Tristan's Half birthday

I'm so behind on my blog posts, due mostly to our insanely busy fall, and most recently due to the fact that I need to accumulate 50 hours of continuing medical education by Dec 31. Yep, nothing like waiting till the last minute. I figure I'm better off maintaining my certification, even if my heart is as home with my babies right now. Tristan turned 18 months old last Saturday. I've always considered 18 months as the Age of Reason for babies. They suddenly go from little babies with big needs and questionable comprehension to big kids who understand and participate in language and activities. What is so incredible to me, though, is how quickly the transformation occurs. Just three months ago, Tristan was speaking only about 15 words and though I knew he was understanding some of what we were talking about, I knew he wasn't getting everything. Suddenly Tristan is VERY aware of language. Sometimes, I can be talking to Maura in the kitchen with him playing in the other room, ask if she wants a vitamin, and have him run in from the other room yelling, "Me! Me! Me!" He's especially attuned to the word "GO" and if it enters my vocabulary, he immediately becomes weepy and clingy! Love the snot nose! This one was to cute not to post, snot nose and all. Tristan is becoming quite the little communicator. He more than 30 words and about five signs. Like all 18 month olds, some of what he says is an enigma. He frequently repeats the phrase, "Blue Baba." I'm not sure if he is just referring to all sippy cups as blue babas, or if he wants something specific! His favorite new word is balloon. It sounds more like "baboon," but occasionally comes out as "boobies." Yea, I love that one in public! He has a football shaped balloon that he got at the football banquet last week and it's become his new best friend. He fell asleep holding it yesterday at nap time and I had to pry it from his hands. Last night, Brent was NOT able to pry it from his hands, so we had to keep checking to make sure he wasn't strangling with the string until he finally went to sleep!
Tristan had developed quite the sweet personality. He is still a momma's boy, especially when he's hurt or tired. Frequently when I'm rocking him(yes, I still do it!) he reaches up and gives me a kiss. It just melts my heart. He becomes like Velcro as soon as he thinks I might be leaving him. He's very obedient most of the time. I can tell him to go get something or to go to the bathroom so we can wash his hands, and he actually obeys! It's such a new and novel thing to me because Maura NEVER did that. He does have a stinker side, though, and often runs away from me. I almost always have to give him a swat when I'm putting him in his car seat because he struggles so mightily. He is VERY sensitive to physical punishment, though, and cries his little eyes out when Mommy spanks him. It's heartbreaking! Tristan is getting SO big. It's almost impossible to carry him around now. He is SO heavy. At the pediatrician's office yesterday, he weighed 32 pounds, which was over the 100th percentile. He was also 35 inches, which is over the 100th percentile. He's just a BIG boy!! I'm trying to encourage him to walk more up the stairs and even when we're out. He still has difficulty walking when we're out and about, though, because he always wants to go in a different direction. I often find myself holding the hand of a boy who has collapsed on the ground because he doesn't want to do it my way!

Physically, Tristan is getting far more adept. He can jump with both feet off the ground, climb ANYTHING and open bottle tops that weren't an issue just a few months ago. He can also open doors, even ones with the safety door knobs. I even have trouble opening those things. One of his favorite things to do is to get into one drawer in the bathroom that the safety latch doesn't always lock. He tests is EVERY time he's in our bedroom. Tristan loves riding bike outside and is almost a better driver of the Power Wheel than Maura! He also loves the kitty and I've recently caught him trying to pick her up. Poor kitty! Tristan can throw a ball really accurately and really far and can sometimes even catch one. He loves football, much to Brent's great delight, and we recently got some awesome pictures of him playing football that I'll have to share another time!!

We celebrated Tristan's half birthday with very little fanfare this year. Brent and I were actually out of town on his actual day, so the day before I got him a donut, lit a candle and Maura and I sang to him. He had absolutely no idea what was going on, but he loved all the attention! Blowing out the candle was hilarious and I caught it below. Happy Half-Birthday Little Man!