17 months!

Dear Punk,

You are 17 months old and you are developing your independence in leaps and bounds every day. You now try to use utensils at least part of the time (hands are still the old standby) at meals and you are less messy than you used to be. You fill your mouth with big piles of food instead of tiny pieces, and we don't have to cut up the food nearly as much as we used to. You are really growing up!

Your vocabulary is also exploding, and it is such a joy to hear your words. You label tons of things around the house, like: shoe, sock, baby, ball, cat, car, book, keys, tree, pen, hat. You have cute little exclamations like "uh oh" and "ohhhhh!" You ask for some of your books by name, like "la la la" (Moo, Baa, La La La) or "uhda!" (Underwear Do's and Don'ts). You like to go to the kitchen and ask for what you want as well: cheese, juice, milk, eat. You love to say "hi" and "bye" to everyone. You have finally started saying "mama" and "mommy" which warms our hearts over and over again.

I love watching you learn and explore new things. You have started becoming interested in crayons and coloring, and have started bringing home 'art projects' from day care. Last week, you made your first ornament for our Christmas tree, and I look forward to adding more of your handiwork every year. You are working hard on shape sorters and puzzles. You love to sit in the corner and flip through your books. You want to climb up on everything but haven't worked that out yet. You like to stack things and put things in boxes.

You are such a joy to be around, because you delight in everything. Every new thing you see elicits an "ohhhhhh!" and every new food a "mmmmmm!" You ask for high-fives (bi? bi? bi?) and give kisses and hugs. You answer questions with "ye-sss" and "doh!" and it is nice to know your wants and needs.

You are a bit of an obsessive kid and I imagine that will be a constant. This month, your current obsessions are letters (aybeecee! aybeecee!), Babybug magazine (upty dupty! upty dupty!), one of your Baby Gund picture books (happy puppy! happy puppy!), and your books (buh! buh! buh! buh! buh!). You aren't terribly interested in your farm, but you do love carrying the farmer and the goat around. (Always the farmer and the goat. Like salt and pepper shakers, they must travel together.) I love watching your mind work.

Each month just gets better and better, and if you would ever cut all of your teeth, it would be perfect. I absolutely love being your mama and would do it again and again and again.

Love,
Mama