"Of Course" Aaron is 18-months Old!

"Of course!" happens to be Mudgie's catch phrase of the week. He seems to have a new favorite saying every week. This week's is "of course," last week's was "perhaps," and the week before that was "fascinating!" I'm not sure where he picks them up, but he uses them all correctly. This kid's vocabulary is insane! Aaron, on the other hand, is much more physical than verbal. He's great at pointing and motioning to get his point across, though he is getting new words every week.

Aaron had his 18-month check up on Friday, and now weighs in at 25.4 lbs, and measures 32 inches. Of course, he measured 32.5 inches tall at his 15-month check-up, so clearly one of those was off, but since he doesn't stand still, it's impossible to know which! The good news is that he's meeting all his milestones, and he only needed one shot, which he took like a champ and hardly cried at all. Mudgie was very upset at the idea of Aaron getting a shot (so sweet) and couldn't watch! Since Aaron's doctor is also Mudgie's doctor, he took a quick listen to Mudgie's lungs while we were in there and confirmed that Mudgie is once again 100% healthy.

After the doctor, we went to the toy store to pick out a birthday present for Cole, a daycare friend. Mudgie insisted that Cole really likes busses, and we had to get him one, which was fine, but then, of course, Mudgie wanted one too. While he protested a bit, he really seemed to understand when I explained that he was not going to get anything now, and if he wanted a new toy he should put it on his wish list for his birthday. It's a tough concept for a 3-year-old, but he seems to understand delayed gratification.

Saturday was the birthday party, and both Mudgie and Aaron had a great time. Aaron enjoyed running around and playing on his own, checking in on his girlfriend, Cole's little sister Riley, from time to time. Mudgie, on the other hand, totally shocked me with his level of participation. There was someone running group activities with the kids (playing with a parachute, red light green light, etc.), and Mudgie, who is not a joiner at all, listened and played along with all these kids he didn't know! His other daycare friends were off playing in the bouncy house or in the arcade, but Mudgie was there following directions. Who would have expected that???

The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow. Grammy and Grampy Weatherwax came over, and Grampy fixed Mudgie's "Polar Express" train, so of course he was thrilled. We think Aaron's incisors are starting to come in, so he was cranky and clingy. However, there were a few moments this weekend when Mudgie and Aaron played so nicely together. The game of choice is "chase," and it's one that they can both play by their own rules and nobody seems to care. They run around the house after each other, Aaron getting lapped by Mudgie, and they love it. Dave and I love it too because it tires them out, and because when they chase each other, we don't have to do it! I hope as they get older they find more games to play together because it's so cute to watch, and so nice to have a little break.