darling, adventurous, all-boy, and incredibly stubborn and strong willed.  Memaw likes to say that “when he is good he is very very good but when he is bad he is horrid.”  I love you dearly my sweet boy but you definitely have not come without your demands in these past few months.  My perception is that you are mostly frustrated with your lack of communication skills at this point.  You can say words like wow, look, hi, go, what’s this, what’s that, doggie, truck and the signs for more and hat; but communicating your desires and frustrations is hard.  You are also just around the corner from understanding how to reason.  When I say, ‘I need to put on my shoes and THEN we can go outside’ your world pretty much ends because you don’t understand anything except for the fact that Mommy said we could go outside but she is walking the wrong way.  My guess is that as soon as you leap over the next few communication hurdles your overall mood will improve dramatically.  Getting those last few teeth in probably wouldn’t hurt either.

At 12 months you had just six teeth and now you are only missing your canines, which look like they should be breaking through on the top in the next couple of days.  After the remainder of your teeth are in, your binkie is going to be gone once and for all.  In July Grandma Shari and Kimpa came to visit and while they were here, they rid you of the binkie completely!  Then they left and you started getting molars… and the bikie crept back in to preserve the sanity of your parents.  This one has been a hard habit to break but the doctor suggested that getting rid of it will help improve your speech and I think that you will like that much more than you will like your binkie.

During Grandma’s visit Daddy and I took a weekend trip to spend with Aunty Michelle and Uncle Nate at Niagra Falls and Kirtland.  You loved your special weekend with Grandma and we decided that leaving you for a couple of days at a time is most easily achieved after a baby is a year old, when they no longer need formula, a bottle (I took yours at 15 months and you didn’t skip a beat), or quite as much sleep.  You had a great time without us and we had a great time exploring.  You especially liked the souvenirs we brought back: a Niagra Falls popper and a new baby sibling!  We’re not sure yet if it will be a sister or a brother but your little sibling will be here around April 3^rd, just after your second birthday.  Now whenever we see babies you walk up to them and point, not quite sure what else to do with them.

You started walking a tad bit late at 13.5 months.  You took your first unassisted steps on a Tuesday and by Friday you were steady and stable.  Before you started walking it was obvious that you had the skills, you just weren’t using them yet.  While we were over at the Kennedy’s house I pulled out the Lucky Charms and bribed you to walk across the living room to me for a marshmallow reward.  You came eagerly and we spent the rest of the afternoon walking from marshmallow to marshmallow.  I was such a proud mother!

After walking came running and once you started you could hardly stop.  You run everywhere and are REALLY fast!  I love to watch your little blonde hair flap up in the wind as you run and jump with all of your energy.  You jump down curbs, over cracks and any other place that looks jumpy and though you’ve got great momentum, your cute little feet don’t quite leave the ground yet.  I love to watch you use your imagination, especially as you play.  You love to play cars, trains, ball, or do anything outside.  And when you are done you make sure to organize them all back into their rightful baskets and to put the baskets back in their designated place on the shelf.  You are a very orderly little boy.  At the park you love to go run around and climb all over everything, but you never exceed your limits.  If a ledge is too tall, you stay away from it.  If a slide is too big, you go to the smaller one.  It is so fun to sit back on a park bench and watch you explore your world or to join you for a push on a swing.  When you are playing by yourself you are always sure to come back every 5-10 minutes to say hello and give me a hug.  It is like you are checking in, making sure everything is still ok.  And it is.  It always is.

It has only been this past few weeks that you have started liking to cuddle.  You used to squirm and pull back if we would try and hug you and now you love to set your head on my shoulder and wrap your tiny arms around my neck while I squeeze you and rub your back.  I cannot think of a single thing that makes me happier than those moments that you come to me for loves.  I just love your sweetness.  Thank you Can Can for bringing such a light to our lives with your goodness and bright smiles.  I love watching you grow and being a part of your world.

I Love You Forever,

Mommy