Max at 18 months

My little Maxy turned 18 months on May 1st.  He is so precious at this age and he evens me out when Claire is being sassy pants!   I can't say that I can't imagine this....since I can imagine because it in fact happened...  but, I can say that it's hard to believe that when Claire was his age, I had a little newborn baby boy.  Max was born when Claire was 18 months and 1 week old.  I think back to how she was when he was first born, and I feel like she was more 'mature' or 'developed' than he is now, but maybe that's just because I like to think of him still as my little baby boy and can't imagine him as an older sibling.

At 18 months, Max:

• talks up a STORM!  He talks ALL THE TIME!  He loves to say words he knows over and over again.  He walks around saying, "Mommy.  Daddy.  Mass (max).  Kler (Claire)" and repeats it as he wanders and plays.   He has even put two or three words together.  He has said, "I see you!" and "Dad-dy coffee".  He has started to say "Help you!", which means help me but it's hard for toddlers to learn to say "help me" when we ask them "should I help you?".  I love when he says "help you"!   He's very similar to Claire at this age in that he will attempt to repeat any word you ask and isn't afraid of trying to say anything.  I just stare at his little lips, tongue, and teeth when he talks.  Some other favorites that he says include:
• Bless you (he will say "bless you" whenever he hears you sneeze, or cough, or make any sort of bodily-sounding noise) 
• Kler dop it (Claire stop it) 
• Balloon
• Josh (he sometimes calls his daddy by his first name) 
• Buzz!  Woody!  (he loves his Toy Story book and characters) 
• Blanket
• Dip it (asking to dip his food in yogurt or ketchup) 
• Shoes
• Jacket 
• Buh-bye
• Daddy go? Mommy go? Omi go?
• Whhhhyyyy?
• Lay-er! (later) 
• Love you (an absolute favorite!) 
• One of his nicknames is "Stinker Docken".  I didn't know that he actually realized this is his nickname.  Last weekend I said to him, "Maxy, you are a stinker!"  He smiled at me and said "Stin-ker Doc-ken!"
• Is a bookworm.  He loves sitting by himself and looking at books, and likes if you read him books as long as you go really really fast! 
• Is an incredible sleeper!  He goes to bed at 7:30PM.  No reading, rocking, or anything of the sort (although I would prefer to rock and cuddle him).  He just kisses Mommy, grabs his blanket and paci, and is put into his crib wide awake.  We generally don't hear a peep until 7:30-8:00AM.  We still credit the Sleep Institute for his amazing sleep habits. 
• Already likes to drink coffee! (Josh's iced vanilla coffee made at home). We have to cut him off. 
• Closely examines everything you put on his fork before he eats it. 
• Wears size 12-18 months and 18-24 months, size 5 diaper, size 5 shoe. 
• Loves his baby doll.  He often walks around carrying the doll and feeding it with a little bottle.  He pats the baby's back, puts it in a blanket, and says "nigh-nigh". 
• Loves going on walks.  He sits contentedly in the wagon or tricycle for long periods of time.
• Has 11 teeth maybe?
• Is super giggly and has a serious funny bone.  The littlest things make him go roaring, like opening new trash can bags, making silly faces, putting toys on your head.  He is my little trouble maker.  The other day he asked Claire for a drink of her "wah-wah".  She obliged and then took it back.  Then he asked for another drink of "wah-wah" and I asked her to give him one more drink.  When she handed him the cup, he grabbed it, looked at her with a smile, and ran away as fast as his little legs would let him.  
• Loves Sesame Street and ELMO!
• Is more and more similar to Claire when she was younger, in that he is reserved, timid with strangers or in public, aware of his surroundings, sensitive, sweet.