A Better Life with Burgers: Declan: 18 Months

Happy half birthday to our funny, sweet, adorable little boy!

I should get some height and weight stats this week at Declan's check up appointment, but he fits in all the clothes Marshall was wearing at this age, so I assume the numbers are similar. 18 months is such a FUN age! I remember it well with Marshall, too (Marshall at 18 months, just for fun), and I absolutely love watching Declan in this stage of life.

Declan is a big eater and loves most foods. He hates potatoes. (On St. Patrick's Day, I joked that he's got the world's most Irish name and is German and yet hates potatoes. I have no idea.) But for the most part he's really into meal time and cries when I don't serve him fast enough. Many days, he eats more than his big brother!

Declan is gaining a lot of coordination and is much more steady on his feet. Just last week he started picking up speed and now he can almost run! I love watching his determination as he tries to make his little feet move as fast as possible. He also really wants to learn how to jump. He's got a solid squat and then he stands up really fast and says, "Jump!" Sometimes he picks up one foot, but he never gets off the ground. I just love it.

Declan's language is exploding, too! He is gaining new words every day, and we hear him improving his pronunciation of words, too. Some new words lately: excavator ("etta"), horse, frog, panda, shirt. And my favorite right now: "'Shull" (his word for Marshall). He also just started saying "Denden" which means Declan. He also shakes his head when he says "no" and just makes me smile.

Declan still stays home with me for the time being, and we get lots of quality time together. His favorite activities are water play (I've started setting up some bowls and cups for pouring and splashing in our backyard), reading, doing anything his brother is doing, tinkering around the house with whatever toys he stumbles upon, and any gross motor activities (walking, running, climbing stairs, etc.).

For a long time, I worried that Declan wouldn't love reading, since he showed just about zero interest for his first year. But finally, we won him over in the last few months. (I have no advice here, except to say that when he did finally start to seem interested in one book, we would stop whatever we were doing to join him and read with him. Even now, if he brings us a book, we'll do everything we can to stop and read so that he sees it's a priority for us and that it's a good way to spend quality time together. Ultimately, though, I realize that he is probably naturally interested in books and reading and it just took a little while to reveal that interest.) Reading with Marshall has been one of the greatest joys of my life, and I am so thrilled to get to share a similar experience with Declan, too. Of course, it's rare that we get them to want to read the same book at the same time, but we'll take what we can get!

Speaking of his brother, Declan and Marshall are starting to form a brotherly bond. I'm excited to see their relationship evolving past coexistence and into moments of joy and fun together. These moments do not last long, and they usually end in tears, but I can see glimpses of a future of brotherly love, and I'm willing to wait for more of it.

Some days we have molars breaking through (he's at 9 teeth, first molar in, and we're all dreading the next few), and life is hard on those days. Lots of clinging to mama, whining, crying, and not sleeping. Poor baby.

But most days, we have a happy, funny, silly little guy who loves to make faces and imitate the people around him. He is curious, engaged, confident, and loving. He loves mama and dada and Marshall, and he makes our family and days so bright.