Hudson: 18 months old

At 18 months old, Hudson weighs in at:

Weight: 24 lbs (22nd percentile)

Length: 32 in (36th percentile)

From a journal entry January 10, 2016

Hudson. Oh my Hudson. I had forgotten how much of a full-time job one year olds are. I cannot get a thing done when he is awake. When I just had one or two children, that worked out fine because I could get all my stuff done during their nap time. Now, during Hudson’s naps, all the kids want me to help them with THEIR stuff that THEY couldn’t do while Hudson was awake—legos, puzzles, reading difficult books. These are all things the kids have to give up while Hudson is on the prowl, because he will inevitably wreck whatever they are doing and cause lots of tears on everyone’s part.

Hudson is starting to take a few steps and it really is adorable. He thinks it’s all a big joke and smiles and looks around for approval. The kids all line up so he can walk to them. He loves the attention. It’s kind of a fun family activity. He can say (or scream, usually) “Muh” for more when he wants food, and he definitely starts bopping up and down and grunting when he sees a dog. I used to be able to get him to whisper “ruff ruff” or “brrrr” when we saw a dog or elephant in a book, but I can’t get him to do it anymore. He eats fruit nearly exclusively. Bananas, blueberries, peaches, strawberries, mandarins, apples, applesauce, yogurt. He screams and screams for these foods and basically throws anything else onto the floor. “Bee Cheerios” (honey nut) and pbj’s are also acceptable to him. But pancakes, crepes, waffles, no way. Vegetables or meat, not a chance.

Discovery Gateway

The car cart at the grocery store that all moms have a love/hate relationship with

From a journal entry February 25, 2016

Hudson started walking in earnest last week and it is so adorable. He is so pleased with himself and has this big grin on his face while he walks. He looks around before he decides to take off walking, perhaps to get permission, but possibly to look for an adoring audience, then he puts both hands in the air and walks either to his destination or until he falls. He often claps for himself when one of the two of those occur. It’s super cute. He also likes to flip through books and make soft little grrr-ing or roar-ing sounds while looking at the animals. If he is still hungry after breakfast, he will crawl over to the cereal cabinet and help himself to some dry cereal, and spill half the bag on the floor. The kid LOVES having a bowl or spoon or plate or fork like the big kids do. He will scream and scream in his high chair, and point to the utensil drawer until he is given something to eat with. As soon as he gets it, he smiles and coos and starts trying to use it happily. Maybe this one will be more independent than the others. He still HATES having his hair washed. He loves reading books. He will point out any dog he sees within a two block radius and bounces up and down and grunts his little “ruff ruff ruff.” He is HATING the stroller now that he can walk, and will wriggle his way out of any restraint imaginable, car seat or stroller. (Again, my first child to do this) His dimple is just to die for when he smiles. He can play with others (which usually ends in him getting clobbered), or play on his own. He hasn’t been sick or teething for at least a month, which translates to him just being fun and cute and the life of the party. I think he is every child’s favorite sibling. They fight over who gets to play with him. They even held his hand while he walked across the parking lot at the school tours today and stopped him from crawling up any staircase he saw. It is really fun to see the dynamic between them all.

Treehouse Museum

March 2016

Hudson has been completely frustrated by his inability to move more than crawling. I recently found our toddler walker toy, and Hudson has been thrilled! He screams to take it outside and will cruise the sidewalks with it with a huge smile on his face. He is such a messy, curious child. One day he had a white onesie on. By the end of the day he had spilled food and paint on it. He had drooled so much that the entire thing was wet and then he had rubbed his tummy on the leather couch so the red leather rubbed off onto his clothing. Anyway, while driving carpool to dance that evening, Amelia said, "Oh! I like Hudson's shirt! Is it tie dye?" Ha ha! No! It started the day as white! I guess in a way he did tie dye it himself throughout the day.

When Hudson is offered new foods he is very suspicious. He purses his lips together when the spoon with said food is coming at him. He will take a small lick of the food and then either open his mouth wide for more, or push the spoon away. When it was time for the other kids to have their treat for the day, he heard the word "treat," crawled over to the treat closet, and pointed. It was so cute. He knows what's up. So I gave him a chocolate chip and he gave me the biggest smile. Very pleased with himself.

If anyone is sitting in my lap, and Hudson sees them, he turns into a little attack dog and claws and kicks the person until they eventually give up and get off my lap and let Hudson on. Also, the other day, things got really quiet for a while. I knew Hudson was in the bathroom but was enjoying the peace and quiet so I thought I would just deal with whatever he was up to later. What I found when I checked on him was Mara's entire accessory drawer dumped into the toilet! Hair clips, hair bows, barrettes, chap sticks, nail polishes, all little things that could easily go down the pipes and clog things up. Grrr. That child.

Norman Rockwell exhibit at BYU

Just grabbing a mid-morning snack

April 2016

During General Conference this morning, Hudson was being naughty. Really naughty. Like walking around, pulling everything off any shelf he could reach, and screaming. I guess he didn't like being completely ignored while everyone was glued to the television. Even Baylor complained that Hudson was being too loud. Must be bad if the three year old is complaining that he can't hear.