17 Months

I am 17 months old! Even though I am almost a year and a half, I still look like a baby and often get called one. People are always surprised at how fast I can go, since I look like I should barely be walking. I enjoy being small and cute and Mommy hopes that I keep my baby features for as long as possible.

• I finally said "Mommy!" One evening when Mommy picked me up from day care, I took one look at her, smiled and said very clearly, "Mommy." Then I held my arms out for her to hold me. It made Mommy so happy - she had been waiting for this for a long time. It was probably my fifteenth word so hopefully the order in which I'm learning new words does not indicate order of importance.
• New words of the month: up, cheese, apple, nose, "dat-dew" (thank you), muah (kiss), "ah-dun" (all done), knock-knock (while knocking on the door).
• Favorite trick of the month: Playing "Where's your belly button?" If anyone asks me, I'll grin proudly and hold up my shirt and touch my belly button. Then I will insist on finding everyone else's belly buttons (Yes Mommy and Daddy, I don't care if we're in public, you need to lift up your shirts so I can poke at your belly buttons). I can also point at my nose and eyes when asked.
• Teeth: My upper first molars broke through. It didn't seem to be worse than any other teeth and took about six weeks between my teething symptoms and the time we actually felt them break through. I now have ten teeth!
• I now sit forward facing in the car seat. Finally, I can look out the window and see where we're going! 

This is a frequent weekend activity. Taking a car seat nap in the parking lot while one parent runs an errand and the other sits in the car and waits.

During the month I also attended weekly Gymboree classes, since Mommy bought a Groupon. It took me a while to warm up to the class, and I spent the first three weeks quietly observing and wondering what it was all about. But by the last week I was a lot more confident and actually ran around and climbed up on things. I especially enjoyed going down the slide, popping the bubbles, and playing under the giant parachute.

Here is another one of my favorite games - playing peek-a-boo with my blanket!