I have absolutely no idea how 18 months has passed so quickly…. but on the other hand, it feels like we’ve had Jack in our lives forever! This post is a tiny bit late, with Jack actually turning 18 months on the 20th! I haven’t done a monthly update since 15 months, and to be honest a tonne hasn’t changed, but Jack is just getting more and more capable everyday. I’m amazed at how clever he is and he has such a good understanding of language and the world around him.
He’s still extremely talkative and says upwards of 50+ words. Some new favourites include “coffee”, “goose”, “shark”, “star”, “circle”, “sucker” and “heart” – as you can tell he loves shapes and can identify the main ten shapes. He also loves animals and knows all the names of the main animals as well as the sound that each one makes! He’s a wee sound effects machine and keeps everyone entertained with his different noises for things – the noise the plug makes is the funniest! He also does a really good monkey and a hilarious goose!
What he understands is incredible, and I can ask him to do quite complex tasks and he will do it. He identifies so many objects and items now, as well as colours. He constantly amazes me with what he knows and it just goes to show how much children listen to us while we are talking away.
We are still working on our alphabet – I started teaching him the alphabet a few weeks ago as he is really interested in letters. He knows ABC, O, S & Z. We are also learning counting and so far he knows 1. He also know that he is 1 if someone asks him his age. I’m having so much fun teaching him all these things, and he just seems so keen to learn!
While Jack has been walking for six months now, he’s also started trying to run and man, he is fast! He loves to get out and explore around the place and absolutely loves being outside. Puddles are the most fun thing, followed closely by gravel and stones. He’s also getting very good at household chores. His job is to put the washing in the washing machine and he’s also getting really good at hanging it on the inside line. I am wanting to get him a little stool so he can start to help in the kitchen – he will love that!
For Christmas Jack got a little table and chairs which he can now sit at and do art and puzzles etc. His highchair wasn’t the right height to sit at the big table and the tray was too small for activities, so this is going to open up a whole new world to him! He also got a bike for Christmas. We skipped the whole balance bike thing and just went for a kids bike with trainer wheels. He will need help at first, but I don’t think it will take him long to get the hang of pedalling.
He also is a total wee boy and loves his cars and trucks. He spends hours playing on the floor with them and loading and unloading his dump truck and running the people around in the school bus. It’s so lovely to watch and again, he has all the car and truck sounds – he even beeps for reverse!
We’ve also just started naps without his sleep sack and everything is going well so far. He’s getting used to the blankets and obviously doesn’t need the sack as a sleeping aid which is good. If it ever finally warms up at nights, then I’ll start taking him out of the sack at nights too. It will be so good to have the sleep sack days behind us! Next to go will be the dummy (or sucker as he likes to call it).
I think I say this about every age, but 18 months is hands down my favourite! He’s so interactive and curious and I love teaching him new things and seeing him learn more and more every day. He is such an intelligent, kind, and loving wee boy and I am so incredibly grateful that I get to be his mama.
