18 Months Old

What an interesting week! We had great news from Ryan's neurologist about his most recent EEG, we had snow (yes, snow, not ice this time!), the boys turned a year and a half old today and we're expecting more snow (like, a lot of it) to come down tonight and shut the town down tomorrow.

It's been such a long time since I did an overview for each of my boys, I decided to take this opportunity to write about each one of them.

Stokes
This guy is still our wild man. He is all over the place, won't sit still, and can change moods like it's his job and loves to snuggle. Stokes is the most advanced from a motor skills standpoint. He walks all over the place now and has started increasing his speed. I have no doubt that he will be running and sprinting in the blink of an eye. He's a champ at going down the stairs on his own and effectively just slides down on his belly at a quick pace. He loves to climb on anything and everything. He's all boy. He will climb into the toy bucket and sit on all the toys. He climbs all over any chair that I sit him in. He will crawl up and into the exersaucers and situate himself with his legs in the holes and everything! Stokes is very ticklish and I love making him giggle. His little laugh is almost a bit hoarse sounding and is so precious. If I don't record it soon on a video I will really regret it. When I said that he loves to snuggle, I was referring to when I hold him and he lays his head on my shoulder. He won't do it at any time, but whenever I hold him at night, that head will go right on my shoulder and I cherish those moments. Stokes is still the littlest guy and I think all his movement won't allow him to keep any chub. As you can see below, it proved a little bit difficult to get a good monthly picture of him. He did not want to pose for the camera and I spent most of my picture taking time trying to get his attention and trying to get him to sit down and look at me. Well, I ended up giving up. This little guy has lots of energy. Stokes is allergic to eggs but I'm hopeful that our next appointment at the allergist will tell us that his allergy is gone! We keep an EpiPen on hand for emergencies but I have a secret - he has accidentally eaten a few things that contain eggs recently and did not have a reaction that I could tell. Stokes is a take-charge kind of guy and is the boss of the boys. He can also be a bit of a bully to his brothers. I won't go into details on this post, but although he's the smallest little triplet, he's not a pushover. He's so super cute and has the sweetest cheeks that I love to kiss.

This is the best picture of him I could get. LOL

Ryan

Ryan is such an angel. I don't even know how else to describe him. Anyone that is around him just falls in love with his sweet, sweet nature and his gorgeous smile. Ryan has the biggest heart and most courageous attitude of all three. His therapists love him. They haven't technically said this, but I'm convinced that he's the favorite client for each of them. He's gotten some really, really great feedback lately, and after his normal EEG results, his father and I are just over the moon! From a physical and motor skill standpoint, Ryan has gotten a lot stronger and is still working on sitting independently. He has gotten so much better at sitting. He used to rely very heavily on his arms to hold him up while he was propped on them. Now he can actually lift his arms up, move them around, change their position, all while remaining seated. He's also gotten much better at righting himself when he starts to lean one way or another. Before he would have just fallen over but now he can catch himself and his trunk strength is much, much better. He is also able to pivot around while he's on his tummy now. He pushes himself up on his arms (also a newer skill for him!) and turns himself around. He can go pretty fast, too, if you have some sort of toy that he's interested in and you move it around behind him to force him to pivot. It's really awesome to see. He's standing up now with some assistance and bearing weight on his legs and feet. Again, this is relatively new for him. He used to just bend his knees and refuse to put any weight in a standing type of position and now he loves it. He's very observant and really enjoys watching everything his brothers do. He looks around and will smile and laugh when either brother comes up to him and pays him some attention. Ryan's improving with eating. He will eat some solid food as long as it is cut up very small and easy to chew. He does not like drinking from any sort of a sippy cup or straw so that's something that we've been working on and focusing on right now. He loves being kissed and I love kissing him. He is such a fighter with a kind and gentle soul. I mean, look at that face!

 

William
William is so happy! He is an absolute joy to be around. As you can see in his picture, he loves to smile and especially laugh. He's got a great laugh and it's contagious. William is the most advanced verbally. He can say several words including Dada, Mama, up, apple, dog. He also babbles and blows raspberries often. He's very smart and can point to his nose, eyes, head, ears, mouth and belly when I ask him to. He loves his brothers and will give Ryan kisses. He will also blow kisses on occasion if prompted. William is great at playing by himself. He will play with all sorts of toys that he finds interesting and will entertain himself, which is so awesome. William is a snuggler and will crack up if I hold him and kiss him and squeeze him. He isn't quite walking yet but has taken one successful step and doesn't seem to be in any kind of a hurry to do more. He enjoys playing with the child locks on the cabinets in the kitchen and also like to climb on the fireplace. He's currently going through a phase of not wanting to have his teeth brushed, which makes me wonder if he has another tooth or two coming through. William has gotten big, especially considering that he was the runt when the boys were born. He's currently the tallest and definitely weighs the most. I'm sad to think about him losing all that chub on his legs when he does decide he's ready to start walking. He loves the dogs and will squeal and laugh whenever they're around. William loves to sleep and will actually sleep past wake up time during naps sometimes. I will have to go in and physically wake him up eventually so that he doesn't get too far off schedule or not want to go to sleep at night. William is a joy to be around and seems to have some level of charisma. People are just drawn to him. I can see why!

Each of my boys has such a special place in my heart. Each of them is my favorite. They each have such different personalities and things that I just love about them. Eighteen months is a such a fun age. They're getting a little older and can do more by themselves and can understand me (sometimes) and for the most part they are in good moods. We do have our fair share of crying, whining and the like, but overall they are happy and so much fun to be around and to play with. They seem like they're little sponges, soaking up all kinds of information and observing everything. Yep, I like this age and I love my boys.

SNOW! Can you tell that flakes are falling? It's very hard to capture on camera!

Snow dusting on 2/24/15

Today on their half-birthday I got some assistance from MaSha and took their measurements on the awesome height ruler that we got for Christmas from Zack and Ashley. It was made by Sparkle & Sawdust and I love it! My goal is to measure them every 6 months.

Again, this is the best picture I could get. He moves too much!

Picture outtakes

where's the elephant?!?

Getting Dada's assistance for placement in the chair

Up and won't sit down

Climbing off the chair

Looking at the snow coming down

He just wouldn't sit down!

Trying to eat his elephant

Stokes pulling up the cushion on the chair

Ryan loves his brothers!

Caught mid-blink

 

He was resisting sitting down

Something was very funny!

And he's off!