18 Months

Landon turned 1.5 years old on Thursday. JP took him to his doctor's appointment and gave me a detailed report:

Landon said "doc-TOR" several times on the drive over, as coached by JP, but then completely forgot how to say it when the doctor actually came in the room. He was still quite charming of course, and she declared him in excellent health and progressing perfectly in all his developmental milestones. His height remains in the 25th percentile (I wonder if that will stay true, with a 6'3" dad and 5'9" mom it would be surprising), his weight dropped to the 60th from the 75th (I thought his belly looked a little smaller), and his head remained in the mighty 95th! He looked very offended when the nurse pricked his toe, after all, he'd just been flirting with her, and he was furious when she administered his shots. On the drive home, his fury spent, he fell fast asleep.

So things went well. I was sorry to miss it, but I had an unavoidable conflict and I trust JP to ask pertinent questions, fill me in on the answers, and most importantly, snuggle Landon properly after his shots. And really, given Landon's tight bond with his daddy, he probably calmed faster in JP's arms than he would have mine. Besides, we're in for a lifetime of co-parenting, I might as well start giving up some control (and guilt) now.

I wrote him a letter at 17 months, so there's no need to repeat it all again, but suffice it to say that at 18 months old, Landon is somehow even more delightful. Sure he has his tantrums and will occasionally throw himself to the floor for no reason (well, I'm sure he thinks he has a perfectly legitimate reason, it's just that I can't figure out what it is), but those are blips on the radar screen. He's so full of love, and so eager to share it- he waves at everyone when we're out and about, he's constantly giving hugs to Tex, and at night when I put him to bed he throws his chubby little arms around my neck and snuggles in deep. I still tear up 9 times out of 10 while singing "You Are My Sunshine" just before laying him down.

He loves to point us out in pictures around the house and on his family poster at daycare. He follows JP around everywhere and had a big time "measuring" stuff with his little tape measure when JP was building the shelves for our study. We've seen a huge leap in how much he understands what we're saying over the past month and now he'll generally do what you've asked him to do- even when I think whatever I said was too complex for him to follow (I just talk out loud as I'm about to do something and lately he's started doing whatever I was about to ahead of me!). He still dances all the time and we have dance parties to music with inappropriate lyrics in the kitchen (we really need to make a G-rated iTunes mix). He also still loves to be read books in our laps, though unfortunately he has recently figured out that he can wait to turn around until he's right in front of us.

He's a continual source of joy and laughter and frustration, a quintessential toddler, and just when I think I couldn't possibly love him more, I do. Happy 18 months little guy.