Happy 18 Months!

Happy 18 months little man!  A year and half already?  Holy cow.  This is the best.age.ever!  He is so much fun right now I can hardly stand it.  I want to just keep him right here for just awhile longer, please!  Just a warning that this posts has lots of kinda boring movies and slightly blurry pics.  It's been easier to have my phone, not camera handy and while I do love my new iphone, it still doesn't take the best pictures.  Ok, onto the summary!
The Stats:
We had an appointment today so right on schedule.  We couldn't for the life of us get in with Dr. Tripathy, so we were lucky enough to get in with Dr. Melvin. We've been attempting to make the switch to him and I was VERY impressed.  He was so kind with Owen and showed him all the instruments before he used them.  He didn't haggle me at all about saying no to the flu, MMR, and chickenpox vaccine either.  He said Owen looked great!
Weight: 24 lbs, 12 oz
Length: 2 ft, 8 in (this was the first time they wrote it out in feet, not just inches)
Head: 46 cm
Fun things he's doing:
He runs around like mad and giggles like crazy when he is chased.  He loves to stomp his feet and loves when you jump, but hasn't quite figured out how to jump himself yet. He really likes to color in his Elmo coloring book and can successfully identify the blue, purple, and red crayons.  He understands pretty much everything you tell him and loves to follow simple commands like putting something away, throwing away a piece of garbage, or bringing his cup of water to the table.  He likes to build towers with any toys, even some lunch items.  He'll try to imitate most of the words you say, but really only has about 10-15 words that are really clear (mama, mom, moo, moon, up, purple, elmo, i wub you, apple, ball, and a few others).  He absolutely refuses to say da-da.  When you ask him, he'll smile and say ma-ma.  He makes a great monkey, elephant, bird, and lion noise and of course still loves his cows. He also makes a great train, car, and airplane sound.

Eating:
I'm thankful to have a really great eater still.  While veggies are not a huge favorite, he'll at least try everything once.  He currently loves to dip anything and everything!  Pancakes in syrup, carrots and broccoli in dip, hot dogs in ketchup, and pretty much anything else in yogurt.  His food of choice is fruit which I'll gladly oblige him in.  His favorite fruits in order are raspberries, pomegranates, blackberries, clementines, bananas, and apples.  He still loves every kind of dairy and is on a big avocado and tomato kick right now.  And so you don't think I'm perfect about feeding my kid only healthy stuff, he also has a secret love for McDonald's cheeseburgers, hold the mustard. :)  He's doing pretty great at using utensils and even though he colors largely with his right hand, he largely uses his left hand for using the spoon and fork.

boring video of eating with a spoon:

Sleeping:
While this is still not a perfect thing, he is going SO much better in this area. A few months ago, we fully embraced crying it out and while it's not perfect, he went from getting up almost every 1-2 hours, to getting though most of the night!  He still likes to have trouble around the 4:30 mark, but I've been lazy and letting him come snuggle in bed with me to get a few more hours of sleep.  This past week, we dropped the morning nap as it was just becoming a battle or 45 minutes of crib play time (not a bad thing though).  He'll still only sleep about 30 minutes in the afternoon before sitting up wide awake, but is getting better at putting himself back to sleep (or sometimes with a little help) for another 45 minutes or so.

A few dislikes:
He still very much dislikes getting his nails clipped.  Like really hates it.  He also really hates being told no or that he did something wrong.  He has such a tender heart which I'm praying he keeps.  He'll say a version of I'm sorry when you ask him to.  He hated bath time with daddy for awhile, but I'm thankful this had been getting better this week.  Once he realizes he's hungry, he really hates being patient for food.  He also isn't a biggest fan of the church nursery lately, but many other moms have told me that this is common around this age.
And some pictures:

he loves to empty this cabinet

no, not the bloody Nile.  water color tablets from Aunt Jenna.

being silly on mom's bed

practicing our one-to-one correspondence with raisins

He still LOVES his books which makes me so happy:

And a random video of him being silly and playing in the curtains: