18 Months (yesterday)

What?! Lincoln is 18 months old? Crazy.
It's funny how it can seem like just yesterday that he was born, while still feeling like he's always been a part of our family. He is such a happy, curious, ball of energy and we love him to pieces.

This little guy is ALL BOY. He loves balls, cars, trucks, trains, airplanes, getting messy, running, playing in water, and most recently - sword fighting (aka chasing & hitting with foam swords). He also loves to wrestle and rough-house, and can definitely hold his own...unfortunately he's not to the age yet where he understands that not every other kid wants to play rough. So, lately that has often translated into several other kids getting pushed or hit by him at playgroups that we attend. He doesn't do it angrily or aggressively...it's with a smile on his face, anticipating ensuing rough-housing, but that obviously doesn't make a difference to the unsuspecting kid who is attacked...and he doesn't understand yet to stop when the other kid starts crying either. So, we're working on that. *sigh* I'm glad that Lincoln generally doesn't go after kids younger than him, but just because the kids are older doesn't always mean that they're smaller...Lincoln is a big, boy (and fast) and I hear all of the time that he looks quite a bit older than he is. Speaking of his size, here are his most recent stats from his check-up yesterday:

• weight: 29.1 pounds (86th percentile)
• height: 33.27 inches (78th percentile)
• head: 20.28 inches (still off the charts)

It's a good thing that physicians have a pretty good idea of what's indicative of child abuse, otherwise I would have been pretty nervous bringing Lincoln in for his appointment yesterday...the rough & tumble kid is always covered in cuts and bruises. Luckily, when his doctor saw him (and immediately noticed skinned up knees) he said, "That's what I like to see! An active boy!" *Whew. He gets it*

Now, all of that being said...Lincoln really does have a super sweet and calm side to him too. Really. He is our little cuddle bug and he will sometimes just ask to sit on your lap or be held. Linc loves being read to, and has recently started sitting and reading books on his own also. He readily gives out hugs and kisses. Sometimes he'll just stop what he's doing for a minute to give a nice soft hug, and then run back to whatever he was doing. My favorite new "soft" thing that he does is stroke my face and hair. Mark & I love to do that to him when he's getting tired. Lincoln must like it, because recently he has started climbing up onto my lap out of the blue, then softly stroke my cheeks and hair, followed by a hug. It melts my heart and sometimes is exactly what I need.

As for a few more things that Lincoln likes right now...

• He loves to climb. He climbs anything and everything fearlessly, including his way out of his crib (on the lowest setting of course) last week. So, he's already in a big boy bed. It's weird not having a crib in the house.
  
• He is good about eating, but by far his favorite food is fruit - particularly berries. His vocabulary has gotten pretty good, but he seems to have slacked off a little bit lately since he learned that he can point and say "Some! Please!" and get whatever he wants.
• He loves his binky. "Bink, bink!"
• He adores Buzz Lightyear. Gee, I wonder who he learned that from...
• He's nuts about his daddy. When Mark gets home he runs to him squealing and jumps into his arms (he seems to think that I'm ok too).
• Like lots of younger siblings (at this age anyway), he thinks that his big brother is pretty cool. He mimics a lot of what Noah does & says. Since they're interested in a lot of similar things now that naturally creates more fighting over toys, but it also means more playing together...and I love that. My favorite is when they chase each other and laugh and laugh.
• Lincoln loves all of his grandparents, and we feel so blessed to live so close to them & be able to see them so often. He calls them "mama & papa" and is always happy to see them.
• He loves animals and their associating noises. There are several that he likes, but his top favs right now are monkeys, cows, and lions.

I wanted to write this up now, but I'll be posting Lincoln's 18 month pictures later when I have them. In the meantime I'll continue to enjoy my fun little 18 month old rough and tumble sweetheart.