18 Months

I haven't been very good at keeping up with my blog lately, so I thought I would take the time to blog about Ephraim being 18 months old (since he is 19 months now).

Ephraim is about the cutest toddler ever.  At every age I just keep thinking there is no way he could possibly be any cuter, and then he somehow proves me wrong.  At his 18 month checkup he weighed 29 lbs 5 oz (>80 %ile), was 34.25 inches long (>90 %ile), and had a head circumference of 20.5 inches (>95 %ile).  He is (as usual) our very big boy.  His hair is getting pretty long as well, but I can't bring myself to cut it yet.

Ephraim is on the go.  He is always walking, running, dancing, and climbing.  He loves to go for walks in the stroller, because he gets to get out and play at the park at the end. He loves to explore, and is very curious.  He loves rocks, birds, deer, and dogs.

Ephraim is becoming quite the chatterbox.  He loves using the words he knows and repeats them incessantly until he gets the reaction he wants from you.  He has a lot of one syllable words, and is working on a few two-syllable words.   He has started using "please" in conjunction with other words (milk please, etc.). He repeats sounds that you make.  He learns new words everyday, and I love hearing his little voice.  Some of my favorites are the way he says "choo choo," "bahpa," "lolo" (Elmo and Nemo), and "bye bye."  I also love that he says "brrrr" every time we go out when it's cold.

"cacs" (socks) is another one of his favorite words

Ephraim is obsessed with cars, trucks, and trains now.  He also loves animals, and his favorite is the horse.  Whenever he sees a horse (in a toy or book) he whinnies very loudly.  He loves to watch Blues Clues, and loves to read books about Mickey Mouse and Elmo.  In fact, he loves almost any book.  I'm so glad our little man is such a book worm.

Ephraim's biggest obsession is drawing.  If he sees any type of writing utensil (especially crayons), he will scream "baw, baw" until he gets to draw, and if he doesn't get to draw you are likely to have a very sad Ephraim on your hands.  He is very focused on his coloring, and switches crayons frequently.  He also loves to go out on our patio and color on everything with sidewalk chalk.

Ephraim is a pretty good eater, although what he is in the mood to eat changes daily.  In fact, lately he won't eat bananas!  Crazy baby.  One thing is for sure though, this baby loooves milk and using utensils to eat.  He especially loves using his own fork.

Ephraim likes to tell himself "no" before he does something naughty, and if you tell him "no" he always has to find something to pick up and throw on the ground to express his frustration.  It's hard not to laugh at his cute little expressions of displeasure, because he's such a good natured boy.

What do you mean, "no cookies for breakfast?"

Ephraim is super independent, and can entertain himself very well.  Ephraim is very free with his kisses, high-fives, and fist bumps. He will stay with any babysitter, and loooooves nursery at church, but he still loves his mama and dada, and is always very excited to see them when they return.  In fact, whenever we meet someone new he always makes sure that they know who his mama is.  It melts my heart.

He is not fearless however.  He has developed some interesting fears.  He is afraid of any toy that vibrates or moves.  He has a train that is motorized that terrorizes him, and a butterfly that vibrates that makes him whimper whenever he sees it.  If he hears the ice machine or the upstairs neighbors he always looks around to make sure everything is okay.

This picture is of sicky baby cuddles :-( but I get similar cuddles when Ephraim is scared.

Ephraim is a mimic-er, and likes to try anything that he sees those around him do.  It's true that having children makes you think twice about the example you are setting!  We are so lucky to have this little man in our lives!

Pumpkin Patch

Stephen is gone at a scout camp today so Ephraim and I went to the Pumpkin Patch this morning.

This little man is a go-go-going all the time.  I got MANY pictures of the back of Ephraim's head as he ran away from me.  But persistence pays off, and I did end up with some fun pictures.

After exploring what the Pumpkin patch had to offer we decided to check out the petting zoo.  Ephraim kept asking to see the "ho-oh-oh"rses, but once we got inside and he realized how big the horses were up close he got nervous, but loved chasing around the ducks and seeing the animals.

Deciding what to get into.

"Kucka" (Translation: Duck or Quack, I'm not sure)

Still chasing the ducks.

Ephraim definitely liked the ducks most.

A little apprehensive about the size of the pony.

The chickens made Ephraim very excited.  This boy loves birds.

Look, I found another one.

This goat thought Ephraim looked tasty.

After watching this little boy pet the goat, Ephraim decided that it wasn't scary to touch the animals.

After the ducks again.

Petting the pony from the safety of mom's arms.

Ephraim's goat friend.

Where to now?

Getting really brave, and going over to pet the pig all by himself.

Then we went over and I tried to get Ephraim to humor me by taking some pictures with the pumpkins.  He wasn't too into it, but he did like the little mini pumpkins.

"Wohoho"

Managed to get one where he was kind of looking :-P

The Clark's were there and snapped this picture for us :)

After all this running around Ephraim was very thirsty.  I went and bought him a water bottle.  I think this was the happiest that he was the entire trip.

Soooo thirsty.

Mmmmmm

Joy!

Now I have a happy boy

 After his water break, Ephraim was much more willing to humor me, and I got a few more pumpkin pictures.

Ephraim's silly scrunchy face that he does all the time now.

Happy boy.

Silly smile.

I sure do love this little pumpkin man.

It was a fun day, and Ephraim loved it!  Ephraim was hot and tired and ready to go home.

Resting for a minute before we decided to go home.

15 Months

Ephraim went in for his 15 month check-up this week.  He weighed 24 pounds and was 32.5 inches long.  He is my tall skinny boy.

I love love love this age.  It is so much fun!  Ephraim is really starting to communicate.  He has a lot of "words" and speaks a language that only Stephen and I can begin to understand.  He has words for daddy, mommy, no, fish, bird, food, banana, cheese, milk, cereal, water, tubby, dog, duck, horse, baby, bye, ball, shoe, batman, blue's clues, cars, more, please, and probably more that I can't think of right now.  The only words that really are recognizable are dada (daddy), nana (banana), and ba' (ball). He loves to mimic people and is very observant.

He is such a happy boy.  He is very silly, and loves to laugh and make mama and dada laugh.  He much more cuddly than he has been since he was a newborn. He loves to give cuddles and kisses.

Exploration is the name of the game.  He likes to put things in things, and climb up on anything he can. Things are finally not going straight into his mouth, so he can have more freedom with his exploration.  He loves walking and running, and it's so fun to watch him learn more independence.

He's developing preferences.  He loves Blue's Clues, and perks up at the mention of it.  He still loves books, but especially loves to play with mommy's iPad, and our phones.  He loves going for walks in his stroller.  He loooooves animals.  He points out every bird, dog, and deer we see when we go walking.

He's settled into a great routine.  He sleeps very well at night, and takes a 2-3 hour nap almost everyday.  He is a little pickier with his eating, and loves throwing things on the floor, so that has been a challenge, but has recently decided that he likes milk.  It's so funny to watch him tell me "no" after he throws things on the floor.

It's so fun to watch this silly little boy develop his personality!

Mama's Boy

Lately Ephraim has become a bit of a mama's boy, and I kinda like it ;-)  I get a lot of attention.

Here's a little animation of my silly man asking for mama.

I'll blog about our Utah trip soon :)

1 year old

A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun.  Enjoy the trip.  ~Author Unknown

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Ephraim is one year old! And what a fun little toddler he is!

Ephraim has 8 teeth now, and is always teething.  At his one year appointment he was 31.25 inches long (90th percentile), he weighed 23 lbs 14 oz (around the 60th percentile) and had a head circumference of 19.75 inches (99th percentile).

Ephraim is starting to get the hang of walking.  He is really good at walking while holding mamas hand, and can walk for longer times.  Once he figures out how to stand up on his own he will walk everywhere!  He giggles and smiles everytime he walks, and takes teeny tiny steps.  He's very cautious and so cute!

Ephraim's language is exploding!  He signs "more", "cereal", and "finished" with little prompting, and calls all food "nananas."  He is always saying "hi" and "hey." He knows who mama and dada are.  He makes sounds for cars and airplanes. He tries to mimic sounds that you say.  He says "ssss" for "Jesus" and "ba" for ball.  He points to everything and says "ah" to ask what it is.

Ephraim is into everything.  He loves attention and doing anything "grown up."  He giggles when he thinks he's going to get in trouble.  He loves animals right now, and is always pointing out the birds, squirrels and dogs that he can see from the windows in our apartment.

Ephraim still loves to have attention from everybody, but has become a little bit more of a mama's boy lately, but I am loving the extra hugs and kisses.

Ephraim's first birthday party was a lot of fun.  Grandad Beckman flew all the way in from Florida and was a huge help with the party.  

When it came time for Ephraim to eat his cake he wasn't sure what to do at first.  He tried eating it one sprinkle at a time for a while, but after a couple tastes of frosting he decided to dig in.

After a while he was pretty full, so he just decided to crawl around and spread the frosting with him.  

He loved having a little bath in the sink.

Ephraim really loved spending time with Grandad, and we had Karolyn and Jeff visit as well.  We explored San Antonio, and Ephraim explored too.

Ephraim had his first fourth of July.  He enjoyed the food, the pool, and the fireworks.

All in all it's been an awesome year.  The time flew by so quickly!  Ephraim is such a fun little boy, and I look forward to many more years with him!

More Photos Here