17 Months

Yep, it's that time again. The 6th day of the month and it's time to wish my toddler (not a baby anymore) another happy month of life. As usual, he's changing and developing like crazy and it's hard to keep up with all the differences on even a month to month basis. I'll try to hit all the highlights but it's inevitable that I'll miss something!

His vocabulary is increasing on an average of 2-3 words per day which I find absolutely amazing. He's able to communicate his needs so well that it's making our jobs to figure out what's needed so easy. Mastering this stage of life as child and parents will, I'm sure, lead to new challenges in the near future (I hear terrible 2's starts around 18 months usually) but for now, we're leading pretty peaceful, easy going, fun lives together. Some of my favorite new words that he says - Oliver (our oldest cat), open, airplane (sounds more like a derivation of dada but it's definitely what he's referencing), baby, drill and lawn mower. Yep, definitely his mom's son because he has a huge interest in machines and power tools. Here's a quick clip of him in one of his favorite places, the garage, checking out the scenery.

Our biggest challenge (well mostly Mike since he's at home with him the most) is that Dylan still wants to be held a lot. Of course it's nice in some ways (I realize snuggling days won't last forever) but since he's getting bigger, it's tough on the arms and backs. However, when Dylan comes up, grabs your legs, looks up at you with that sweet face and says "Up, please" (yes, he's learning his manners too), it's really impossible to refuse him and not pick him up. Hey, I don't blame him. It's pretty cool to see the world from a higher viewpoint than you're used to. It's why I still torture myself wearing super high heels from time to time!

Well, I guess we do have one other small challenge. Dylan really loves taking baths. That's obviously not the problem. The issue is that he still takes baths in his baby bath tub....the one that sits above the kitchen sink. It's a much bigger size than the traditionally thought of baby tub but still, he's not going to fit into it until he's 10 so we do eventually need him to take a "tubby" in our regular bath tub. My easy going, scared of nothing child turns into a different little boy when we try to put him in our regular tub. He won't have any of it. We tried putting his baby bath tub in it. Nope. Didn't work. Putting his baby tub on our bathroom floor. Nuh-uh...not having it. We tried storing the tub in the bathroom for a while so he'd get used to seeing in there. He would sit in it without water, play in it, take his toys in and out....the second we put water in it he would cling to us for life rather than get in. So, back to the kitchen it was. We'll try again in a couple of weeks. Eventually, he will make the transfer to a big boy tub.

Punk Rock Baby Enjoying His Tubby

He's also discovering the fun of playing games. We taught him "what a ghost says" for Halloween and he just loves scaring us with his "boo!" Acting scared of his adorable little boo will keep him giggling for quite some time. He's also learned to play hide and go seek. He still a ways away from winning any hiding contests but it's cool that he gets the concept. One of his two hiding places has become a favorite play spot - under the dining room table. He'll often slip under there for many minutes at a time (you know 2-4 minutes...an eternity for a child this age) and just hang out. He may not know it yet, but he's going to love playing "fort."

In addition to all of his mental developments, his changing physically too. Not only is the height increasing but his dexterity too. One of the big examples of that is eating with a fork and a spoon. He's been practicing with them for a while but now he's really proficient and prefers to eat his meals with them and only asks for our help on occasion. Dylan's also discovered the joy of spinning around. He's not yet to the around and around until he's dizzy point but I'm sure he'll find the fun in that very soon.

My sweet boy is learning to be affectionate upon request. He'll give us kisses and hugs. The hugs have been there for a while but the kisses are new. What cracks me up and baffles me is that they are (as with most kids) a big, slobbery, open mouth heading toward your face. Where do they get that? I don't see other people kissing that way (at least not in public nor on the tv he would see)! In any case, Mike and I tend to try and aim for either the top or bottom of his lips for our kiss and hope that eventually the mouth will close for his kisses. It's funny because if I ask for a kiss from Dylan and Mike is with us (or vice versa), he has to give kisses to both of us. Too cute.

Now, I realize true potty training is a ways off but we have officially hit step 1 of the process (or I guess #2 in this case) - Dylan has become aware of when he is pooping. Yet another one of his new words is "poop" and he says it sometimes before and other times just after he's done that deed. That's a big thing for a little dude to realize. My kid knows when he poops....I couldn't be more proud!!

So, that's your monthly Dylan update. We had a great time at a super cool park this weekend and I took some good shots. Here are just a couple of my cute little guy!

LOVES the swing!

My Happy Little Guy - 17 Months