The first thing to know about Makili at 18 months, is that he knows what he wants and what he doesn't want. If he doesn't like your offer you will get this look and these shrugged shoulders, which cracks us up. I can't tell you how often I see this shoulder shrug.
Some things that Makili likes: 1. eating. 2. climbing on chairs 3. parks 4. jumping 5. eating. His new favorite thing is Daddy, which I'll be honest I don't mind too much. It is actually pretty cute. He yells "Daaaa" every time he sees Raph and only wants Dad to do everything. (I love this especially when its time for a diaper change). "Makili, want me to change your diaper." At this point he will just point to Dad.Makili is very into motor skills. He's been jumping off of the ground for over a month and loves it when there is a slight lip between two surfaces so that he can jump off. He only gets about an inch of air, so it is still pretty funny to watch him jump. (Raph likes to point out that he gets the same amount of air as his mother.) He LOVES to climb on chairs, and pretty much refuses to sit in his chair any longer - preferring to climb onto a chair at the dinner table and stand there with us. He's only tipped over half a dozen chairs in this process, for the record. He loves slides, parks where he can get into the climbing thing by himself. He loves ramps and running up and down them.
Makili is just really starting to take off with language. For a while there, he was completely obsessed with the letter "d" and EVERY word would start with it. Ball was "dall," shoe was "do," etc. The only exception to this being his ability to say "more" and "choo choo" with relative clarity. As a matter of fact he used to say "b" for berries, and brooms and balloons, but even that subsided to the "d" for a while. This week though, he has really gotten better. I don't know if I can list all his words, and you might not be able to understand them if he said them but I think I'll try: more, choo-choo, clock, shoe, ball, sock, hat, daddy, mommy (seldom heard!), tick-tock, water (noone but me would probably understand this one), cat, dog, tree, help (another one I alone would probably understand), up, done, block, diaper, uh-oh. That's all I can think of at the moment but I know there are more. I know other kids his age with working vocabularies, but Makili is holding his own I think. He's just far more into the motor skills. He doesn't have much trouble getting his point across, though, so I'm not too worried. He also still signs when it is convenient.
The kid understands absolutely everything. He understands prepositions. "Your ball is under the couch" will prompt him to go get a broom and try to push it out. "Go around the table." no sweat. Sometimes he will bring me a diaper when he is about to poop (and he always tells me after the fact, by grabbing his crotch Micheal Jackson style and saying diaper), which I think is a great sign and I might get a little bold with the potty training sometime soon? He understands "put it back" very well, and will usually listen, unless you get the afore-mentioned shoulder shrug, which means he is not interested in putting said object back. He can definitely follow two-step directions, though he will often pause and stare at you first while he makes sense of what you said.
Makili is amazingly adept with spacial puzzles. I bought a floor puzzle with numbers and shapes at the thrift store for $1. I though in another year or two, he'll like this. But for fun, i pulled it out and started putting it together. He amazed me by being able to put the shapes in the correct holes. At first I thought it was an accident, but now he does it like a pro and I've seen him use the same brain power on other 2-dimensional puzzles. He hasn't seemed to generalize the knowledge to 3-dimensional shapes though. For example, he still hasn't mastered the shape sorter, which I find super interesting.
He is still a fairly good sleeper, though he spoiled us over the break by sleeping until 8:00. He is back to his normal 6:00 wake up which is acceptable I suppose. We're working on not laying with him at bedtime. We had worked this out before our trip to California in October, when Makili was spoiled, and we are just now diggging our heels in about it. A few times recently, Makili has refused to take a nap, and made it all day without one. I'm discouraging this at my friend Nadine's suggestion, since when #2 comes around it will help me stay sane.
He hasn't been to the doctor in nearly 3 months (if you don't count the emergency room), so I don't know how much he weighs and how tall he is but I'd guess low average on all accounts except head circumference of course.
Makili has also been a giggle monster lately. He's developing quite a sense of humor and when he thinks something is funny (like hide and go see which he LOVES) he giggles like a maniac. This age is terrbly cute. I'll try to add some more pictures but I've been working on this post for ever, so I'm going to post it before it is out of date.
Makili is amazingly adept with spacial puzzles. I bought a floor puzzle with numbers and shapes at the thrift store for $1. I though in another year or two, he'll like this. But for fun, i pulled it out and started putting it together. He amazed me by being able to put the shapes in the correct holes. At first I thought it was an accident, but now he does it like a pro and I've seen him use the same brain power on other 2-dimensional puzzles. He hasn't seemed to generalize the knowledge to 3-dimensional shapes though. For example, he still hasn't mastered the shape sorter, which I find super interesting.
He is still a fairly good sleeper, though he spoiled us over the break by sleeping until 8:00. He is back to his normal 6:00 wake up which is acceptable I suppose. We're working on not laying with him at bedtime. We had worked this out before our trip to California in October, when Makili was spoiled, and we are just now diggging our heels in about it. A few times recently, Makili has refused to take a nap, and made it all day without one. I'm discouraging this at my friend Nadine's suggestion, since when #2 comes around it will help me stay sane.
He hasn't been to the doctor in nearly 3 months (if you don't count the emergency room), so I don't know how much he weighs and how tall he is but I'd guess low average on all accounts except head circumference of course.
Makili has also been a giggle monster lately. He's developing quite a sense of humor and when he thinks something is funny (like hide and go see which he LOVES) he giggles like a maniac. This age is terrbly cute. I'll try to add some more pictures but I've been working on this post for ever, so I'm going to post it before it is out of date.
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