19 & 20 Months

I look so innocent!

Don't let the smile fool you!

I can be rotten!!!

At 20 months,

1.  You love babies!  Every time you see a baby, you point it out to us and want to go see it.  You are very gentle with babies and even have this form of "baby talk" you do.  It's so sweet!  You're going to be such a great big brother!!!

2.  Daddy and I are back to 2 syllables!  That's right, we're no longer "Da" and "Ma", but "Daddy" and "Mommy/Mama" (you go back and forth on what you call me). 

3.  You LOVE LOVE LOVE trucks, buses, trains, tractors, helicopters, and airplanes.  You know each one by name (though for some reason, you call helicopters "statues" lol!), and you have discriminating sounds/motions for each one.

Ready to go to the Tractor Pull at the County Fair!

4.  You also LOVE the song The Wheels on the Bus.  You know all the words, sounds and motions.  Sometimes I'll hear you singing it when you're playing by yourself or we're riding in the car.  You'll go through each one of the things (horn, door, wheels, people, babies, mommies, wipers, etc.), doing the motions and making the sounds then you'll say, "all through town." 

5.  You're talking  in phrases and sentences.  Most of your sentences start with "I want (fill in the blank)." 

6.  You are known to most people as "Tucker Bug."  Even many of your friends call you "Tucker Bug."  Other nick names at this point include "Buddy" (mostly by Daddy), Baby Bear (mostly by Mommy), Bubby (still occasionally used by Mommy & Daddy, though I think you're out-growing it), "Tuck" (by a few other people, Daddy and I rarely call you this). 

7.  You consistently know the colors blue, orange, yellow, and white.  You will refer to things by these descriptions as well.  For example, you will say, "Blue car!"

8.  You count things and also count before you shoot a basketball.  But you always count, "9-6-8."  Not sure why, but it's pretty cute!  :)  If you have 2 things, you will say "1-2."

9.  Daddy has raised your basketball goal up and you have to actually shoot the ball up to make a goal.  At first Mommy thought it was too high and told Daddy to lower it, then I saw you in action!  You are really good!!!  (Still shooting left-handed.)

10.  You drink milk a lot and ask for it a lot.  At one point in time, Mommy thought you would never drink milk unless it was Mommy's milk.  I was definitely wrong! 

11.  You love other kids and know many of your friends by name.  You get so excited when your friends come over!  You're very caring towards your friends.  The other day, our friend Makenly was over and it was lunch time.  Mommy told you it was time to eat and you went to Makenly and said, "Ninley, wanna eat?"

12.  You pick out what you want for breakfast.  When we get up in the morning, you run to the kitchen and start rummaging through the cabinets deciding what you want to eat.

13.  You LOVE to wrestle with Daddy  :)

"I'm gonna get you, Daddy!"



Giving Daddy a kiss :)



14.  You have peed in the potty several times.  We haven't actually started potty training, but Daddy and I noticed that if you had to pee while in the bath tub, you would always stand up and get this 'look' on your face, indicating you knew it was coming.  So, we got a potty and started sitting you on it before bath time and anytime you stood up like that while in the tub.  Before long, if you had to pee while in the tub, you would stand up and say, "Pee pee!" and pee in the potty.  One time, you came to me in the middle of the day and said, "Pee pee!"  I asked you, "Do you want to pee in the potty?" and you replied, "Potty!" and ran to the bathroom.  We took off your diaper and you peed in the potty!  That's been a couple weeks ago and it hasn't happened since then, but you do go in the potty sometimes before your bath and you come to me after you've had a poopy and tell me, "Ew! Stinks!"  So, we're thinking we might be getting close to the time to start potty training....

15.  You have finally started to ride the four wheeler the Easter Bunny brought you.  Before, you were only interested in pushing it around, but didn't want to sit on it.  You're getting better at steering it too!

16.  You still love to sing "Happy Birthday" and will break out in that song at any random time.  You always sing, "Happy, Happy, Hap Boo Mommy Daddy Tucker!" 

17.  You finally cut your top 2 canine teeth and are working on your 2-year-old molars.

18.  A warning that you will have to go to time-out usually corrects any behavior pretty easily.  You do not like being in time-out, but will sit in it for the full minute.

19.  You are sleeping about 10-11 hours at night and take a 3 hour nap.

20.  You are real into doing things yourself and will always say, "Tucker do it!"  Sometimes if I start to sing you a song or read a book, you will say, "Mommy, no. Tucker!" and sing the song or take over the book. 

21.  You pick up on things that Daddy and I say in conversation, even when we think you're not listening.  For example, if we even mention ice cream, (even if we whisper it!) you are sure to jump in with, "I want me meam!"  ("me meam" is what you call "ice cream" lol!)  The other day, we were on our way to the zoo and Daddy and I were talking about our upcoming trip to the beach.  You jumped in, "I wanna go to beach!"  For the remainder of the drive to the zoo, anytime I tried to get you excited about the zoo and tell you what animals you would see, you would say, "Mommy no. I wanna go to beach!"  Just goes to show, Daddy and I have to be real careful about what we say around you!  There's no telling what you'll pick up on!

22.  You're real into pretend play.  You will pretend you're cooking and bring it to us to eat, pretend you're leaving and walk out of the room saying, "Bye, Mommy. Car. Work," (meaning you're leaving to go to work in your car, like Daddy does :)) and shut the door behind you, pretend you're talking on the phone,

23.  You love to do art projects.  Finger painting, coloring, playing with play dough, making things for Daddy, you enjoy it all!

(I went a little over 20, but I'm combining two months into one post, so I'm allowed lol!)

 Tucker,
It just seems like you are growing up so fast!  You have really turned into such a big boy these past few months!  Mommy and Daddy are so proud of all the things you can do and how smart you are, but you are no longer our little baby, that's for sure!  You're becoming more and more independent and have developed such a sweet personality.  You're so happy and loving!  There are many days that I miss the little baby I held in my arms and I just can't believe you are now such a big boy!  Daddy and Mommy love you so much, Tucker Bug!!!

Easter in June???

So, while I'm posting from the archives, I thought I might as well do an Easter post.  I like to do holiday posts for many reasons, but a top one is that it gives a great reference point to see how my baby boy has changed.  I can look back at last Easter's post and compare it to this pass Easter.  It's crazy to think that by next Easter, we will have a 2 1/2 year old and a 7 month old!  I took a million and one photos this Easter and had trouble narrowing them down to a few for this post, so here's several that I'll have next year to look back on and think how much time flies!

Tucker was way into the Easter Bunny this year, a huge change from the melt down we got when we tried to get a picture of him on Santa's lap at Christmas time!  He was waving to the Easter Bunny and saying, "Hi Bunny!" from the line.  When it was his turn to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap, he gave him high-fives and knuckles and was so excited!  Too bad once he got on his lap, he was so into looking at him that he didn't smile for the picture.  A great memory, none the less!

Tucker enjoyed coloring Easter eggs too.  His favorite part was fishing the eggs out of the dye with the spoon.  He kept saying, "Mine!" and wanted to color all the eggs himself.

Before church Easter morning

Tucker and all his friends at church sang some songs during "Big Church".  We had been practicing these songs for weeks and Tucker did a great job!  He shook his noise-maker and danced during the songs.  I am one of his Sunday School teachers, so I didn't have the camera to take pictures and Daddy was so busy watching and clapping for Tucker that he didn't get many pictures either.  This is about the only one that turned out.  I remember feeling so proud of Tucker as he danced, sang, and shook his noise-maker!  I was smiling ear-to-ear and had tears in my eyes!  I wished I could say the other children did a great job too, but I don't know.  I had my eyes glued on Tucker the whole time!  I'm such a proud Mama!!!

After church, Tucker came home and looked for his Easter basket.  He seemed to know right where it was!

The Easter Bunny hooked him up big time! His favorite was the 4-wheeler!

After a long time of pushing and sitting on (not yet riding) his 4-wheeler, he finally checked out what goodies were in his basket.

After a brief nap, it was time to go to Papa and Memaw's house. And can you believe it, the Easter Bunny hid a basket for him at Papa and Memaw's house! His favorite item, a chocolate bunny. I believe this was Tucker's first experience with chocolate. He was definitely a fan!

Then, it was time for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. Tucker was really into finding the eggs. He took it very seriously, and even had to count his loot when he was done!

I am so thankful to have all these and many more memories of celebrating the resurrection of our Christ.....for the last time as a family of three....WOW! 

18 Months (WAY late!)

 So, Tucker turned 20 months a week and a half ago, but I have a list of his 18-month updates already written out and I just don't want to forget what he was doing and into at that age, so I'm doing a way late 18 month post anyway.... Hopefully, VERY soon, I'll have a combined 19-20 month update. I say VERY soon, because as I read through my list deciding whether to do the post or not, I cannot get over how much he has already changed and grown! And when I read through his 17 month post, he is no longer near the same boy! In the past few months, he has grown so much! It really makes me aware of how badly I need to stay current on this blog....things change at the blink of an eye, and there is so much that I just want to bottle up and save!

1.  You are left-handed.  I read somewhere that you can't really determine what hand an individual will use dominantly until about 2 years of age, but there is no doubt you will be left-handed.  You are much better at fine motor tasks with that hand and it's the first hand you use to do things.  You shoot and throw a ball left-handed, eat left-handed, draw and color left-handed, pretty much everything.

2.  You picked up the saying, "Not nice!" from a good friend of yours, Walker Webb.  I think the time we spent with him in Hilton Head sealed the deal.  You use "Not nice!" when you fall or trip or bump into something.  You will 'tell' whatever caused you to trip or whatever you bumped into "Not nice!"  You will tell Daddy and I "Not nice!" if we do something you don't like such as take something away or prevent you from getting into something.  You use it pretty frequently.

3.  You think the sound of any bodily function is funny.  I completely attribute this to Daddy.  Now, don't get me wrong, you are polite about it.  If you burp or pass a little gas you will say, "Excuse me."  But then you crack up and immediately have to produce a fake burp, followed by more laughter.  Oh, and you don't stop there.  Then you want whoever is with you to also burp and say "Excuse me" (if they don't, you will remind them to!).  A few weeks ago, GG and your 2nd cousin Lindsey were down to visit from PA and as we ate lunch you made everyone go around the table and burp.  Daddy would have been so proud.  (Thanks, Daddy!)

4.  You are a Mommy's boy 100%.  Of course, you love your Daddy to the moon and back, but you are going through a huge Mommy's boy stage right now.  You want Mommy to be the one to do everything for you.  If Mommy's home, I gotta be the one to change your diaper, give you a bath, put you to bed, everything!  While I feel bad for Daddy sometimes because I think it hurts his feelings, I'm trying to enjoy it and soak it up because I know one day you will realize just how much cooler your Daddy is.

5.  You LOVE to be outside.  Almost immediately after breakfast you start saying "Outside!" and "Bye bye's!" begging to go outside to play.  We spend a LOT of time playing outside.

6.  According to your 18 month appointment, you weighed 25 pounds (40%) and are 33 inches tall (75%).  I'm a little skeptical on the 25 pounds....I think you're a little lighter than that.

7.  Your language has grown leaps and bounds lately.  At our 18 month check-up, the "developmental check-list" said you should be saying between 5 and 21 words.  That evening, Daddy and I tried to think of how many words you were saying.  We stopped counting around 30 something.

8.  Your favorite color is blue.  Anytime we ask you what color something is, you immediately say, "Blue" sometimes without even looking at what we're asking about.

9.  You love shoes.  You will get in your closet and pull out shoes and demand that they be put on.  (Mommy has to be good about putting up shoes once they're too small because you don't understand that concept and demand they be put on anyway!)  You try on Daddy and Mommy's shoes all the time.  You especially love putting on Daddy's shoes. 

Daddy's got some BIG shoes to fill, Buddy!

10.  You finally cut your bottom canine teeth.  Those canine teeth, top and bottom, have been on their way for months now.  The bottom ones have finally cut through and the top ones are not far behind.

11. You love to dance and have your own signature dance move. It's a combination of clapping, bouncing, and a little chicken wing thing thrown in for visual interest.


Here's your "chicken wing" thing!  Not sure what's going on with the facial expression; I think you were really into the music lol!  :)

12.  You LOVE your paci!  We have been good about only giving it to you during nap time and night time and it has never really been an issue through the day.  However, you have recently started asking for it through the day and will even go to your crib and try to get it out.  Every once in a while, you will walk out of your room with one in your mouth and I have no idea where you found it.  I've said this before, but I seriously think you have a stash of pacis hidden somewhere! 
13.  Oh my goodness, a HUGE update, we are completely done with nursing!  It happened at about 18 1/2 months.  I think I said in a previous post that if Mommy wasn't the one putting you to bed, you did fine without nursing.  Well, one night Aunt Shelby put you to bed while Mommy and Daddy were on a date, and the next night Daddy put you to bed.  So, after two nights in a row of not nursing before bed, on the third night, Mommy put you to bed and when it was time in our routine to nurse, Mommy said, "Tucker, nursies are all gone."  You said, "All gone?"  I said, "Yes Baby, all gone."  You said, "Paci," and I gave you your paci and that was the end of it!  I could not believe how easy it was!  I was prepared for a fight when the time came.  The next night, as we were getting ready for bed, you signed "nursey" and then said, "All gone" without me even reminding you that they were all gone.  You never demanded to be nursed or anything.  What's funny is at the most random times in the day or when we were just driving in the car, you would come up to me and sign "nursey" and then say, "All gone!"  It showed me how often you thought of nursing, which was several times a day.  But, you were fine with the fact that they were gone and you have never asked for it since the first night I told you they were gone.

14.  All day long, while Daddy's at work, you ask about him.  You'll say, "Da, car?"  And I'll say, "Yes, Daddy went to work in his car."  All. Day. Long.  Just goes to show you that even though you're a Mommy's boy, you think about that Daddy of yours all the time!

15.  We have learned the word "Mine!"  This has been a fun one, let me tell you.  Everything is "Mine!" 

16.  You say "No" in a really sweet voice.  It's like you're playing, but even when you mean it, you say it in this really sweet, sing-songy voice.  How do you correct something like that?!  It's so sweet!

17. You say and wave "Bye bye" to everyone!  When we leave somewhere, like a restaurant, you want to stop at every person along the way and tell them "Bye bye!" 

18.  You call me and Daddy "Ma" and "Da".  Yup, somewhere along the way we have been reduced to one syllable.  I'm not sure when this started, I think it has been longer than a month now.  And you say our names and want us to say, "What?" back, but you don't really want anything.  You just like the fact that you say it and we respond with "What?"  If we don't say anything, you will get louder and louder until we do. 

Oh my gosh, I could go on and on!  There is so much you're doing, and then again, so much of the things listed above you have already out-grown!  I love you Tucker Bug!  More than you will EVER know!!!

Wordless Wednesday -- "I Wanna Be Like Daddy"

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!!!

I have been MIA from this blog for so long!  But, my son and daughter (to-be) wouldn't let me pass on the opportunity to tell their Daddy HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!  (And, yes, you read that right, we are having a GIRL ;)  Oh my goodness, the posts I have missed!) 

So, here's a Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the world!  The one who will sit in the bathroom and feed his son yogurt and read Dr. Seuss while his son sits on the potty and does his "business".

To the man in my life who does SO MUCH more than sit in a bathroom, read, and feed Tucker yogurt....  I LOVE YOU & SO DO OUR BABIES!!!!