Where did the last 18 months go?

And, for that matter, the last 3 months where I have not posted about Donovan's progress or life.  Whoops.  I have been busy.  Too busy being an awesome mom to document it, I guess :-P.

Anyway, my boo is 18 months old!  We haven't been to the doctor yet, so I don't have his stats (appointment is next week, so we won't be missing it).  But he seems big for his age.  I mean, people always ask if he and Jocelyn are twins, and she just turned 3! 

His vocabulary has blown me away.  I know you are not supposed to compare and contrast your children, but he knows WAY more words than Jocelyn did at this age.  Ah, second-borns.  With both a role model to follow after, as well as a diminished amount of dedicated attention, and thus a need for greater self-sufficiency.  I think it's mostly the role model thing, as Donovan tries to do everything that Jocelyn does.

But, seriously, his vocabulary is amazing.  He can say everything.   He tries every word.  I made a black bean and couscous salad, so he said 'couscous! bean!' when he wanted some.  He can name all of his stuffed animals (Donald, Daisy, 'mouse' for both Mickey and Minnie, Duck, Goose, Lamb, Snoopy, Bear, Giraffe, Horse).  If he doesn't know a word, he asks what it is, and then repeats it when we tell him.  Yesterday, he pointed to a bowl of Cheetos (we had friends over, we don't just have Cheetos out all the time) and asked, 'bean?'  I told him, 'no honey, those are Cheetos.'  So he repeated,'Cheeto.  Eat?'  Well, how could I say no to that? 

He has some words that he can't quite pronounce yet, but he says them so cutely that I don't want him to ever outgrow them.  Jocelyn is 'Donny', ketchup and syrup are 'kop-op' and 'sop-op', respectively.  Drink is 'dink'.  

He is also starting to get complex concepts - like possession, and quantity.  He understands 'no more' and 'all gone' and can apply them to items (like 'no more milk' and 'no more cake').  He understands possession.  He knows it's mommy's shirt ('Mommy dirt!'), Jocelyn's water ('Donny water!'), or Daddy's phone ('Daddy Phone!').  He knows what noises are, and can usually identify where they came from ('Noise!  Outside!').  He understands that I have a red car, and has decided that every red car we pass on the street is "Mommy Car". 

He also understands everything, even if he chooses to ignore it.  He can take commands (throw this in the trash, bring this to daddy, put down the cup, eat your strawberries, etc.).  He also makes a lot of demands - 'dip' (sip, or dip, depending on context), 'bite', 'nurse', 'up', 'down', 'outside', 'bed'.  He is very interested in coffee - when he sees my mug, he yells, 'dip, coffee' (we always say no... but there was one time he dipped my iPhone in my coffee and licked the coffee off of the phone... bad on so many levels!).  He also loves to tell people and things to 'go away'.  We often tell the cats to go away (since they hover at meal times, looking for dropped food), so he has started yelling 'go away cats!' at them.  Jocelyn is sometimes afraid of the silly gilly gumbles, so we often have to yell at them to go away.  Donovan has started to help by yelling 'Go away dumbum!'. 

His giggles are still the best.  He is super ticklish.  And when I tickle him, he laughs with his whole body and proclaims, "tickle!".  It's awesome :-). 

I mentioned how he wants to be like Jocelyn - he is even trying to use the potty like she does!  Now, part of it is a 'me too / me first' sort of behavior - she announces that she needs to use the potty, and he runs in there to try to sit on it before she does (fully clothed, in diaper, etc.).  But we do let him sit on it occasionally, and he recently wanted to get out of the bath because he had to poop.  While on there, he peed!  It was Thursday (7/25).  We were so excited and proud of him!  We should start sitting him on the potty more regularly now, that way he can get a head start on this potty training business.  

We are having a few troubles, though.  He is still very violent.  He hits, pushes, pulls hair, bites, bonks, throws things, etc.  He mostly does it in fun - he likes when you yell ouch, it's funny to him.  And that I am hoping he outgrows.  But he also does it out of frustration.  He was mad at Jocelyn once, so he wandered over, grabbed my high heeled shoes off of the floor, and threw them at her.  Hard.  When he gets told no, he will pick something up, hurl it at the ground, and then do it again.  He hits and pulls hair when you have something he wants.  And if you tell him no, he will hit you in the face and pull your hair.  It's terrible.  The 'fun' hitting seems like a phase.  The angry hitting / acting out seems like an inability to control rage.  Since angry, violent men tend to run on both sides of our family (more directly in mine, and a bit further out on Mike's), I am nervous.  The things we have going for us are:  Mike is not a violent, angry man (I think I can count on one hand the number of times I have actually seen him mad), we role model peaceful mediation (for the most part.. sometimes our buttons get pushed).  So hopefully we can at least nurture out any violent tendencies that nature may have put there.  But I still get worried. 

That's the only real hiccup right now.  And hopefully the pediatrician will have some words of wisdom for us.  And, honestly, even with the violence, he is still a love.  He loves to hug and kiss.  After he hits, he is usually willing to say 'sorry' and knows that he should give a hug and a kiss.  So there is that. 

We have such an awesome little guy.  And I just love him so much.  I can't believe how lucky we all are sometimes :-).