17 months

Aaah, our cute little toddler. Here he is now at 17 months. A year ago, I was clapping my hands in glee when I first witnessed him roll from back to tummy. And here he is today: walking (can even change directions now), trying to run, kicking a ball. What phenomenal physical progress. If he continues at this rate of physical advancement, I would think that he should be able to levitate or fly by age 20!

He's liking this new walking thing. Of course, this new level of activity comes with the occasional spill and bruise as he tries to find his centre of gravity and understand the limits of his strength. That's the un-fun part for me. Luckily, he seems to have a pretty good instinct for self-preservation as he is refraining from more daredevil-y maneuvers like flinging himself down the stairs or climbing furniture.

On the diet front, he's still showing sensitivity to dairy so still drinking soy milk not cow's milk. He can tolerate yoghourt but he definitely reacts to cream cheese and some hard cheeses. I'm also still peeling his grapes.

Progress report

- can get up from a squat position unaided
- can kick a beach ball
- can hop on and off a toddler bike by himself
- can go down from Mom and Dad's bed by himself (feet first)
- now wants to go up the stairs standing up rather than crawling up
- outgrown his size 4.5 shoes and most of his clothes (must shop)
- more signs (help, gentle, and train)
- more words ("ball" is the word of the week)
- starting to say "no"
- teeth number 13 and 14 are out, with 15 and 16 threatening to erupt
- now eating what we're eating
- recognizes construction vehicles (backhoe, crane, dump truck, etc.) and will bring you the right piece from his construction vehicles puzzle if you ask for it

new experiences
- discovered water play!
- cherries, blueberries, nectarines, mushrooms, grapefruit juice
- some refined sugar in his diet now (unfortunately)
- first injury involving blood (his) -- but no worries, he's fine

He is pretty active at daycare so by the end of the day, he is often tired. This means a short night with mom and dad, but on the other hand, this means he's also sleeping a little bit longer. His vocabulary (spoken and signed) is still quite limited (mom, dad, Fergus, cat, ball, milk, more, banana, help, bear, backhoe) but everyone tells me not to worry too much. As long as his comprehension is good, everyone assures me he is doing just fine.

One day last week, as I watched him sleep, I cupped his melon-sized head with one hand. When he was born I remember thinking his head was the size of an orange, and here he is now, my little melonhead. I am utterly amazed by this growing, thinking, beautiful thing we have.