18 months

Little Beckham is already 18 months old. It's so weird because on one hand he still seems like such a baby to me. I still have to carry him around like he's 6 months old so I think of him as a baby. But then, he seems so much older than 18 months by the way that he acts, his silly personality, and all of the words he says. He is so verbal and always copying our sounds and words. He likes to repeat things that Kaden says. A few days ago Kaden was practicing his "zoophonics" and Beckham was mimicking every letter sound. Kaden got so excited to be teaching his brother. I haven't really counted how many words I think Becks can say, but I bet it's at least 40 to 50. He strings words together into small sentences and babbles in his own language too. Some days he talks nonstop and others he prefers not to.

Beckham has entered into the tantrum-throwing stage. Wow that boy has a feisty attitude. He yells and screams and arches his back with the best of them. He has the fake cry down to a science and gives me this look that is just a crack up. He gets upset and puts his chin down and glares up at me under his eyebrows with a pouty face. Someday I hope to get a picture of that one. He yells "NO!" and "don't!" and all sorts of funny things that maybe in a few months won't seem so funny. I find myself turning my back to him so he doesn't see the grin on my face when he's in one of his moods. I don't want to encourage the bad behavior, but sometimes it really is just so dang funny. Oh the tragedies of life when you're a year and a half old.

He had his physical therapy evaluation today. They do an eval every 6 months and reassess the goals and needs. I couldn't remember our specific goals from when we first started and I wasn't sure if he'd met them. After today I feel so encouraged. He made and even exceeded our goals that 6 months ago seemed quite lofty. The evaluator said, "as a reminder, this is where he was when we started: Sitting for short periods of time, rolls over and can cross a room, but lacks the motivation, spends only seconds on his tummy, supports weight on legs for 5 seconds or less." I can't believe how far he's come and I'm so proud.

Beckham is still the cuddliest most lovable little man. He loves to snuggle, attack with hugs and kisses, say "I love you!", and be carried around all of the time. He loves soft blankets and his soft monkey. He is flirtatious and smiley, and squints his eyes and smiles, getting bashful when people pay attention to him. He is perfect and I'm a lucky Mama.