17 Months

Dear Nate,

Today you turn 17 months old. I think we've officially hit the month where telling people how old you are in months starts to sound obnoxious, so since the first of the month whenever anyone asked, I would say, "Oh, he'll be one-and-a-half next month" - which, for the record, is hard to believe.

And people do ask me about you all the time. Three times this weekend I was stopped by nice older ladies in the supermarket so they could tell me how beautiful you are and how blessed I am. People just think you are incredibly adorable and I just have to agree.

I truly relish every day with you because right now, you are just SO much fun. You love to run around and squeal and babble and spin in circles and bump into things on purpose. When we go to the playground, you prefer to actually walk or run the perimeter of the park than to actually play on the playground structures. You do like to go down the slide by yourself, but you'll only do it once or twice before you're off again, chasing the grass edges and picking up rocks and sticks.

At home you are into everything. You figured out how to open the dishwasher, so you open it every day, multiple times (even when it's running!). When it's clean, you like to hand me the silverware so I can put it away because you love to be my helper. You also figured out how to open the refrigerator, so that's another appliance we are constantly saying, "No open!" about except in the morning, when you go in and pull out the milk so I can fill up your morning sippy cup. (And, yes, you pull out a full gallon of milk and hand it to me.)

"Cup" is actually one of your newer words, along with "I see." Your favorite phrase right now is "Thank you." Since I say it whenever you hand me something, now you say it whenever you hand me something. You still do a lot of pointing and whining, which I'm hoping gives way to more words soon. You babble a lot - all day long, really - and I'm really looking forward to the conversations you seem to have planned.

This week you gave me a cold, but other than that you've been really well. No sign of your two year molars yet, I think (you don't make it easy to check) and you still sleep like a champ. You love to play with Buster and to choose your own stories before naptime and bedtime. Right now your favorite books are ones that let you feel different textures and just last week you started pretending Curious George was exploring the books, making his hand feel the fluffy bunny or tree bark in your story books. I think this is super exciting because it's a beginning glimpse into the start of your imagination. Up until now, you played with your toys by exploring them and you flip through books every day (both your own and mine! lol) but this is the first instance of you seeming to actually pretend something. So exciting!

You're so naturally curious, interested in nearly anything; it's amazing. Two weeks ago, we had to take you for your first routine blood work - and you didn't even cry! You watched with such curiosity as the nurse put the band on your arm and then swabbed it. I cringed then as she approached with the needle, but you just watched without a peep until you saw the blood flow and said, "Ooh, boom." (I don't know why that's what you said, but I'll take it over crying any time!) Your level of curiosity seems incredible to me. (For the record, I cried when they drew your blood. So at least one of us did.)

And yesterday I think you sang along to a song on the TV for the first time. You and I were watching The Fresh Beat Band (Mommy likes that show too much) and their song, "Get up now and go, go" was on and you kept saying, "Go go! Go go!" I can't wait until we get to sing more together. Every day I sing the alphabet to you and just this week you started babbling during some of it, so I'm wondering if you'll start trying to participate soon. We'll see!

I love you, Peanut. You amaze me every single day and make me look forward to every minute I get to spend with you.

Love,

Mommy