18 months

Trent is 18 months old today! He's pretty happy about his 1/2 birthday.

Is 18 months old enough to play t-ball? I really just got this set because I got a good deal on it, but Mike was excited to see it. He quickly let me know that he would be the one teaching Trent how to play ball, which is A-okay with me. {Let's just say my one season playing softball was far from successful.} Trent humored his daddy and played with him for a little while.

Warning... the rest of this post contains lots of rambling and details about my child that only my family will find amusing.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but the newborn stage is my least favorite baby stage. I know everybody says you don't get much sleep, but we really didn't get much sleep. All of you moms of two, three and four children can laugh now! Trent never fell asleep while eating- seriously, I can't remember one single time. It's like he read Babywise and insisted on following it 24 hours a day. I knew the only way we'd ever sleep again is to get him to sleep through the night. Thankfully, he was sleeping from 9-5:00 by 10 weeks, and thanks to my friend Sarah's great advice, he was sleeping or happy in his crib until 6:30 by 12 weeks. That is when I realized having a child could be FUN. I can honestly say that I've enjoyed every stage since the newborn stage. I joke that if our next child would come out as a 3-month-old, we would start trying for him/her tomorrow.

All of that to say that this stage {18 months} is my favorite yet! Of course he whines instead of talks way too often, climbs everything, and cries every single time we have to come inside... but he is becoming himself, and I love it! He makes me laugh constantly. I'm sure the average person would not think he's funny, but he cracks us up on a daily basis. He's quirky. He cries when he sees the lion roar/yawn on one of his Praise Baby DVD's, and he squeals and dances in the shower. He only says six words that we can understand, but he says sentences in his own special language. He sucks his thumb anytime he is tired or forced to be still. He thinks baby pools are overrated and insists on swimming in big pools... but he can't swim. He loves food- especially milkshakes and ice cream, but he will only eat cheese if it's on pizza. His favorite book is "Go Dog Go." If he starts fussing in the car, all you have to do is turn on his Elizabeth Mitchell CD to quiet him. He will let me rock him before bed as long as I am singing, but when I stop singing, he wiggles out of my arms. He loves doing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and he's always early on the "down came the rain" part. He knows he is only allowed to climb up the first stair, and he's often found sitting on it or going up and down it. He's likely to cry if you raise your voice at him, and he will stare down a stranger with no shame. He'd rather meet new animals than new people, and his favorite toy is anything he can push around. I could go on and on, but the length of this paragraph is overwhelming:) I can't believe he will be two in six months!