Jacob, 18 months

My little man had his 18 month appointment the other day. The doctor said he's growing like a weed. He weighs in at just over 22lbs, and is now 30 and a half inches tall -which puts his height up in the 4th percentile!

Jacob amazes me almost on a daily basis.. He likes to figure things out, he's observant, and he's learning new words almost daily. Jacob is my little helper. He loves to help unload the dishwasher, will throw away trash without being asked, and always wants to be the one who pushes to buttons to start the dishwasher.

The picky about food stage seems to be coming to a close. Now Jacob will eat almost anything we give him, or at very least he'll actually try a few bites before deciding he doesn't want any more. Also new in the past few weeks is that he's actually eating fruit! Until now Jacob wouldn't touch any solid fruits though he loved purees, fruit pouches, and applesauce. In the last week or two Jacob has eaten part of a peach, apple slices, a banana, orange slices, and some grapes.

It's been fun to be around as Jacob's vocabulary grows, and so neat to see what he actually understands. He's a little chatterbox and likes talking to himself. If we're in the car for a drive we can usually hear Jacob back in his seat "yomma yomma  Daddy vroom vroom, diaper, duckie!" As he goes through jabbering and adding words that he knows. My favorite thing this week has been hearing Jacob say "yeah" or "no" a lot, and using them in context!

"Jacob, do you want to go outside?"
"Yeah!"

"Do you want to do laundry for me?"
"Mm, no"

"Do you know how to say 'banana'?"
"Yeah"
"Go ahead, say ba-na-na"
"Naner"

Jacob loves to share his toys, food, teddy, water, etc. His sweet personality just makes me melt.
He's a bit of a flirt sometimes when we're out in public, though not with everyone. I'm not sure what he bases his friendliness on, but sometimes he'll be shy and hide from people, or all the way at the other extreme, he'll be waving and saying hi and grinning ear to ear.
Jacob loves to be outside, even if he's just walking around the driveway, he usually throws a bit of a fit when it's time to come inside.
His favorite things right now are cars and trucks. He identifies vehicles by saying "Vroom vroom" when they drive by, or he sees a picture of them. Stores that have car shopping carts are much easier to shop at because he stays happily driving the cart the whole time we're there. And, his favorite toys are a Dodge Viper that Alex has had for years -it's now missing two wheels, the trunk lid, and the windshield- and his Little People schoolbus.

On the downside, Jacob is starting to find a bit of a stubborn/headstrong streak that can be quite a challenge at times. We joke that he's so smart he's just hitting his terrible twos six months early.

All in all, Jacob is growing and learning, and brings so much joy to our lives, we couldn't imagine life without him.