17 Things About 17 Months

Dear Little Man,

Here are seventeen reflections on your seventeen months, since you turn eighteen months tomorrow. (Where did all the time go, my big boy??)

1) You can now RUN instead of just WALK. Greeeeeaaaatt.

2) You no longer like warm baths and instead prefer lukewarm ones. This is quite the problem for "family bath" time as your Father and I prefer warm baths, thank you very much.

3) You can now eat a whole ear of corn all by yourself. It's super cute and a great way to shut you up keep you occupied for ten minutes.

4) You are outgrowing your size five shoes, which I thought would *never* happen...I swear those things looked HUGE a few months ago!

5) You say and sign for "more." However, when you say "more" it sounds like "mo."

6) You have become a climber. You climb on your toys, on your highchair, on the kitchen stool...anything worth climbing, you climb. It's great fun for Mom.

7) You have two different personalities now -- one with your best girlfriend CC, and one with your best friend Aidan (the Big Guy). With CC you are totally crazy and outgoing, and with Aidan you are more relaxed and mellow.

8) You have become re-attached to nursing, mostly thanks to our nine day East Coast vacation, where you nursed for 50% of the flight there. Seriously.

9) However you are now able to go to bed without nursing, either with Daddy, Amy, or Grammy. This relieves Mommy greatly.

10) You stacked FIVE BLOCKS!!! on top of each other! I couldn't believe it! Your fine motor skills are THROUGH THE ROOF!!

11) You now say things with an upswing in your affect. For example, you say "NOooooAH!" It's really cute and helps Mom keep her cool when you say "No" over and over again.

12) You have finally entered your "No" phase. (Heh.)

13) Amy and CC have introduced you to "Ring around the rosy." You LOVE it, most of all the DOOOWWWN!! part. It's pretty much the whole point of the dance and song for you. You are SO cute falling to the ground.

14) While in the double stroller you and CC hold hands. SO precious! (Oooooh, Little Man's got a GIRLfriend!!)

15) You can now answer my questions about what you want. However, "No" also means "Yes." A "no" without a facial expression, or with a "no" facial expression means "no." A "no" with a huge smile means "yes." You are too cute, mister.

16) You are obsessed with your "Potty Train" DVD and LOVE to say, "choo-choo" but are CLEARLY not anywhere near ready to potty train, even though you can sign "potty" and sit on your potty (fully clothed of course).

17) You keep me guessing every step of the way. Previously you HATED books, and now you LOVE them, with a passion. I don't "get" you all of the time, kid, but I LOVE YOU. You are totally My Cracker.

I hope you won't hold it against me that I have not been able to keep you totally up to date on all of your accomplishments. Just try to think of yourself as a second child, like I was, and be thankful for what you DO have. Like all of the photos.

All my love, my big, big, almost eighteen month old boy,

Mama