:::17 revelations about my 17 month old:::

Our daughter is 17 months old and I can hardly believe it.  She is going through so many learning growth spurts lately, and I wanted to record all my thoughts and memories in one place:

Here are 17 thoughts, struggles, developments and obsessions of my 17 month old daughter:

1. Diaper changes are changing:  She hates them.  She throws a fit, arches her back and does everything in her power to roll over in the most inconvenient times.  She must have an item in her hands at all times, although she will normally just throw it over the edge of the desk that serves as her changing table.  We have started changing her standing up every once in a while and although it is very tricky for me, she seems to do better.

2. Everything that is not a toy, is a toy:  She can reach everything. She can open everything.  She only just started walking and running often and well.  So, she has hit the inevitable stage of playing with envelopes, tupperware, headbands and dirty laundry rather than toys.  Yesterday the little sneak got a tortilla off my plate OFF THE TABLE. I think she is getting taller and more devious by the day!

3. One nap is rough. We dropped her morning nap just after Christmas, and I think I can say just in the past couple of weeks have we got it "down."  This includes:  getting up a little later (8ish),doing activities in the morning, eating lunch earlier (11ish) and trying to get one dirty diaper changed BEFORE laying her down.  Her one nap really has to be 3 hours if it's going to be a pleasant evening.  So, if said dirty diaper happens to interrupt that, she gets books and stuffed animals in her crib until 3 hours is up.

When mom takes too long on that next bite of lunch...

4. My inconsistency in language teaching hasn't slowed her understanding.  This baby responds to Spanish and English better by the day.  She definitely doesn't hear Spanish as often as I intended.  But even when I "get back on the horse" she knows a few body parts, all her signs, and a few commands in Spanish which is AMAZING to me considering the days that I forget to intentionally practice at all.  Thank you, God, for grace here.

5. Sand is icky.  On our most recent trip to Florida, the ideal day at the beach was cut very short by the whining that ensued the second any body part touched the sand.  She seemed to freeze on the spot and lose her ability to walk/crawl/communicate.  She would FREAK.

6. Snow is fun!  We've really only had one major snowstorm this entire winter and it came this past week.  I bundled her up, but in her curiosity she took off her gloves, touched the snow, smiled, crawled, tried to catch snow flakes.  She enjoyed it for a full...six minutes I'd say.  But still

7.  The baby that stares back at her when she walks by any mirror is really fun to talk to.  I can't stop laughing when I see this.  She waves, she talks, she even tries to give headbands or books to this new friend...and gets very frustrated when that baby can't take them from her. Also, she puts both hands on her newly growing hair and acts like she's fixing it.

8.  Really, the stainless steel trashcan in the kitchen, is pretty much just another mirror.  She KISSES the friend in this "mirror." (GAGGGG)

9. "What did you find?" is a much better way to get said item out of her hands than "NO!"  She will happily bring whatever she has to me and set it on my lap if I ask it in this way.  It's all in the intonation.  Trying to encourage her rather than scold her seriously changes her attitude, even if it's a dangerous object (yikes, crochet hooks) or a highly desired item (hi, mom's phone).

10. She is a bottomless pit. She is getting dangerously close to eating a normal "kids" portion of food.  She wants snacks constantly.  Anything that is on my plate is something she wants to try, even after she has asked to get down.  Then, of course, there are days when she nearly starves herself.  But those are fewer and further between.

11. She learns new words every week.  Most recently, she has used "up!" correctly and something that sounds like "butt" means belly button.  She also regularly says "anks!"for thanks while signing it simultaneously...as a matter of fact, she has started to do that with all her signs at this point, which I love..."ma" (mas), "po" (por favor) and "agua" are the only distinct Spanish sounds she makes when she signs; the rest she tends towards the English word.  BUT STILL!

12. Music cures everything.  Ever since we started attending a weekly music class, this girl is obsessed. She knows the ipod plays music so she points to it at every nap/bed-time while pumping her hands in the air so we get the picture.  She has instruments that she gets out while we listen to CD's.  And she LOVES watching people sing/dance/play instruments at church or in videos.

13. I may have accidentally made her a lefty.  In my selfishness to avoid a mess, I haven't really been giving her many opportunities to feed herself.  I know, I'm slacking here.  So, we've been doing more and more the past couple weeks and I've been accidentally putting the spoon in her left hand, thinking it's her right.  So now she heavily favors her left when eating. Oopsie.

14."Can you put that back?" makes cleaning up sound fun!  She has a really good memory for what toys go where and where she found something.  She even starts to say "bah" for back when I say it, and really does try for the most part to put things away.

15. The word "gentle" gives her an idea of how NOT to hit.  She has been a hitter for a while.  And I (cluelessly) started smacking her hands.  When that didn't work, I squeezed them and said "NO!" loudly.  We tried crib timeouts.  Then someone suggested "gentle hands" and showing her what that means, and that has worked much better.  So now I say, "Are you being gentle?" and she awkwardly pets my face.  It's great.

16. Yoga is interesting.  And mom is a jungle gym, duh.  Self explanatory?

Mom in crow pose.  Baby about to pounce.

Watching #doyouyoga 's 30 day challenge & trying some moves...

17. DADA IS THE BEST PART OF THE DAY.   When that man walks in the door, her world stops.  She nearly screams "DADA!!" and runs to him.  Probably 10+ times throughout the day when she sees a picture of him, she points and says his name.  Momma might as well be chopped liver.  But I love it :)

What is YOUR 17 month old up to, or what you do you remember about when your child was this age?