Seventeen months is an age that is both amazing and makes me want to pull my hair out. Or perhaps that's just my 17 month old! We started back to school last week so it's a time of changes again around here. We were utterly spoiled to both be lucky enough to spend all summer home with LM. The changes daily in him were amazing to be a part of.
Here's a "snapshot" of where LM is today.
Food: He loves to eat just about anything we eat or he can get his hands on. Fruit is still his favorite (strawberries and bananas especially). He has developed a soft spot for hot dogs and chicken nuggets but will eat almost anything--including spicy things like jalapeno chips and salsa. He drinks his whole milk like it's nobody's business. We've finally graduated to him being willing to drink out of any of his sippy cups (and we have quite a few for him to choose from!). He likes his water out of a straw cup. He's had juice(s) and whatnot but we rarely give him these. He's beginning to use a plate at meals without throwing it (and all his food) on the floor. He'll hold a spoon or fork but doesn't really get how to use it yet.
Sleep: He started STTN shortly after summer break started (around 15mo old), which also coincided with dropping the bedtime bottle. But--it also was around the time he got to sleep in as late as he wanted and not be woken up at 615 every morning. Throughout the summer he was sleep from about 8-8 (or 830-830, 9-9 etc) with 1-2 naps a day. He would either do one long 2.5-3 hour nap midday or two shorter naps (and somedays when mama was particular flexible he'd go down for nap waaay later than he should and stay up late!). Now that we're back in the work schedule/daycare schedule, he's been taking two naps (about 1.5 and 2 hours respectively) that I expect would be longer if he had his way but when you're not the only kid around, sleeping through "lunchtime" doesn't exactly work. We've been working hard to try to get him down for bed around 730, as we learned how important getting close to 12 hours seemed to be to him sleeping without waking up (and can I tell you how wonderful that was...after so so so long of him still waking up for paci's etc every night). He's beginning to get cranky around 7 so maybe we need to start earlier...it's just hard when we're gone all day. But, we're only one week in, so we'll see how things adjust. He sleeps with two paci's (one in the mouth, one backup), his monkey blanket and a small plush care bear (which he ADORES and lays there rubbing it's little hard heart nose and "butt" heart). He is only using the paci at sleeptimes or occasionally when we're out and he's really tired. We read Goodnight Moon everynight, snuggle and lay him down. Sometimes he falls right asleep, other times he lays and plays for awhile quietly with his Care Bear (yes, we broke down and got the video monitor...another post!).
Words: The child is a word fiend! He may have been slow to do everything gross motor but he is verbal! He's very big into labeling things---saying "ehh?" and pointing to pictures in books and things he wants to know what they are. He's really big into those "First 100 words/animals/random pictures" books. He is mimicking like crazy (time to start watching my mouth!!). Below is a list of words he can say (starred are the ones that probably are only understood to us). And yes, I'm typing them how you can read them and not in babyspeak!
- mama, dada, buca (dog's name)
- clock, chair, blanket
- monkey, elephant* (ella), doggie, fish*, tiger, cat*, bunny* (bunn)
- baa, maaa, neigh, woof (though he can point to a BUNCH more animals when asked, including some weird ones like kangaroo and octopus)
- bus, car, up, go, help* (elpa)
- ball, basketball*, bike* (bite)
- dinner* (dinn), banana, strawberry* (berry), snack* (nack), more* (nana)
- star, heart
- hot, hop* (ho)
- nono, uh-uh, yes* (es), yaya
- gentle* (nenle)
- Several names of kids at daycare
- Open, on, off*
- Clean up* (keen up)
- All gone, all done
- Eye, nose* (noz), mouth* (mof), arm, hand* (han) but can also ID head, hair and ears through pointing.
Favorites: books, books, books! Balls, climbing on EVERYTHING (seriously, we had to move the kitchen chairs outside of the gate because I got tired of hauling him off the table), dancing and we're starting to get into puzzles.
Super cool things: I love how much he "knows" and can show...even if not say. I love that he can identify pictures of things in books, go get something when we tell him what it's by and that he's starting to make his wants known (go dada)
Non-super cool things: He LOVES to not listen....say nono about something and do it anyway...look at you and smile that "naughty" smile and proceed to do something scary/heartstopping. The hitting is almost totally gone but biting has reappeared with the appearance of the SEVEN new teeth he sprouted this summer. I think it's our "teacher karma" to have a kid this stubborn :-)
Newest milestones: Spinning around in circles when dancing, somersaults and labeling all the no-nos in the house (not that he listens to them!) He also will carry his clothes to the laundry basket when asked.
Gross Motor: Walking up a storm--fast too! He still monkey crawls occasionally (though we're discouraging it after the PT mentioned that it probably contributed to his neck muscle development turning into torticollis) and pushing for him to crawl on knees. He's still really unsteady (maybe the speed?) but brave as all get out. He climbs stairs (up and down) easily--though not unattended. He walked across the (fenced) backyard the other day to get to his slide (usually he would just stay at the bottom of the steps) and didn't even look back to see if I was going to follow him. He can climb EVERYTHING and is trying to get the child-locks off. He can also turn off the light switches when given a chance.
Basically---little man is rockin the changes every day. It's crazy and somedays I just can't handle how fast he's growing. I know things are about to change around here and it's scary how I'll have to divide my love and attention. I love him to pieces (even though he's naughty these days!) and can't wait to see him grow more!
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