18 Months

18 Month Stats:
weight: 26 lbs 3 oz..............50th percentile
height: 33.5 inches..............90th percentile
head: 19.5cm.......................95th percentile!

July 29th Riley turned 18 months! A couple of days later I helped my sister-in-law do some pictures of a 4 week old, it's really made me realize just how grown up my little baby is. He is such a boy now.

Riley is a talker. He gets on the phone with Memaw and chats away. He's getting to the age where he really is talking to you, but you can't always figure out what he's saying so everyone can become very frustrated. He's pretty good at showing you what he wants and I can usually catch a word or two. It's exciting to watch him learn and figure things out. He seems smarter every day.

We finally have the sleep thing under control (although he did throw up last night for the first time in a couple of months). He usually sleeps 10-12 hours at night and has one 1 1/2 hour nap during the day. We've maintained this schedule for a few months now and it's the best we've ever had!
He's a pretty good eater, but still has a bottle before nap and bedtime. I've put off taking it from him while we focused on actually getting him to go to sleep so now I've gotta work on that.

He loves to run and climb and jump and dance- and does ALL day. There is never a dull moment and he never stops moving. He runs up and down the couch, he climbs on top of the kitchen table, he climbs into the bathtubs and turns the water on (and throws anything and everything in), he runs into the streets, he runs down slides...you get the idea. It's a nothing short of a miracle that we haven't had an emergency room trip. Sometimes when I go to bed at night and reflect of the day I almost have an anxiety attack.

He's learned to give KISSES! Riley was very developmentally delayed in this department, but boy was it worth the wait! Just ask him for one sometime...

He loves his Mia cat and often wants to lay his head on her belly and give her kisses. He is very concerned about her and if she gets out will stand at the door calling for her.

He's developed a bit of separation anxiety from his Momma. He often throws a tantrum if I walk into another room. He won't stay in the Kids Club at the gym anymore (he used to be like "see ya mom" and go play), which means since my hubby often works 10-12 hour days I don't go to the gym! If I touch another kid it's guaranteed meltdown. Some say he just needs a sibling...

He's caught on to the "Amen" at the end of prayers. Only problem is he usually thinks the prayer should end before it does and shouts Amen a little too early.

Now that he is a such a big boy, he gets to attend nursery at church and we are pretty excited to hear a Sunday school lesson for the first time in 18 months!

We have had lots of visits with family over the summer and I'll probably never catch up on all that blogging, so here's to a clean start! I'll try to do better with all our upcoming trips and
visitors!
Here are a few pics from our trip to the Dallas World Aquarium last weekend... it was pretty impressive!