17 months...

Happy 17 months Hannah! Another month has flown by. You're growing up so much with each passing today. This is kind of a long post, so we'll just jump right in.

Things you're not fond of: Bows (your promptly pull them out of your hair and carry them around) and new places (you cling pretty tight)

Things you love: stuffed animals, elmo, the wiggles, cheese, corn puffs, bananas, milk, yogurt, the pink pillow from great aunt gigi, books (no really, it's an obsession), your paci, to dance! and girl you can break it down!, and being outside.

You love "patty cake" and always want to sing it. You come up to us and clap in rhythm while saying "pah, pah" until we start singing. Then, you start doing the hand motions with the words (pat, roll, and pointing to yourself for "me"). You also do the hand motions to "Itsy Bisty Spider" and "Twinkle Twinkle."

You are happiest when you first wake up. You love to just sit and play in your crib when you wake up in the morning and from most naps. Mommy likes it too :) You usually look at your books or play with your stuffed animals. You also "talk" a lot. It's fun turning up the monitor to hear what your sweet babble.

Brain Gymnastics: This is a new category this month. Your little brain is getting bigger and bigger each day. In addition to learning new and exciting things, you are actually developing quite the memory. For example,this month, you gave me the baby and said "baby." Then, I asked you to put the baby to bed and you correctly put the baby in its crib! I had no idea you knew that. We talk about the different people, the rooms of the house and the objects within the house. I'm happy to see it's clicking with you and you're learning!

Another example, we finished reading an Elmo book and when I asked you to bring me another Elmo book, you walked into our closet and came out with another Elmo book. This was exciting for me! You passed by your favorite book (Pow Pow), went into the closet (where there normally aren't any books), and brought back another Elmo book. You remembered seeing that book on the floor! Go Hannah!

You always play in the tupperware drawer. One day, you grabbed a large cup looking piece, walked to the fridge, held your cup to the water spout, and then pretended to drink your "water." You are quite the observer.

Finally, you still love to climb up and down stairs. Now when we need to go up stairs, I'll tell you to go up to your room. You'll walk over to the baby gate, I open it, then you climb the stairs and quickly run into your room. It's super cute. It also shows me that you're learning and remembering complex thoughts and commands. It's really neat to see the progression.

Daddy's Girl: This month, for the first time, you wanted out of my arms and immediately ran over to daddy. This is HUGE! You love your daddy, but given the choice, will come to me. You also talk to daddy on the phone. He will call while traveling and I'll put it on speaker. You've started to recognize his voice and say "Hi Dah-dee." It's so fun and you melt your daddy's heart!

Favorite Books: You have another new favorite book "Tickle Monster." You bring it over and say "tickle, tickle." You also make us read "Good Dog Carl" quite a bit. Not to worry, Pout Pout is still up there.

New words: Hannah "Hah-noh", Max "Ma," happy, Elmo "el-moh," Mimi, all done "ah don," please "Pwuees," you can say all your vowels (not by sight) and come (to Daisy).

New foods: you tried scrambled eggs this month. You weren't took crazy about them. I have no clue how to cook eggs since I'm not a fan, so aunt Kris stepped up to the plate to help me out. We thought you were going to like them, but I think one you got passed the layer of cheese you weren't loving it.

Speaking of food, you love to feed Daisy. I will scoop her food into a cup and then give it to you. You walk carefully over to her bowl and pour the food in. Most of the time, it actually makes it into the bowl. If you miss, you're quick to pick up each pebble and carefully place it in the bowl. You get so excited when it's time to feed Daisy and are so proud of yourself when the pebbles fall into the bowl.

Separation Anxiety: You had a huge break through this month. I dropped you off in the nursery before choir practice. Normally, you won't let the workers put you down. To my surprise, I came back to a SLEEPING baby! Not only were you sleeping, but you were sleeping on the animal chair by yourself. The ladies told me you warmed up quickly, played with the other children, then fell asleep watching mickey. I was so proud of you!

Milestones: I've been a little slack in recording the little milestones over the past few months. Here are a few you've achieved:

• Successfully pull a toy behind you when walking- this started in the past month
• You can carry large toys or several toys while walking- we joke that you are a "power lifter" and you constantly surprise us by what you can pick up (eg- your leapfrog activity table, no really)
• You began running sometime over the past two months
• Can stand on your tiptoes and thus can reach many more things on tables now
• You love to cover and uncover containers
• You also love to fill up and pour from containers
• You're into turning pages one by one in your big books (vs. board books)- this started this month
• You are favoring your right hand 
• You can point to objects/pictures when I ask "where's the..."
• You can follow simple instructions
• You can play make-believe (you started this when we were in Chicago with your Little People House, but I'm not sure I recorded it).
• You can identify yourself in the mirror and in pictures
• You imitate a lot of our behaviors 
• You can feed yourself with both a spoon and a fork

Illness: You came down with a mystery illness this month. At the tail end of a cold that just wouldn't go a way, you spiked a very high fever (104.1) and then broke out in a weird rash. At first we all thought it was a fever rash, but it changed over the course of a few days. You were the "mystery baby." All three peds on staff checked you out and none of them could identify the rash. It was only on your legs, raised, and didn't blanch out when pressed. The best diagnosis they could come up with was HSP, but you weren't showing all the signs. So, we just had to wait the mystery illness out and watch you closely.