Mr. Grady - 21 Months

Wow...needless to say, I have been pretty delinquent in my blogging since, well, January.  I fully admit that being so behind has made it harder to get going again; but, enough procrastination.

As today marks Grady's 21st month, I thought an update on him would be a good place to start.  So, here are a few facts about our little guy:

Height and Weight
At 15 months, Grady weighed 22 pounds (25%) and his height was 30 1/4 inches (25%).  Learning to walk and run prevented any weight gain I guess because his wight at 12 months was 22 pounds as well.  At 18 months, Grady weighed 25 pounds (39%) and his height was 21 inches (14%).

Sleeping
At about 18-19 months, Grady transitioned from two naps a day to just one.  This was a decent transition...we eased him into it.  Shannon, our daycare provider, started shortening his morning naps first to under and hour and then down even more until it was pretty simple to just quit the nap.  Grady gave his morning nap up earlier for us on the weekends which worked out well too.  Sometimes he'll still snooze if he's in the stroller or carseat, but one nap is great.  I love that it gives us more time to do activities in the morning too.  Grady usually sleeps for 1 1/2 to 3 hours in the afternoon and then heads to bed between 7-8:30 depending on his earlier nap and/or what's going in the evening.  He's up in the morning between 6:30-7:30.  Our bedtime routine is bath, paci (he calls this his "wabi"), blanket, books, a sippy of milk, and then a good cuddle.  There is no singing allowed though...if I start to sing or hum, Grady looks at me, puts his hand over my mouth, and says no.  Ha!

Talking
Grady has an amazing vocabulary.  It's been so fun to see his understanding develop and to hear new words pop out of his mouth daily.  It's pretty impressive what he says these days.  We have a number of 2-3 word phrases going on, and he definitely understands sentences from us.  He's pretty good at following instructions as long as not too many are given at once (and assuming he wants to follow them).  Some of my favorite words/phrases are:  "I hold you" (for hold me), "shoes on," "shot" (for tennis racquet because he's heard us say 'Nice shot' so much), and "cheese" (when he gets his picture taken).  Usually Grady calls me "Mommy," but if he is really wanting to show me something he thinks is cool, he shortens it up to "Mom" followed by "Mom...whoa."  It's pretty cute.  Grady will spit out two and three syllable words without problem, but interestingly enough there's a few words he won't say - specifically " please" and "thank you."  There is no doubt in my mind that he can say these words, he just won't.  It's kind of like when Olivia refused to say Grace's name and only called her "Baby" for the longest time!

Playing
This is an easy topic!  Grady's favorite activities are anything that has to do with hitting or throwing, swimming, jumping, playing with the hose, watering flowers, dancing, running after his sisters, playing hide-and-seek, swinging, hanging from any type of bar (this can be scary for me!), and anything else that involves some rough-housing!  Grady is, by far, our most active kid - he rarely sits still, although he does watch at least 1/2 of a show which comes in handy sometimes.  If I'm sitting on the floor, he'll sit for a bit but then either find something to throw at me for catch or start jumping on my back for some wrestling/pretending that I'm a jungle gym.  Other actives that he generally enjoys are playing cars/trucks, coloring, and reading...which we mostly do before nap and bedtime (his favorites are word books, animal books, and truck books).  To sum it up, Grady would like nothing more than to be 4 or 5 and get to do everything he sees older kids doing!

Family
Grady continues to love his sisters - he calls them both Sissy and Bivy, but lately he has started separating to Bivy and Gace.  He also often calls them by their nicknames Goose and Monkey if he hears someone else do it first.  We had lots of fun with the cousins this summer (more on that in another post), and it was awesome to see Grady forming relationships with them all.  I'm Grady's favorite at night, but Brian's his favorite when we're outside because he's all about sports.  A favorite part of my day is watching Grady run to greet Brian when he gets home.  He continues to love his gammas and bapas (grandpas), and I love that he can now identify all our family and good friends by names...so sweet how excited he gets to see everyone.

Personality
Overall, Grady is an easy kid.  That said, he's also getting close to two which clearly comes with challenges regarding communication, following directions (is it really that bad of a deal to get dressed or have a dirty diaper changed?), and understanding restrictions.  However, distraction/redirection has been effective.  Grady is loving and playful.  Many people have commented that he's a combination of Olivia's and Grace's personalities, and I agree.  One thing I know for sure, he's a keeper.  :)