The Gauck's: 18 Months!

I can not believe Noah is 1 1/2 years old already! We love this age an all that it brings. Independence is the name of the game these days. He wants to do things himself and definitely has his own opinions and likes/dislikes. He has a bit of a punk rock taste in music these days-Pink, No Doubt, Kelly Clarkson....with a little Bob Marley, Maroon Five and Country thrown in there. When a song comes on that he likes (it has to have a good beat of course), he will stop what he is doing to dance, clap, bop his head, jump (clears one foot sometimes!), march or kick his legs out. He flips through songs on the ipod until he gets to one he likes. Then he wants to play it over and over. He'll let you know if he doesn't like the song too! One of his favorite kid songs lately is Old MacDonald. He can sort of say "EIEIO" to request it. Daryl set up some of his old drum set for Noah. He loves it! We may have a little drummer on our hands!

Noah knows the sounds for a snake, lion, cow and sometimes a dog. Today is just said "oww" for the cat (meow). Noah has started to say "yes" and "no" appropriately (sometimes anyway-other times everything is no). I love it when you ask him something and he thinks about it for a second and says "ummmmm.....no." Haha! He tries very hard to repeat words you tell him to, but most of the time it's a "D" followed by a vowel. Today he said "bayyyybayyyy" for baby when I pointed to the little girl I babysit. He can't say "1, 2, 3, GO!, but he will say it in his own jibberish before he jumps, goes down the slide, etc. It's fun to watch his vocab blossom! When something is cold he makes fists, puts his teeth together and makes a shivering movement-too cute! Speaking of teeth-he 8 front teeth, 2 top molars and 2 bottom molars. He fake coughs when someone else does and pretends to spit in the sink after we do when brushing our teeth.

He still likes to go into rooms and shut the door on us, but now he can also open some of the doors. Before, we could shut the bathroom door while we were getting ready and we knew he would stay in there. Now, he can get out. That means lots of running around for mom and dad. He is very much into climbing-on the kitchen chairs, on the couch, the kitchen table.....anything. He walks up stairs with 1 hand on the railing. Coming down he needs his other hand held or he scoots down on his bottom.

He is getting into pretend play now. He has some fake picnic food that he likes to play with. He will pretend to mix the food, eat it and shares it with whoever is around. Noah also likes to feed his teddy bear. Mr. Teddy has become a favorite. He sleeps with him and sometimes carries him around the house. He falls asleep holding onto him. Yesterday he spotted a Curious George stuffed animal and really liked it. He hasn't let go of him since. (except for when I had to give it to the cashier to check out-Noah's bottom lip instantly came out and he started to cry :( )

Other Likes: DADDY (He wants Daddy ALL the time now), root beer floats, mowing the lawn, dirt, sand box, the pool, his cars, the Peek-a-Boo Bear, playing hide & seek
Dislikes: being in s stroller, car seat or highchair for too long

Other fun things we have done this month: Strawberry picking, went to watch the sprint car races, the zoo, 4th of July parade and festival