18 months old.

Our little Levi James turned 18 months old a few days ago! How is that even possible?

Here's a little update on who he is today:

* He is starting to talk so much and use real words and sentences. Some of his latest new words/phrases are: I want milk (i wa mil), outside, ow (when he gets hurt), stuck or I'm stuck, bar (for his favorite thing to eat - cereal bars), go, I want down (I wa do), help, please (peese), thank you, Elmo (mel-mo). He's been saying for awhile now: mama, mommy, dada, daddy, Isaiah, Grandma, Grandpa, ball, puppy, book, no, mine (love that one), stop, stop it, uh-oh, out, binky (dinky), blankie (bank-ie), and probably lots more.

* He loves his big brother. He often calls for Isaiah when he's not around. He loves to do what Isaiah's doing...

* which means he's a monkey and a dare devil just like Isaiah! He has no fear and is very curious. He isn't afraid to climb on the coach and fall off the backside of it. He is brave.

* This braveness has left him with multiple bumps, bruises, cuts, and scrapes. I can't remember a day that Levi hasn't had some kind of owie on his face. But he is so brave, that he hardly flinches, let alone cries, when he gets a bump.

* He loves to dance. When he hears music, he starts waiving his hands in the air and dances. He gets a big smile on his face and is so happy.

* He also loves to jump. He is a good jumper! His favorite thing to do is jump up and then land on his bottom. He will do this and then grin, get up and do it again :) silly boy.

* He still loves to sleep with his binky and his blanky, but I think he's about ready to give them up (okay, maybe not, but I'm starting to feel like he should). He actually has just about given up his binky at Laura's house. I think it's been 2 or 3 days now that he's gone down for a nap without a binky there! He usually doesn't have a binky unless it's nap time or bed time -- or he's really cranky/tired.

* He still shows no interest in the TV (which is good). He could care less if it's on. He might stop and watch it for maybe 30 seconds if something very exciting happens to be on (like Elmo or Mickey). We rarely have the TV on at our house, but Isaiah usually likes to watch a show when he first wakes up.

* He now sleeps really well at night (it's about time , right:) and goes down easily (most nights) around 8--sometimes closer to 7:30 when he didn't get a good afternoon nap, or 8:30 if he had a late afternoon nap--and sleeps until about 7 in the morning. Once in awhile he wakes up around 4 or 5, but Mark can usually get him to lay back down in his crib and sleep another hour or two. If I try to put him back down, it doesn't work! I'm too much of a softie and will pick him up and then Levi's won the battle! :) Just occasionally does he wake up in the middle of the night.

* Just recently he was working on getting all 4 of his cuspid teeth in. They have all popped through (or at least you can see the tips of each one) so he's finally not so cranky. Last week was a week where the occasionally up in the night was for a couple hours each night. Those teeth were the hardest yet! He's now up to 12 teeth!

* He's still a picky eater. He has a few things that we can count on him eating: cereal bars, cheese, noodles, grilled cheese, grapes, kiwi, rice. He will usually eat: apples (but he prefers big pieces or a whole apple), things made with hamburger - like casseroles, tacos, etc, chicken nuggets, soup. Hopefully he'll start eating a little more variety!

We love our little Levi and are so happy that he is such a healthy little boy!!