Seventeen Months Old

As the days speed past us every day is new and more of an adventure with Mae.   She is becoming her own little person.  Gaining speed, vocabulary and attitude!   :)  Her smile is huge, her laugh is adorable, and her scowl is just plain funny and so pronounced!

New things in her 17th month:  Attended her first baby shower and was an adorable little lady, and lots more words!

Mae has had an explosion of words in this last month.  She's really gotten the parroting thing down and tries all sorts of new words.  Her favorite is "NO!"  She says it with a cute sing-song melody often and it's adorable, but for the connotation attached to it. :)   She also really likes the word 'lello' (yellow) and GO!   Other words she squeaked out this past month include:  puppy, booo (blue), kieee (kitty), eat, skoo (school), sheee (sheep), loouv (love... she curls her little tongue up and it's so adorable to see her try), blow, two (which is her amount for anything and everything when you ask her how many?)  you, boo, choo choo...

Yes, if you're familiar with children's literature those last few words will be a bit more obvious in theme.  They are all words from the book Peek A Who?  Mae loves to read this book over and over and over during the day and she can say all the words except when I prompt her to say 'moo!'  she says 'MEEEE!'   It's adorable and silly and I love it.  Her other favorite book is Good Night, Gorilla.   She is adorable when we read it because when we get to the part opening her eyes in the dark after all the animals say good night back to her,  Mae every time will mimic the gasp sound that I typically make on that page - although for Mae it's more of a grunt and it's adorable.

Mae loves to say her prayers.  She folds her hands and closes her eyes and often will repeat the beginning of the prayer 'De-Ja' (Dear Jesus) and then at the end she will say 'Mon' (Amen)   it's adorably sweet and this past few weeks when we're done praying she will sign for more and fold her hands awaiting my starting of more prayers.  It's seriously the most adorable thing and I love that her faith, while likely not growing in understanding just yet, is growing in eagerness and anticipation!

In trending toward two, Mae has started to enjoy and invoke the rite of passage with some tantrums.   She is extremely dramatic and a slight grievance is often met with massive yelling, screaming, water works - her physical self seems to remain mostly still - although she has gotten down and laid on the floor a time or two for dramatic affect.   To date though she's avoiding the head banging that Ace did during this phase of his life.

Growth wise she is still itty bity - 17lbs and 8oz.   She just had a weight check at the doctor and to check for an ear infection which she was cleared of, apparently she just likes to tug on her ears.  :)   Her coughing continues and we're working through yet another cold.   She still just has the 4 teeth although I can start to see the bulges where the molars are going to come in.   She still loves her mama milk on demand and I'm happy to oblige - although I'd really love for her to sleep through the night! 

Sleep wise she's no different - still wakes a few times a night wanting milk or comfort.  She does start out in her own bed every night but often is in our room by midnight.   Rarely do I get to bed before she's coming into ours.   But I don't complain.  This season is fleeting and if she trends like her brother then we have less than a year before she's in her bed full time.  We'll see though :)  

Speaking of her brother - she loves him.  She loves to climb on him, crawl on him, play with him, get in his way, smack his head, and lay in his bed.   She is a typical little sister and Ace is very patient and loving with her.  

She continues to be my climber - she can freely get herself on the couches, beds, and now knows how to use those heights to get other places.    Eating wise she is very opinionated on the subject.   She's not picky - she eats spinach, she LOVES pasta, and has easily eaten 4oz of steak (I'm not exaggerating!)  in one sitting - but there are times where she just doesn't want to eat without a battle.   To say it's frustrating is an understatement, but I'm hopeful that we're on the downward trend of this phase as well and I'll continue to endure her stubborn ways... I don't really have a choice otherwise. ;)

Mae is a great hugger, she's got a good grip around your neck and she likes to say 'blow' when she blows kisses.  Even if she kisses your cheek she will do it as she says 'blow!'   It's adorable.   Her hair is crazy long but sparse and thin and WILD!  She likes when I do her hair and she leaves it for about 3 seconds.  :)  She loves to try and put her own socks on and she can successfully put on her own pants.   She wants to dress herself often and loves purses, hats and her stuffed animals.  Piglet remains the top favored friend, but she loves to rock and cuddle lots of different ones.   She is adorable and we love her!