What to expect from your 18 month old toddler

Babies start to become fun when they turn 5 months.  Granted they are always fun, but sometimes the work to fun ratio is weighted heavily (exclusively) in work.  By now your little toddler is probably walking to some extent.  What else can you expect from your 18 month old toddler?

Frankenbaby

Frankenbaby didn’t last too long in our house.  This is the stage where your toddler walks with their arms spread out in front of them.  They stumble, fall, cry a little bit and then, like a marionette pull their arms up and down.    All they’re missing are some bolts in their necks and a flat top.

While this stage of toddler is ridiculously cute, it only lasted a week with us.

The napping-or not napping

We’re lucky in that both of our kids are good nappers.   More Mojo is a full on toddler and sometimes takes an hour nap in the morning and then another 90 minute nap in the afternoon.  He’ll go to sleep around 6:30 and wake up about 12 hours later.  We’re enjoying this regularity while it’s here.

Re:  the doctor.  Don’t sweat things you know not to be true

Our visit to the doctor when he was 16 months old sent us into a mild panic.

“Can the child say basic words”, our substitute doctor said.   “Can he walk across the room?”  “Can he point to his ears when you ask him to do so?”  No, was our answer across the board.

The doctor appeared very concerned and said that if he didn’t start doing these things very soon then any one of thousands of things could need improvement.  On the drive home I relaxed, realized that he was just like his older brother and he is doing fine as a 3.5 year old.

It was this appointment that we learned that our regular pediatrician is well suited for us.  Neither my wife nor I are a doctor, the closest is me, but that’s only because I used to watch MASH in reruns.

Having said that, we do listen to our doctor and do what they say.  We were also very thankful when our regular pediatrician returned, by then a certain toddler walking across the room and babbling like an outboard motor.

The laughing

It’s this phase where parents get the hysterical laughing baby videos that win thousands of dollars.  A happy toddler laughing is possibly the happiest thing you’ll ever see.  Our toddler laughs often and whenever we try to capture it on video he stops.  It’s like that singing frog all over again.

What the toddler eats and throws

They eat what you eat, but with more style and finesse.  They also drink more milk, eat more cheese, wear a bib and have made friends with any dogs in the house who want to eat what they drop or throw.

The next doctor visit is at 2 years old.  We’ve been to this benchmark one time, but have learned that it’s the personality that make all the difference in the child.