Almost 18 months

When I look at recent pictures of John Harrison, I can tell that his face is changing and maturing. I guess that because I am around John Harrison all the time, it is hard for me to notice the small changes, then I look at pictures and the changes seem dramatic. Our little boy still has the cute baby cheeks, although they are becoming less prominent now that he seems to be thinning out a little bit. John Harrison will turn 18 months in just a few days......our sweet boy still takes two naps a day most days, weighs somewhere between 26 and 27 pounds (so exact, huh:), wears 18-24 month shirts and can either wear 12-18 month or 18-24 month shorts. I am really curious to see how tall John Harrison is at his 18 month checkup. Although his vocabulary hasn't increased too much from what I last reported, he really seems to understand a lot of what we say to him. Our current challenge is weaning him off his nighttime bottle. Hopefully by this time next week, he will drink all of his milk from a sippy cup during the day. I started giving him half his milk in a cup at dinner and half in a bottle before bed. He is quite attached to his bedtime "baba," but I know that weaning will only get harder as he gets older. Since John Harrison had such a hard time sleeping when we were out of town this summer (and has always had trouble sleeping when we travel), we decided (mainly on Davi'd's mom's recommendation) to attach him to something. During his nighttime bottle, we started encouraging John Harrison to hold a little blanket that David's mom gave him when he was a baby; we would then put the blanket in his crib and leave it in the crib when he woke up in the morning. I recently added a bigger blanket to his crib in addition to the little blanket. We went out of town last week and John Harrison slept better than he had ever slept on a trip. One MAJOR thing that helped was that John Harrison slept in his pack-n-play in a different bedroom (he sleeps HORRIBLY when we are sleeping in the same room with him). We have never had great results getting him to sleep in his pack-n-play or in cribs at hotels, so I was really encourged that he would actually sleep well in a portable crib. I also think that the familiar blankets really helped a lot, also. Thanks, Karen, for the great suggestion...one of many great child-rearing suggestions you have recommended!! We let John Harrison hold the small blanket during the carride and he kept himself entertained playing with the blanket for quite some time and did awesome riding in the car for over 6 hours each way. Yes, there were lots of snacks, toys, and a few rough moments, but overall, John Harrison did great in the car. David and I were even able to listen to a book on cd during the carride. I was SO encouraged that there is hope for good sleep and pleasant carrides on vacation:).