17 Months Old

Lesson Learned #20: I would take free-spirited over blindly obedient any day.

At 17 months old, I'm realizing that I couldn't have dreamed up a better kid than the one I got.  Despite being sick lately, he is still showing short spurts of good 'ole Adam...

He gets very excited sometimes ... so he hits when he's excited. If I happen to be in the target zone, I frown and him and say, "Adam, be nice. Don't hit." He immediately puckers his lips, gives me a big kiss and hug, and goes back to being excited but with less arm swinging. I take it. I forgive easily.

The pictures below are from the park a few weekends ago. At the park Adam has no concept of "big kid" slides and structures versus "his size" slides and structures. He wanted to do the big slides, the big stairs, the big ramps. I took him to the "Adam sized" slide and he ran off for the biggest slide he could see. Had someone been at the bottom to catch him, I would have let him try it out . . . but since it was just him and I at the park, it was a struggle to distract him and redirect him to the other things. Luckily, his favorite part was running as fast as he could up and down the ramps.

Signing "eat," because that's what you do at the table.

Adam's new phrase for everything he sees that is colorful: "OOOOHHHHHH!"

Llama Llama is still the favorite book. When he hears a plane he points up and finds it. When he hears the train he shouts "Choo! Choo!" and does the arm motion. In fact, we get a "choo! choo!" when he climbs on his four wheeler, his new rocking horse, or on any vehicle at school . . . I bet if he were to jump on Shannon's back he'd probably shout "choo! choo!" as well.

I heard a funny story this morning about how he made Tiffany pick him up to look at the train that goes by daycare while he shouted "choo choo!" After a while, he pretended to be interested in the passing train but was actually hatching an escape plan. Tiffany watched him hatch his plan (while softly saying "choo choo!" every few moments to throw her off the track), then when he tried to put the plan into action (walking toward a gate with a tiny gap in it), she called his full name and he turned around, grinned, and offered her a kiss. I'm pretty sure he figured out that putting on the charm can get you out of trouble sometimes.

His vocabulary is improving daily, and his interpretation of the world is really creative. He's getting interested in the moon and saying "Moon" ("Ma!") and "Stars" a lot. When he sees something colorful, he says, "ooooooooohhhhhhhhh!" When he sees a plate of food (in real life or on TV), he says "MMmmmmmmm," and when he wants me to open my mouth so he can stick something in there (cracker, sippy cup, pacifier, toy cars, etc.) he says, "AHHHHHH!"

His newest development is that at random times he bends his knees and says, "Ahhhh..." then half jumps in the air and says "...JUICE!"

He has been sleeping in his new toddler bed and we're still seeing improvements, but one night something works and the next night it doesn't. Some nights I can rock him. Some nights I can just sit with him. Most nights it's a struggle, but each night is less painful than the last. My mom and dad babysat Saturday night and my mom said he went to sleep quickly - he roamed the room, crawled up by her legs, and immediately went to sleep on the floor, so she put him in bed. I moved his crib into the corner this weekend because I noticed that he was leaving his bed to back himself into a corner of the room, I guess because he felt less vulnerable. He slept well last night and at nap time so maybe that will help in the next few nights.

The most common bed time distraction is his new game, "Where's my paci?" He'll lie down, then sit up, pretend sneeze his pacifier out, then look at me with his shoulders shrugged and his palms up and say, "Where is it?" Then he'll grab it quickly from his lap, say "AH!" and stick it back in his mouth. Two seconds later, he'll pull out the pacifier, stick it under his pillow, then repeat the incredibly cute "Where is it?" routine. Other nights, he'll lie down and say, "Juice!" over and over again until he gets some water (Juice = tea, water, milk, or actual juice) . . . I didn't realize the bedtime delay tactics were built into our DNA.

One night he woke up at 2 am upset, and after 30 minutes of "Where's my paci?" I said, "I'm done. Good night, Adam," kissed him on the cheek, laid him down, and left the room. He went to sleep immediately. The next night I tried the same and he spend a few minutes banging on his closed bedroom door, crying for me to come back. And most nights, it seems like he would prefer to sleep on the floor in front of his bedroom door. I find myself wondering if this is something common for lots of toddlers who have newly graduated to the "big boy" bed or if this is just Adam.

This is his "Do you want to brush your teeth?" face

But despite the troubles of bedtime lately, his sense of humor makes any fight well worth it. Below are a random accumulation of pictures over the last few days.

Adam and I had a quick outing to the play area at WillowBend Mall, and he jumped in that car and acted like he knew exactly what to do....

Shifting gears, I guess?

 Brushing his teeth...


What?!

When Adam wants a sip of what you're drinking, he'll eye your cup, look you in the eye, stick his tongue out and pant like he's so thirsty he may not survive without a sip of your water or strawberry soda. If you have iced tea, he'll just take it.

Panting for my drink.

Iced Tea Theif

"Look, I know you say I can't drink tea with my eye, but I'm going to try it anyway just in case you're wrong."

Learning to love sunglasses... hey, if Aunt Robin does it, it must be cool.

We have converted a storage container on wheels (inherited from Sarah) into a diaper cart. At first Adam's favorite thing was to push it around the room and say, "Roll, roll, roll!" Now he likes to flip it over and take the wheels off and put them back on.

Adam's new "diaper cart"

Supporting the Baylor Bears, who are doing very well in many sports this year so far...

AND... he FINALLY got to wear a Steeler's shirt. He was topless (his favorite way to go -- pants, no shirt). Shannon brought him this shirt to wear, and Adam cried and fussed and pulled at the sleeves. Shannon applauded his hatred of the Steelers. (It is rather fishy - when I try to get him to wave the Terrible Towel he throws it on the floor and stomps on it. Shannon must be giving him Cowboys worshipping lessons behind my back).

I, for one, think he looks great.