mason 18-month check-up

mason had his check-up today too; kind of nice to have both boys with appointments at the same time.  he was so good and barely cried when he got his shot (part two of his flu shot).  they give kids a book to take home when they come in for well checks and mason got one about trucks. here are his stats for the day:

height: 35-3/4 inches
weight: 30.6 pounds
head: 80-85 percentile

mason wears a size 6 diaper and mostly 3t clothes.  he really likes picking out his shirt every morning and taking a bath every night.  he picked out the shirt in the picture which is one of daddy's from little league (he found one for mason and madelyn). 
he is all boy, but still very sweet and mostly obedient.  the love and concern he shows maddux always amazes me.  when maddux cries, mason usually gets to him first with a "shhh".  or he will come running with a pacifier from maddux' room.

he sucks his thumb way too much in my opinion and it shows; his thumb is so chapped and calloused from spending so much time in his mouth.  at least it looks like we found a solution that has worked for madelyn that we can try on him when he turns 3.

while he is a very effective communicator, mason does not have a lot of words.  the doctor said they like to see 5-10 "words" at 18 months so mason falls into the average range.  here is a list of his "words":  ma-ma, da-da, duck, truck, this, that, "grrrr" (for tiger), cracker (kack-kack), no, cheese, dog, maddux ('dix'), and there is something he says for madelyn that i can't quite describe - maybe "add".  it seems like there are a few more (like yogurt) that he isn't totally consistent with or that i just haven't noticed that he is consistent.  he doesn't have nearly as many words as madelyn, but he can follow really detailed instructions and works very hard at being understood.  he is also very interested in letters and points them out for us to tell him their names when he sees them on signs or in books.  when we ride in the car he 'says' them to himself as he points and 'reads'.

glad to report another happy, healthy boy!  love.