A year and a half

has passed since I had my sweet baby boy! He's not a baby anymore. :(  Ruston is such a big boy and is turning out to have a very strong personality.

We went to the doctor today and everything checked out well.  Ruston weighs 24 pounds, which keeps him in the 25th percentile and was 32.5 inches long, sticking him in the 50th percentile.

He is all boy.  Rough. Rowdy. All over the place. He doesn't sit still for a minute.  He LOVES his cars, trucks, and tractors.  He still spends tons of time lining them up perfectly and then moving them one at a time to another part of the table.

This past month he's really started to play with balls more. He'd grab them and drop them every once in a while before, but it's become more frequent and intentional.  He loves to play "fetch." haha.  He'll throw the ball to me and chase it when I throw it back to him.

Blocks and stuffed animals have come into play the past month.  He's always had them and acknowledged them, but now he'll actually play with them.  He stacks his blocks and then knocks them over.  He carries around his stuffed animals and gives them big hugs.  Sometimes I get kicked out of the recliner because he wants to sit there with his 5 stuffed toys. :)

Ruston is still very much into books and magazines.  He loves to be read to and really like to read to himself as well!

He hits EVERYTHING.  He is constantly banging, throwing, pushing, or slapping something.  It's definitely something we're going to have to start working on.

Ruston LOVES shoes!! He gets so excited when it's time to put them on.  And it doesn't matter which ones it is...he loves his tennis shoes, boots, and sandals all the same.  He's recently started trying to put them on himself and gets quite angry when he can't.  He also likes to step into our shoes and try to walk in them. :)

His talking is really starting to improve.  He still speaks his own language 90% of the time, but he's getting a little more English in there. :)  He says Dada, Mom, and Diesel pretty consistently now.  He says ball and car constantly.  He says "track" for tractor and "pap" for pappy. He can make animal sounds for a lion, dog, cow, cat, duck and sometimes a horse and pig.  He's got to be in the mood for those. :)  He also likes to show you his tongue and his "nelly nutton."

Ruston's eating hasn't been as great as it has been in the past.  He doesn't eat nearly as much volume wise or selection wise.  Kind of frustrating. :/  He has 7 teeth now.... 4 on bottom and 3 on top.

Sleeping is very hit or miss.  He'll have 1 awesome night, then an awful night, then an OK night.  His schedule is pretty darn consistent with only a few minor changes on Wednesdays, so I'm not really sure what it is thats making the difference.

One super cute action he's learned very recently is to pat my back when he gives me a hug.  It's so sweet and makes me just want to hold him forever.

But of course, he's got some not so cute behaviors as well! Temper tantrums are starting and are NO FUN for mom at all! haha! This child flaps, kicks, screams, squirms, and bangs his head on anything in sight.  My mom says she's pretty sure she knows where he gets that, but I have no idea what she's talking about. :)

Speaking of these tempter tantrums, he had a doozy of one in Petsmart the other day.  To celebrate his half birthday, we got him an aquarium to keep in his room.   I took him to Petsmart to pick out his fish.  He loves fish and was running up and down the aquarium aisle looking and talking into all of the different tanks.  Well, after getting his fish, I attempted to escort him to the check out line.  He flipped!! He DID NOT want to leave those tanks!  He screamed, hit, cried, and twisted trying to get away from me.  I had to strap him into a basket just to pay! Lordy was that embarrassing! :)  But, we both survived and made it home with 3 new neon tetras.

It's been a wonderful 18 months with this special boy and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful, crazy, loving kiddo. :)