17 Months

Mary Ella one year ago at 5 months old.

Now I'm 17 months!

I love building with blocks!

Left-handed

I get so proud of myself!

And right-handed

I also enjoy cooking in my new kitchen!

Mary Ella,

You are so smart and fun right now! You have been drug around all over the country lately, but you have been so sweet and adaptive through it all. Our time with you is only getting better. You bring us so much joy, and we are so proud of you. It is so amazing watching you learn and grow! Here's what you've been up to:

• You are still a chunky girl, not looking like you will be slim and trim anytime soon. But I love it, because it still makes you look babyish.
• You have cut back on your eating a bit. Sometimes you don't seem too interested, but you will still put it down if it's something you like. We are in a rut of eating the same things all the time. You don't want to try anything new, and if you don't like it, you REFUSE to eat it. This drives me crazy!
• You still take 2 naps a day, definitely a good morning nap, but sometimes you only rest in the afternoons.
• You LOVE to build with blocks! It is your favorite thing right now, and you never want your blocks put away. You can build towers 12 high! It is amazing! You can do it right and left-handed, and you have a very specific way to turn and stack the different shapes of blocks. You are very careful and concentrate so hard. You also try to stack other things: plates, my makeup, your snack containers. We think you may be an architect!
• Reading is still a favorite too. I brought a basket of books to Mississippi, but I should have brought more because we are reading the same ones over and over.
• You LOVE to watch TV in the car. You point to it and sign "please," but we say no TV unless we're going to be in the car for a while. I think it's a good thing we leave the TV off during most of the day at home or you might get addicted. You love to watch your Baby Einstein DVDs, and you love your new Snow White movie. You say, "ho, ho, ho" when you see the dwarves. And you can already pick out Snow White from your little Disney princesses.
• Christmas was a blast with you! You finally got the idea of unwrapping presents, and that they were for you. At Mia's you would open one, and then sign for "more." You LOVED Santa and saying, "ho, ho, ho." And I don't think you would ever get tired of watching Frosty the Snowman. You can even sing, "thumpity, thump, thump" from the theme song. It is so stinking cute!
• New words: "pish (fish)," "Nanny," "blue," "Go Hogs Go," "thumpity," "wowie," "two," "three" Other words I think we've heard: cookie, nose, mouth, and something for Razorbacks.
• We are working on animal sounds. You can "moo," "meow," "roar," "bit (ribbit)," "hop (rabbit)," "quack," "oo, oo, oo (monkey)," put your arm up for an elephant's trunk, and blow out of your mouth for a horse. Meow is my favorite. You squint your eyes and nose, and it comes out like a cat in pain. You can also move your arm up and down and say "choo, choo" for a train.
• You can sign "all done" and blow kisses with a "muah" sound. You also make that sound when you give kisses, and go "mm, mm, mm" when something tastes good.
• You are loving to entertain. Just this week you have been going to stand on the tile (lenolium) in front of the mantel in our apartment to entertain us. You stand up there like it's a stage and start performing. You call the Hogs, raise your hands up and down for "Go Hogs Go," run in place, jump, twirl, snap your fingers, or act like you're a song leader. It is sooo cute!
• You can point to almost everything in your First 100 Words book. I would say you know atleast 80% of it!
• You are getting better at puzzles! You can put the pieces where they're supposed to go, but get frustrated if you can't fit them in their spot quickly.
• You get the idea of counting. When I say count, you say, "two, free" and point down with your fingers. I don't know where "one" went, but your favorite is "two." You will randomly start saying it when you are stacking blocks.
• You are really trying to help Mommy these days. You like to "help" put away the dishes, do laundry, sweep, etc.
• You like to wave and say "bye" to funny things like the water in the bathtub.
• The "no, no" days are here. Thankfully you are usually telling yourself "no, no" after I say it or pointing to something that is a "no, no." Like the electrical outlets, the toilet paper roll, my cell phone. But I get the occasional "no" when I tell you to do something. I say, "Yes ma'am, we don't tell Mommy no." And I make you do it. You take directions very well by the way, but you also are getting your own opinion about things, and sometimes that is "no, I don't think I want to do that." Like when you didn't want to eat the rest of your banana and threw it on Gigi and Papa's floor. I made you get down and pick it all up! There will be no power struggles here, thankyouverymuch!
• You are a sweet, sweet girl. You have your moments of being a stinker, but I think that's just part of learning your boundaries. We love you so much and can't believe you are almost a year and a half old! Where did the time go?