18 Months Old - Mom's Note

Nathan is 18 months old today, or in other words, he is now 1.5 year old. When we look at him, I and my husband often question each other, is this the baby that we brought home last time? He doesn't look like a baby anymore. Yes, he's such a big kid now. Both of us always feel that he grows up too fast for us to remember.

Note on Nate's physical growth:
He is still an active little boy. He loves to run alot. Whenever we walk with him, he would sometimes refuse us holding him by the hands. He would just wander around by himself or run ahead of us.
He can now climb on to our coffee table. He can also climb on his stroller by himself and sit on it, while waiting for us to buckle him up. He likes to go up and down steps now, without holding on to things. However, if he ever falls down or has a minor accident while doing his act, he'll be extra cautious the next time and will not do the same daring stunt for a while until he gains his confidence.
He grows taller very fast too. He can now reach the door handle of our main door and open it up by himself. He can also press on the lift button at the ground floor of our apartment (although he needs to stand up on his toes in order to do so).
Mealtimes are like roller coasters. There are ups and downs. He is into noodles and soup recently. So whenever I feed him rice, there will be a small battle in the beginning. But most of the time, he eats pretty well. He loves fruit and will happily open his mouth big and wide whenever it is offered to him. He has developed this habit of always wanting to eat whatever we eats whenever we have our meals together. He will refuse to eat his own food and insist on trying our food. Most of the time we let him but we tell him that he needs to finish his food so he can eat more of our food.
He drinks more milk now. For the past few weeks, he would drink 240ml at night before going to bed. In the morning he still drinks 180ml. But in the afternoon, sometimes he can finish 240ml of milk too.
He now sleeps very very well on his own, I must say. Both nap and night times. I just have to tell him that it is time to sleep, bring him to his room, and lay him down on his bed. He'd even say bye bye to me as I walk out the room. Then, he will sleep until 8-9 AM the next morning.
He is currently in the stage of imitating what we do or say. He can now say a few more words like: "See You" (but sounds like "Is-see" most of the time), "Capek Deh" (or "So Tired" in Indonesian), "Aduh!" (or "Ouch!" in Indonesian), "Gendong" (or "Carry me" in Indonesian, but sounds like "En-Do" most of the time), and "Baby" (sometimes accompanied with the signing for Baby). When we say prayers together with him, he knows how and when to end it. We would say to him at the end of the prayer "In Jesus' Name we pray...", then he'd reply "A-men!" He likes to do pretend play too. He would pick up a remote control, talk to it as if it is a handphone, then he would try to put it in his imaginary pocket (when his pants don't have pockets). He also like to use his pincher grip, picking up tiny 'imaginary' thing, and hand it over to me. If he has an empty bowl and a spoon in front of him, he would feed himself as if he is eating real food. He'd feed me or his Dad too if we happen to be nearby.
I have been trying to teach him to brush his teeth by himself. He would hold the toothbrush, and I'd guide his hands to brush his teeth well. He can now take off his sandals whenever we reach home, by himself, and then put them on the shoe rack.
Note on his emotional growth:
Nathan is basically a cheerful boy. He likes to make jokes and be playful. He often makes us laugh just by looking at his actions. He can be friendly too to strangers. If he thinks that the person is okay, he'd try to talk to him/her. Of course, s/he won't understand what he is talking about. But it doesn't bother him :-) When we are about to board off the MRT train, he never forget to say 'bye-bye' to everyone. There are times when no one actually responded, but he doesn't mind and he will do it again the next time.
He is also very emotional. He will be very sad if he feels he's being abandoned or left behind.
He is also one stubborn little boy. If he wants to do something, he will be determined to do it and whine if we don't let him. He'll throw tantrum too if this happens.
He no longer hit others. But when he's in distress, he sometimes hit himself, on the head, to show that he's very frustrated. We've been trying to channel his anger to something else other than being physical.

We are very grateful to God that Nathan is growing so well. Happy 1.5 year old, my boy!