Cooper 18 Months

Cooper turned 18 months about 2 weeks ago.

I just love this picture of him.

Stats:

Weight 25.2 lbs. (45th %)

Height 32 inches (45th %)

Head: 20.25 inches (95%)

His head finally came back on the chart!

Latest Cooper-isms:

• Talking is coming along. He says new words nearly every day now.
• He is obsessed with rotary fans, be it the ceiling or free-standing variety. He loves to turn them on and off, on and off, talk into them, and tell you how they go round and round (as he does the hand motions).
• He sings his own version of the ABC's, which he only gets the first 4 letters audibly correct, but you can hear the rest of it are his versions of letters. He recognizes that letters and words exist, but mistakes numbers for letters. When he sees that something is a letter or number, he proudly pronounces, "ABC!" I have been trying unsuccessfully for weeks to get the ABC song on video.
• He also sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, " which you can tell by the phrasing, not the words. Same thing with "Baa, Baa Black Sheep," which is distinguished from "Twinkle, Twinkle" by the occasional "Baa, Baa" sound.
• Cooper and Chelsey recently made a cat face out of paper, with the eyes cut out, and pasted on a popsicle stick. When it is held up to his face, him looking through the eye cut-outs, he'll say, "Meow." Gets me every time. Today he made 5 little ducks and was trying to sing me the "Five Little Ducks Went Out to Play" song.
• He is big into singing songs with corresponding hand motions like "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Wheels on the Bus," and "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree."
• His favorite book to read is "I'm a Little Teapot" and loves to tip the book at the appropriate time.
• His most favorite thing to read at bed time and naps is a magazine I have that shows what games to play with your baby at appropriate ages. Nearly every page has pictures of babies, and he loves to "read" it by looking at the pictures and talking about what each baby is doing. The thing has been read so many times that the cover has come off (with a little help from Cooper ripping it), and it's becoming rather worn.
• His favorite food is either ketchup or ranch dressing. He won't actually eat the food item being dipped, but will rather lick all the ketchup/ranch off the food item and re-dip until said dip runs out, and then screams for more, which word he has no trouble saying repeatedly. He also loves popsicles and yogurt, but insists on feeding himself with no help. Imagine the mess involved with self-feeding of yogurt.

Sometimes he seems so big. He looks like a little kid here rather than a toddler. He was proud of himself for standing on the counter top...

...and ecstatic to dance on it.