Stephen at 18 months!

Stephen is such a fun easy going boy!  I don't have all of his stats... we are going for his well-child in January once we get home from AZ, so I will know them then!
Eating:
Stephen is a good eater.  He has a healthy appetite, and does love to indulge a bit! ;) His favorite drink is Naked juice.  We have cut milk down at our house... long story... he likes the Green Machine.  Favorite foods are apples, noodles, broccoli, breakfast sausage, clementines, grapes, yogurt etc.  He is doing a really good job working with his spoon/fork.  And, he will not eat with out one of them.  He stands at the silverware drawer saying, KNI (sounds like knife...just drop the fe) meaning fork or spoon.  Stephen can drink form an open cup.  He is good at using 2 hands but sometimes gets a bit excited and tips the cup too much and gets a little drink up his nose! oops!  But, he has yet to spill (!!!)  Most of the time with meals, he does drink from a sippy still though. 

Talking:
I just wrote about his vocab the other day... but it is totally taking off!!  Just today he has more new words: Bite, Bone, Book.
clearly he likes the B words.  :) He is very willing to try to say any word I ask... he just isn't usually willing to preform his new words.  I am always so excited when he says a word, I try to get him to say it for other people and he just looks at me like I'm nuts!

Sleeping:
Stephen is an easy sleeper.  he is pretty compliant when it comes nap/bed time.  More importantly, when he wakes up... he is always smiling! ALWAYS.  I love it!  Walking in to get him and he is jumping up and down saying, Momma! Dadda! or John!  He is a very happy kid when he wakes up. 
And, I know I said that he has been up in the night a lot this past week... I hope it has passed because he slept through the night again last night! Yahoo! 
He sleeping habits are: 8pm bedtime, between 5:30-7am wake up and nap from about 1-4pm every day.  He needs a 3-4 hour nap... and sometimes he will take 2 shorter naps. 

Driving in the car:
Stephen is very quite when driving (riding).  He is not a fan of getting put in his car seat and fights it quite a bit.  But once buckled he just watches out his window.  However, when him and John get into a little big yelling match ... OY!  They are super loud! We are in the phase of , Beef looked at me! He looked out my window! He is talking! He ....you get the point.  And that is when they both start yelling at each other.  Stephen thinks it is a fun game, so he is laughing and proud of how loud he can get while John is usually upset and does not think it is funny.  This surely turns into a big power struggle on the road... something we are working on!

Biscuit:
Stephen's favorite thing right now is his dog, Bup and his book, Biscuit.  He loves to carry around his dog and loves his book from Gramma Mitty.  He has 4 dogs, and would carry them all, all the time if he could. 

Playing:
Stephen is starting to do imaginative play.  He will take a car and drive it around, read to his dog, eat play food, etc.  He is also interested in "self-help" too.  He will brush his hair alone and say, nice, try to take off his clothes or try to put them on.  He really is good at entertaining himself.... not to say he plays alone all day but, he is happy to do it and can stay busy building blocks, looking at books etc.

A couple other little things:
When we tell him he is cute, he rolls his eyes up and smiles as he tilts his head.... a little dramatic? Yes, but So CUTE!  It gives me a laugh every time. :)
When we eat, he is starting to fold his hands and pray with us as a family.  A very touching thing as a parent to watch. 

Love you Stephen!!!  18 months... you are getting SO OLD!! :'(

Giving Biscuit a kiss good night! <3