Soren Update: 18 Months

Soren had his 18-month wellness check-up today.  He continues to follow his growth curve beautifully and is now at 31.5 inches (25th percentile) and 21 pounds, 15 ounces (5th percentile). 

Just like I had done with Oliver at 18 months, I filled out a questionnaire that serves as an autism screening.  I was asked a series of questions pertaining to Soren's social and behavioral development, such as whether he liked to climb on stairs (yes!), pretends things, like talking on the phone (he'll put any object up to his ear and pretend it's a phone) and whether he plays games like peekaboo or hide and seek.  Gosh, yes!  Soren still loves peekaboo. I always associated that games with babies, but he loves when you "hide" from him and reappear.  We were at the playground last weekend (before Minnesota got dumped with an April snowstorm) and when Soren ducked behind a play structure and stood unusually quiet.  I knew he wanted me to play peekaboo with him, so I jumped into his line of sight and said, "Boo!"  He laughed and laughed and laughed.  No matter how many times I jumped in and out of view, he thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.  He was laughing so heartily that he attracted the attention of other parents, one of whom said what a great laugh he has. 

I asked the doctor about pacifiers since he had pointed out Soren's "snaggle tooth."  It was his opinion that the pacifier didn't necessarily cause the unevenness of Soren's front two teeth and thinks they'll straighten some as more teeth come in and push the others into place.  I'm a big fan of pacifiers and don't plan to make Soren give his up any time soon, especially when he primarily uses it only when he's in his crib, so I was glad that it was the pediatrician's view that pacifier use is fine up to age three.  He also feels that the positives outweigh any negatives. 

Soren has been imitating us, especially Oliver.  The two of them were playing with blocks one morning while I was getting ready for work and Oliver laid down on the carpet and rested one arm while he moved the blocks around with the other.  Soren immediately followed suit.  Soren surprised me by crawling and then I saw that he was crawling towards Oliver who was crouched in a crawling position.  When Soren saw Oliver and I wearing aprons while we prepared dinner, he grabbed a cloth bag that had been hanging over the gate in front of the basement stairs and through it around his neck.  He looked ridiculous with a cloth bag hanging from his neck, but he was so pleased that he was also wearing an "apron." 

As playful, happy-go-lucky and loving as Soren his, the toddler side of him shows through when he becomes crabby, demanding, and opinionated. He cries for his breakfast, but then doesn't want to sit in his booster seat and I don't know if it's because he suddenly doesn't want breakfast anymore, he doesn't want what I'm giving him, or he wants Oliver's spoon.  I've also noticed the emergence of sensory issues the past few months, such as hating to have his sleeves pushed up.  I know a lot of kids don't like bibs, but Soren never minded until recently. 

Soren has always like going out in the fresh air, no matter the weather, but now that he's so mobile and he doesn't need to bundle up on boots, snowpants and a thick winter coat, he loves going outside.  Unfortunately, he's at the age where he thinks that since every time mommy puts on her shoes, she gets to go outside, if he picks up his shoes, he'll get to go outside and that's lead to a lot of disappointment for him.  One time Uncle Andy was visiting and when he was getting ready to go home, he put his shoes on.  Soren got so excited and scrambled to find his shoes.  I tried explaining to him that we weren't going outside, but he turned increasingly anxious as he paced about the foyer area with a shoe in each hand.  Then he spotted my purse and pulled out my car keys and handed them to me as if that was magically going to get him outside. 

Soren is going to either be very tidy or a people-pleaser (or both) because he's very compliant about helping to put things away and even takes the initiative to pick up toys if he sees you picking up toys.  We have a routine of putting his pacifier away before he leaves his bedroom in the morning.  At first he balked at the idea of giving up his pacifier, but he still complied.  Now he gets excited about opening the top drawer of his dresser, depositing his pacifier, and closing the drawer. 

He's also in the sorting stage, and what I like to call the "stashing" stage. He likes putting things in the "trunk" of the little fire truck he can ride on outside.  Between Oliver and Soren, you never know what you're going to find in there - pine cones, toys, dirt....Meanwhile, last fall he was just big enough to climb on that fire truck and sit there, and now he's slowly learning how to push himself forward with his feet. 

Soren is starting to recognize animals in books.  He has a big picture book of animals and when Chris asked him to point at certain animals, he pointed (correctly) or just sat there.  He's also learning body parts.  If you read him a story and he hears the word "nose" or "head," he'll point the proper body part on his own body.