Oh-Bla-Di: At 17 Months...

I think I missed this last month, but I wanted to do a little snapshot of Ava at 17 months.

*Our baby really is a toddler these days. No more bottles, at lot more "mine!". :-)

*Her vocabulary is getting bigger and bigger. Probably no one else would understand, but Daddy & I do (probably Sarah, too). She says house, Dolly, kinky (this is apparently what we're calling Binkies these days), cook (this is book), car, more, hi, bye, Libby, Ellie, Grace, Sarah, poopy, potty, owie, moon, and then all the old stand-bys too. Uh-oh is still a really big hit.

*Speaking of saying poopy, on more than one occasion, Ava has notified us that her diaper is, in fact, poopy. The days of potty training are not far off. (Doing the happy dance here...not to be confused with the peepee dance, of course.)

*She can run! And, more often than not, she's able to keep her head aligned over her feet...less road rash that way. :-)

*Ava loves grass. We got the artificial turf in our backyard and she loves to pet it. She also loves grass at the park. She, literally, gets on her hands and knees to feel it.

*Ava is a great body part identifier. She can point to head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, neck, back, elbow, hair, bellybutton, fingers, hands, and arms. Libby is less than excited that Ava can point to eyes, however.

*The music thing is still big for this girl. She sings a lot. We still do the Chicken Dance, but also Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes, and Whole World in His Hands. We also sing Rock-a-Bye Baby every day...she'll sing it to her dollies on her own.

*One of Ava's favorite games is "lick your face." She'll lean in to give you a kiss and, at the last moment, change to a full on face lick. Sort of gross...extremely funny. Clearly, allowing Libby to raise this one has backfired for us.

*Ava loves to brush her teeth. It's a struggle to get her to let us do the brushing at night, but she definitely has to have a turn. She's got good technique...future dentists will be pleased!

*Proving that she's a girl after my own heart, girlie loves shoes. She carries them around, loves trying them on, and loves to pick out which ones I'll wear for the day. Walking through the shoe section of a store is more dangerous than the toy aisle. Have to say, I hope she ends up being a size 8 so we can share in the teen years!

*Today, just this morning, she started trying to jump. She'd gather up her chubby little baby self, raise her fists in the air, and then one foot up, and then the other - never at the same time, of course. But, the shouts of "jump, jump" made it clear that she was working hard!