Joel is 18 months!

I am so excited to be writing this post.  I love doing milestone posts about my kiddos (previously only about Eliah).  So thankful that I get to do this post KNOWING who my son is at 18 months.  I get to see his face every day.  I get to watch him learn.  I get to KNOW him!

Since I have been so behind in blogging, let me start by telling you where Joel was when we brought him home at 14 months.

My super handsome son was only able to sit.  Mostly with his hands propped on his legs like in the picture above.  He couldn't crawl, or roll on the floor, or talk... he could sort of jabber, but no syllables.  His core muscles were very weak.  And he was unmotivated to progress.

Fast forward four months...

• Joel is such a ham!  He loves to tease and loves to be silly.  One of his favorite games to play is where he'll look away from you and cut his eyes back at you to see if your watching then turn his face back to you at which point he wants you to say "Peek a boo!" or "RRRaaaaahhhhrrrrrr!"
• Joel sits in the cutest little way.  When he's in his highchair or just sitting on the floor, he sits with his little feet crossed.  Adorable.



• Speaking of high chair... this kid will eat almost anything!  He is not a huge fan of hot dogs.  His favorites are yogurt and bananas.  He is not much of a snacker like his sis, but when its meal time, you can hardly take him away from the table.  He will keep eating until you stop feeding him!
• He is a champion sleeper.  He sleeps from 8pm til about 7 or 7:30am.  He rarely wakes up in the night, and if he does, he'll go right back to sleep.  He takes about a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  He ALWAYS wakes up happy, flashing his BIG smile!

• He loves to play with his Fisher Price Little People.  He has a school bus, and mostly he likes putting the people (or blocks, or whatever) in the school bus and then taking them out.  He also likes taking the door off the school bus.  I've given up on putting it back on.  
• He is forever putting stuff in buckets and taking them back out.  
• He loves books.  

• He loves balls.
• He loves sticks.
• He is all boy.  He loves to throw things and tear things.
• We get big smiles and giggles when he gets tossed around.  He loves to be tossed, rolled, swung, whatever!



• He loves to be chased, especially when Big Sis crawls after him.  Never have I heard so many laughs!  He doesn't quiet get that he's supposed to chase her too.  :)
• What a super fast crawler he is!



• He now can take about 8-10 unassisted steps in a row.
• He can crawl up the steps at the playground, crawl over to the slide, and turn around and slide all by himself!
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• He can say DaDa, MaMa, bye-bye, hello (heh-oh).  
• He can tell you what a dog says, and what a cow says (muuuuh).  He also makes a monkey sound, but not when you ask him to!
• He can tell you where his eyes, ears, nose, hair and mouth are.
• He is incredibly social!  He loves all the attention he gets from the youth at church.
• He is so very outgoing!
• (He is a tad emotional.  Some of you will laugh at the use of "a tad".  Oh my.) 
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• (This one makes my heart so thankful.)  He is attached to his mama and daddy!
• He is a great cuddler.  Often when you pick him up, he'll snuggle in really close and lay his head on your shoulder.  So many times during the day, he'll crawl over to me and lay his head on my lap and say "mmmmmmm." :)

• He, however, does not like for you to cuddle him (like while rocking him).  He doesn't like to have his face or hair "petted."
• Two of his favorite places in the house are standing on the couch looking out of the window or standing by the side door looking out of the window.  
• He is not afraid of anything.  He will gladly pet bunnies and horses without any hesitation.



• Often, I find him in Big Sis's room playing with her kitchen...  opening and closing doors on it mostly.
• High fives are a must!
• When saying good-bye, he will blow kisses.  
• He is hilarious, silly, DETERMINED, and affectionate.

We are so proud of the progress our little mister has made.  It is so evident that this child was made for our family!  What a joy he is!  How thankful we are that we get to have him as ours!!  Joel Sutton, we love you. We are excited about God's work in your life and look forward to seeing you serve our Savior with fervor!