Lenore at 17 Months

 

Happy Girl at 17 Months Old

What she's doing this month:

• She continues to know what she wants, and she will get her point across, no matter what. She points and grunts, mostly, until we have answered her.
• She has started to vocalize more, overall. She babbles, but has also started repeating words. For instance, she loves putting on her socks and shoes, so I've started saying sock-sock-sock when she brings them to me. She'll say 'dock-dock-dock.' Or shoe-shoe-shoe is 'djoo-djoo-djoo.' She hasn't really said many new words, but the repeating words back is new this month.
• She's also remembering her animal sounds this month! Last month was just 'boof boof' for the dog's bark, but this month she's doing her best chicken (bock bock), cow (some sort of moo), and bunny (hop hop).
• She continues to be a good little helper. If I'm yelling at Lewis to get ready, she will get his shoes and deliver them to him, without even a prompting. :) She loves to help carry a water bottle or Lewis's lunch or someone's jacket when we are going out the door, too. She'll also go under the kitchen sink (which is/was locked/childproofed, but she's broken through it), and gets a spray bottle and washcloth and walks around to clean up. She doesn't know how to spray, of course, and it's just vinegar/water, so there's no worries of her doing great harm. It's just too cute, the way she's taken to mimicking certain tasks. She's a blossoming little mama's helper.
• She is a bowl bandit. She 'gets' that we put our food into bowls, so every time I offer her food, she runs over to the kids' cabinet and gets a bowl. That is fine, but then 3-4 more bowls make their way out by the time snack/the meal is over, and before long, we have no clean bowls. She, like Lewis, insists on having a separate bowl for each food, as well.
• She is getting better and better at feeding herself with a spoon. She still makes a mess of her shirt, but I'd say 70% makes it to her mouth.
• She loves to pick up tiny pieces of trash and either give them to me or put them in the trash.
• She loves to get a piece of paper and a pen/highlighter/marker/whatever she can get her hands on, and she'll pretend to draw/write. Lewis was never into putting pen to paper, so it's neat to see how they are different.
• She is tough! Currently, she has a scratched knee and nose (how did that happen?!) and a bruise on her cheek (from falling off the couch and hitting the coffee table). She pulled a play kitchen down on herself at open gym yesterday and didn't react much at all. She just laid still until I came over and picked it up off of her, and she got up and played with it again. I'm sure being around Lewis has helped.
• She looooves to be outside. At some point, though, she will decide to walk into the road or onto the neighbor's driveway (and then down said neighbor's driveway and into her backyard), so then playtime is over. She thinks it's funny, of course, to run away from me, so I'm doing my best to kibosh that action. Until we reach that point, though, outside time is good.
• Sleep is still going well. She sleeps from about 7:30-7:30 at night, plus a 2-3 hour nap during the day. The 2nd nap has gone away this month, and her midday nap ranges from 10:45-1:45 or 1-4, depending on whether we have to pick up Lewis at 12 or 2.
• She has also just started sleeping with snuggly items this month. She has a seahorse that lights up plays music for 5 minutes or so, and she has a monkey that my mom got her at the zoo. Last week she was also snuggling with an extra pair of pajamas, Lewis's (clean) underwear, and a John Deere hat. I got rid of those, though, and just stuck to the stuffed animals. ;)
• She is still in her 18 month clothes, inching ever so closer to her cache of 24 months.
• Current Tooth Count: STILL 12. She's been gnawing on her finger on one side the past few days, so maybe they're on the move again. Or maybe not! Maybe she'll have 12 teeth forever. ;)

She's pretty darn sweet! (Minus the fussing and demanding for food she'll pull occasionally.)