18 months.

My boys are 18 months old. What? Wow, did that go fast. Like I have said in almost every post, I am continually amazed and thankful at how much Preston & Ethan are learning and developing. It is so much fun to teach them new things and to watch how their minds process stuff. They have hit all their milestones and then some. With every month that passes, Mark and I check off each milestone to make sure they are reaching them. Preston and Ethan have already hit some milestones that are not expected until 22-24 months! They are both learning and developing at the same rate which is pretty cool too. It's weird and also heartbreaking to realize that the boys are not even 3 years old yet but have already passed Karissa in development. That is why Mark and I are that much more thankful with how well the boys are developing.

So, here's what they are up to these days:

At the 18 month well-baby appointment:
Preston: weight: 24 lb 4 oz; height: 2' 8"
Ethan: weight: 23 lb 3.8 oz; height: 2' 7"

Language: They each have about 50-60 words. They are copying everything we say and it seems like they are picking up a new word on a daily basis. They are starting to string 2 words together. They will say "daddy bye bye,"  "its a car" and "more milk." Preston is able to identify and name the following items in a picture: ball, light, car, star, dog, hat, cat, baby, tractor, door, cheese, book, apple, shoes and socks. Ethan is pretty close to the same except I don't think he can name car but can identify duck.

Letters: A, E, I, O, U, B, P.

Numbers: They can count to 5, kinda...they will go 1, 2, 5, 4, 5. Mark has heard them say the number 3 but I've never heard it.

Colors: Preston knows the color purple and black and Ethan knows blue and yellow.

They both understand the concept of hot, up and down, on and off, and open and close. They love to play peek-a-boo and hide and seek. They both are imitating adult behaviors such as sweeping, vacuuming, feeding a doll, talking on the phone and combing their hair and mine too. They are following 2-step directions. Ethan sings simple tunes, specifically 'itsy bitsy spider' and 'twinkle, twinkle little star.'

They are playing with simple puzzles, like to scribble, are obsessed with open and closing doors, love to play with their mega blocks and push toy cars around the house. They are both climbing on everything, running everywhere and generally wreaking havoc! It's never a dull moment at the Ashley house!

~It's learning time~

~I was out of the room for not even a minute and this is what I find when I return!~