William at 17 Months

As of this morning, William now weighs 24.2lbs, has a head circumference of 18 3/4" and is 33" long.

This month has been huge in the language and understanding department, even more so than last month. There has just been an explosion of new words, as well as the ability to understand and follow multi-step directions. Day to day he still doesn't use all of the many words that he knows regularly, but more and more words are starting to become common. Its exciting to think that soon he will be able to more fully communicate with us instead of just whining all the time! Below I will try to describe all of the new things that William can do this month:

Michael got me a bunch of super soft slipper socks for Christmas, and William has been obsessed with them. He likes to wear them around his neck like a scarf. Today he came into the kitchen wearing a pair around his neck, proclaiming, "Socks! Socks!" It was super cute. I swear he learns a new word every day, but then never uses them. Today we was playing with his stuffed dog and I asked him if he liked his puppy. He looked right at me and said, "puppy" perfectly! Thats probably the last time I will hear that for a long time. The only words I regularly hear are "mama", "dada" and "up" occasionally. He also excitedly exclaims, "outside!" any time we leave the house or I let him play on the back deck. Before we go outside, I tell him we need to put his shoes on, and he will bring them to me and exclaim "shoes!" He can now say 'airplane' as well, though it comes out sounding more like 'air pah!' "Light" is also a commonly used one. Some of these words are totally clear and others only I understand. 

The other day I was baking a chocolate cake for a dinner party we were attending. As I was putting the cake into the oven, I see William standing right behind me. Using my body as a blockade, I tell him to stand back because the oven is hot. He then repeats perfectly, "hot, hot!" This is one word that not only does he say often, but he totally understands the meaning. If I give him food that is a little warm on his high chair tray, he will touch it and say, "hot!" and wait a bit before attempting to eat it. Another frequently used word is 'yes'. He has started responding to nearly every question we ask him, with a resounding and vigorous, "OHHH YES!" Except it sounds like he is trying to do a Sean Connery impression, as the 'yes' comes out sounding like 'yesh'. Its hilarious!

William's level of comprehension and listening skills have dramatically improved of late. For example, today we were at the store, waiting in line to check out, and he wanted to be let down from my arms. I reluctantly let him down, and then told him that he couldn't wander away, otherwise I would pick him back up again. In the 5 minutes or so that we were waiting, he only needed to be reminded twice and he stayed no more than 2-3 feet from me. He will also listen if I tell him not to touch something. Its amazing how much easier this makes my life compared to a month or two ago! Now I am dreading the phase where he decided to gleefully, and willfully disobey me, just for kicks! I will take this phase while it lasts!

  

Here is a (mostly) comprehensive list of the rest of the new skills from this month: 

• One thing that has been happening for at least 3 months, is that he is claustrophobic. He will cry if we go into any small room, closet or elevator!

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  He is still enamored with dogs and squeals in delight as soon as one comes in sight. Of course, when they lick him he freaks out and cries, so maybe its a complicated relationship.

• He will grab a book, sit down and start babbling as he flips the pages, as though he were 'reading' to himself. Its adorable!  

• He has 16 teeth now! One last molar has to come in all the way still (the points are through but thats it), but all the others have now fully emerged. He can chew food SO much better!

• He has his first freckles! He's had this cluster of 4 on his upper right arm for a few months now, and today I just noticed that his right wrist has just developed another one. Looks like he will be freckly like his mom! I have always liked my freckles so I am ok with that :) 

• He has finally learned to wave 'bye bye' in addition to blowing kisses. He will only do it for people he is super familiar with though. Strangers try to get him to do it and he just stares at him blankly LOL. He will give the occasional high five to a stranger though. Funny kid! 

• He has discovered dancing and when he is excited about something, he will rapidly stamp his feet in place while turning a little bit. He is encouraged if you proclaim, "Dance! Dance! Dance" while he does it. Then if you start dancing, he thinks it is the funniest thing. I can make him produce peals of laughter by doing a silly dance, waving my hands in the air and spinning.  

•  He can climb into his car seat by himself, with some prompting, which is good because it was getting increasingly difficult to lift him into his seat as he grew heavier and taller. He is also starting to get the hang of feeding himself with a spoon. He is not at all graceful or coordinated, and the whole process is quite messy, but he is slowly learning. I kind of dread the day when he will refuse to let me feed him. I think meal time will easily double in length with him at the helm.  

• Finally, Wills new sleep schedule is a dream! He is up at 9am, down for nap at 1pm, sleeps until between 3-4pm, back to bed at 7/7:30pm. I dont know why he is suddenly sleeping more, but I like it! His latest thing is that if you tell him that its nap time or bed time, he gets very excited and runs towards the baby gate. If we lift him over the gate, or remove the gate entirely, he will run at full speed toward his room. I think he is not so much excited to go to sleep, as he is to play with all of the usually off-limits books and toys that are in there. Its pretty cute to see him so excited to head toward bed time though, almost as excited as I am!