Corbin at 18 Months

During September, Corbin turned 18 months old. This handsome little boy is turning out to be quite a ball of energy that keeps us on our toes. But we love him so much.

Here are the stats from his latest doctor check-up:
Weight: 19 lbs. 9 oz, (3%)
Length: 29.5 inches (1%)
Head: 47 cm (37%)
Still just a little guy!

He's developing great, except for his vocabulary. We have the hardest time getting him to talk. His favorite word, by far, is "ball." This kid is a little obsessed with balls. He can pick them out everywhere he goes and in everything he sees and always gets so excited when he sees them. And he can't get enough playing ball. He can throw with the best of them. It scares me if he's standing too close to me when he throws because it can come fast and hard right at you. He can also hit a ball with a bat if you throw it in the right spot for him. And when he gets a good connection, look out, because he can give the ball a ride. We're not sure how he learned it (other than by observation), but he even knows that when you hit the ball you have to drop the bat and start running.

His other favorite word is "daa" for dad. He won't say "ma" even if he wants me. I'm still working on this with him and I think I might finally be making some progress. Other than that, the doesn't use many other words. We have gotten him to start using some simple sign language to tell us what he needs. He'll use signs like "help," "out," "more," "eat," "drink," "milk," and "thank you." And he recently has started using more animal sounds instead of names for animals. Like anytime he sees an elephant he'll put his lips together and make a blowing sound. And if he sees a duck, he'll make a quacking sound (he'll actually do this for most other birds he sees too). 

Corbin's best friend is definitely his big sister. He just adores her so much. He will copy everything he sees her do. This can be good or bad depending on what she's doing. I use this to my advantage when I can. Like when I want him to go somewhere, I'll just tell him to "follow sister." And I've even recruited her to help teach him some words because he'll mimic her more than he will mimic Ross or me. He loves to play with her. He will chase her around the house and he's not afraid to grab onto her and try to tackle her even though she is nearly twice his size. They love to race across the room together and he will pose to get ready to race just like she does. Even though they have their moments of fighting occasionally, I'm really glad that they both get along with each other so well. 

Like I said before, this kid loves balls and sports of any kind really. Here he is at a local baseball game. When we got there he sat for a good 20 minutes just watching the game. This seems like a remarkable amount of time for a child his age. He also enjoys watching sports on TV. He'll even start clapping when something good happens. I think we may have a future athlete (or at least a huge sports fan) on our hands.

This picture above is from Leah's first day of preschool. I had her stand by this wall so I could get her picture with her backpack. And Corbin made sure he stood by the wall until I took his picture too. He has to do everything his sister does.

And speaking of being like his sister, this kid is a climber. Although I think he may be even worse about it than she was (is). This is probably because he's had a great teacher. This kid is not afraid to climb anything and is always climbing all over. Here he is climbing our toy shelf frame. Leah had taken all the boxes off it and pulled it into the middle of the room. Corbin would not stay off it. I finally had to turn it on it's side just so he would stop climbing to the top. But even when it was laying on the ground, he was still climbing all over it.

He was so excited one day when Leah helped him climb to the top of the playground at Del Taco. She was pretty proud that he had made it to the top to play with her too.

This doesn't happen often, but I always think it is so cute when it does. On this day, Corbin was so tired, instead of eating his lunch, he started falling asleep and after letting his head bob and nod for a while he finally put it down on his tray and slept.

Corbin is not the best eater. He's really good at eating breakfast. He loves oatmeal, cereal, and fruits. Lunch is much harder to feed him. He doesn't really like bread, which means he rarely eats sandwiches. But he will eat just the meat and cheese. He's not always good at eating pastas or rice either. So he just has to try to fill up on other things. His favorite foods are string cheese and cottage cheese. And this kid has such a sweet tooth. He never seems to get enough when he gets to have a dessert or treat.

Which reminds me, poor Corbin has already had his first cavity and filling back in August. I noticed one day that he had a dark spot on the back of his tooth (the one just right of his two front teeth). Which I thought was an odd spot for a cavity, but whatever. So we had to schedule a dentist appointment and get him in when the anesthesiologist could be there. I was a little worried about him going under anesthesia because he was so small, but everything turned out okay and you can't even tell that it happened because dentist used a white filling to fix it. The poor kid probably inherited my bad teeth and will have to always be careful so that he doesn't get a mouthful of cavities.

Some of Corbin's other favorite things right now include: his Grandpa Tucker, Mickey Mouse, animals (as long as they don't get too close), the movie Frozen (he's mesmerized by it when it comes on), baths, opening and closing doors, turning light switches on and off, toy cars (especially the Hot Wheels and toy car garage at his Grandma Leslie's which he will play with for hours at a time if we will let him), turning pages in books, playing with my camera, pushing buttons (especially on remotes), hiding under blankets, snacking, dancing, playing outside, and seeing planes or helicopters in the sky. He also loves doing repetitive little tasks like moving little objects or cards from one container to another. Things like this can keep him entertained for such a long time.

Corbin is great about going down for a nap and will usually sleep for 2-3 hours. He almost always falls asleep on the way home from dropping Leah off at preschool or on the way to or from her dance lessons. However, bedtime and night time are a different story. Even if he is tired, he will fight going to sleep. His favorite thing at bedtime is having a cup of milk and watching the new Mickey Mouse shorts on the lap top. After he finally falls asleep, we can put him in his crib. But he won't stay in his bed too long before he wakes up and wants to sleep us. When he's in with us he tosses and turns and sometimes even cries out or screams. This is not fun at all for me and Ross. We hope he moves out of this phase soon.

Corbin is such a fun little boy to have in our family. He never ceases to entertain us and I'm excited for all the fun adventures he has in store for us.