19 months

Here's what is new with Noah this month according to babyceter.com;

The vocabulary of a typical 19-month-old toddler may consist of as few as ten words or as many as 50. Yours may be able to link two or more words together, and is starting to use more "action" words. Verbs like "go" and "jump" are common, and so is linking a verb with her name (or pronoun), as in "Come me," meaning "Come with me." (It will be some months before she inserts the preposition.) Many 19-month-olds are also well-versed in direction words such as "up," "down," "under," "out," and "in."

You'll also discover that when you read familiar stories, if you pause at certain points in the text, your toddler will fill in the blank. To test this, next time you're reading a book that your toddler has heard dozens of times, pause at the end of a sentence and see what happens. If Goodnight Moon is a bedtime standard, try this: "In the great green room, there was a telephone and a red ..." "Balloon!" she'll likely shout.

Looking at picture books with your toddler, and labeling the objects for her, will help build her vocabulary. While you're at it, explain to her what the object does, what sounds it makes, or what it feels like. For instance, you might say, "This is a horse. Horses are big. They run fast," or "Here's a fire truck. It's red." You get the idea. And if you want proof that your child understands more words than she can say, when you're looking at books, ask her, "Where's the red tractor?" or "Where's the white horse?" and odds are she'll point right to it.

Toddlers learn by touching, holding, and moving objects from one place to another. They struggle to push or pull heavy objects, toss light ones across a room, and observe how small objects literally slip between their fingers. Experts call this "motor learning," and this constant testing teaches children about size, weight, and shape. You may think it's just fun for her, and even get frustrated with the inevitable messes that your 19-month-old's explorations create, but she's learning about perception and spatial relationships, concepts that will be important in a few years when she's introduced to math. This is an age when many toddlers enjoy trying to match shapes together, so a shape-sorting box is an ideal toy for a 19-month-old.

Starting last month, you may have noticed that your child was finally interested in playing with toys. This month she may become engrossed in a favorite plaything for 20 or 30 minutes — an eternity to you if your child has been unwilling to let you out of arm's reach.

Since toddlers tend to be enthusiastic explorers, be sure to choose toys that are safe. Board books, musical instruments, nesting blocks and boxes, stacking toys, toy telephones (without cords), and push-and-pull toys are top toys for toddlers. Make sure the toys, and any parts attached to them, are too large to be swallowed, do not have detachable parts that could pose a choking hazard, won't break into small pieces if thrown on the ground, don't have sharp points or edges, and don't have moveable parts that could pinch fingers.

I think I say this every month, but this is such a fun age!

Noah says lots of words, probably close to 100.  He will basically repeat any word that he hears us say.  He is also putting some sentences together.  His current favorites are "I dropped the ....", "I got you", "I pooped again", and "I want to read that one book" (I didn't say the sentences are grammatically correct). 

At his 18 month checkup Noah was healthy, growing well, and weighed just under 28 pounds.

Just this month Noah has seemed to start playing more by himself, and not always wanting/ needing us to interact with him.  Until this month he has pretty much wanted my attention all of the time and I've had to reserve cleaning and cooking for nap times, unless they are simple tasks that he can help with.  But this month he has started to contently play on his own for up to 30 minutes at a time, sometimes multiple times a day.  He still likes to be in the same room as me and near me, but he doesn't go looking for trouble just because he doesn't have my undivided attention anymore (at least not most of the time).

We put Noah's potty in the bathroom and have started talking to him about the potty and letting him sit on it.  He seems interested, but not yet telling us before he needs to go.

The Bayou is his favorite place, and he asks to go there several times a day.  Then upon arriving he wants to pick a bunch of clover flowers.  He really loves flowers and asks for them several times a day.

For the first time Noah seems to be starting to get attached to some toys.  He always wants his stuffed giraffe and crocheted blanket when he goes to sleep, and he usually likes to walk around hanging on to them for a while after he wakes up.

He is also starting to nap longer.  We've mostly been down to 1 nap a day for a few months, but since he wasn't used to this transition that nap was only lasting about an hour to an hour and a half.  Now, more often than not, that nap tends to last 2=3 hours... which has been wonderful for me finding time to shower, cook, and clean!