The Hayden Family: 18 Months

I’m pretty sure I always start off these blogs by saying “oh my gosh where has time gone?” So I have to follow suit by saying it again… “OH MY GOSH WHERE HAS TIME GONE?” Eli is 18 months old. Any tiny bit of baby that was left in him is long gone. He is all toddler through and through.

I can’t believe all the new things he has learned to do and all of the words he has learned to say. It seems like with each new day there comes at least one new skill learned and 5 new words. I used to try to keep track of the words he knows but I’ve lost count. He repeats everything we say now so we have to be extra careful with the words we choose to use when angry. I am not proud to say that he learned a four letter word from me. I’ll give you a hint it starts with sh and ends in it. If I am going to rat myself out then I will have to tell on Milan too since he is at fault just as much as I am. Eli learned the 3 letter word to describe butt from Milan. :) Luckily he has only repeated it once and hasn’t remembered it enough to say it on his own. The best part of his vocabulary explosion has been Eli remembering people’s names and being able to say things like “wuv you”, “tank u Mama”, “help pees”, and “good morning”!

As mentioned in the pizza blog Eli is a good little eater. He’s also super active and never stops. Though he has recently started sitting on my lap for a few minutes here or there. Admittedly I have tried to get him to watch a few minutes of Elmo so I can start making dinner but he refuses to pay any attention to the TV. He does recognize certain people on TV such as Dr. Oz and Rachel Ray. He points right at the TV and tells you their names. It’s pretty cute. I guess I can’t complain that he doesn’t watch any TV and doesn’t recognize any characters but I have to admit I would like 5 minutes of quiet once in a while! :)

If there ever was a child who was full of love and affection it is Eli. He will smother you with hugs and kisses. Sometimes he grabs my face and kisses me until I have to literally pull away. You can’t put a price on that kind of love. Unfortunately Eli has yet to learn his boundaries with loving on his buddies. He tackles them with his hugs and they get a little upset. Whitney and I are working on teaching Eli “gentle love.” You hate to squash his affection but when other children are suffocating under Eli’s hugs it’s time for some intervention! We’ve also been working on teaching Eli not to get people’s attention by hitting them. I don’t know any other way to describe it but to say he is so full of energy that he doesn’t know what to do with it so he hits or kicks or tackles. I take comfort in knowing that he is smiling when he does it rather than making angry faces. That counts doesn’t it?

If I had to describe Eli’s personality I would say he is intense- everything he does is intense. One thing you can’t say about Eli is that he is boring. When he laughs he laughs hard, when he cries he cries hard, when he hugs he hugs hard, when he is silly he is wild, when he is mad he is furious!

I can’t wait to see what the next 3 months have in store for us as he continues to grow and change. Enjoy some of our favorite pictures from 17 months.

Eli loves to wear Mama’s hat. Now if only he’d wear his own hat!

Just like the pizza Eli insists on holding the banana himself so he can eat it like a big boy.

Normally I’d write “Eli may be the next Tiger Woods” but I hardly find that appropriate anymore! Ha Ha! None the less Eli does like to whack the golf ball!