Seventeen Months

Dear Sammy,

You are now 17 months old - just one month away from a year and a half. How time flies! I used to feel like you were so much younger than all my friends' babies, and now I feel like you've caught up. You are learning so fast! You haven't really gotten any bigger, but you blow my mind with the amount of words you're learning. You talk so well now that we can carry on conversations with you. I feel like I know a secret language, being able to understand almost everything you say to me. I love knowing all the little things you do, like saying "h" instead of "s" for words that begin with an "s", and tacking the "s" onto the end instead.

You are becoming so coordinated now. You don't just walk, but you run. You love to go "fast", and you will say it over and over again as you run down the hall, or as we drive on the highway. You like to twirl when you dance, and I'm pretty sure you enjoy getting dizzy. You are SUCH a little monkey. You climb up on the small retaining wall in the back yard and use it as the balance beam. And now you climb up to the higher and higher levels. You almost give Mommy a heart attack when you climb up into the garden 5 feet off the ground! You are always climbing up into the planters and pulling on the plants, trying to help Mommy with her garden. The couch has become your jungle gym, and now you climb on the back of the couch and behind the back cushions. We just rearranged your bedroom, and we had to be very careful to arrange things so that you can't climb onto the top of your new bookshelf!

You have been spending a lot of time with your friends lately, and it's so cute to hear you say their names. You finally learned how to say your own name, and once you figured it out, you say it all the time. You were folding clothes with Mommy, and you picked up a pair of Daddy's jeans and you said "Daddy". Then you picked up a pair of your jeans and you said "Ham." Now you point to yourself or something that belongs to you quite often and say "Ham." It's so very adorable. :)

You are very interested in colors now. We go to the gym several times a week, and ever since the babysitter let you color a picture, that is all you want to do when you play at the Kids Club. As soon as we walk in, you say "Color", and you are completely happy as long as they give you paper and crayons. You are very good at your colors now. You almost always get it right, and you are especially good at yellow, purple, blue, and white.

You finally got your 7th tooth - it broke through on Daddy's birthday! You have really been struggling with sleeping at night so I think you probably have more working their way up, but for now you have 4 on top and 3 on the bottom. It's a very cute look for you.

You are very good with body parts now, too. You know eyes, nose, mouth, ears, face, head, shoulders, knees, feet, and toes (and Mom's boobs) and you like to point them out all the time. You are especially affectionate now and you give the sweetest hugs and kisses, especially before bed time. When you give hugs, you sigh and say "ahhhh". It makes Mommy so very happy. :)

One more month and you'll hit the next big milestone! Every day is a new adventure with you. I still love you more and more every day, and I can't wait to see what you do next. I love you more than anything!

Love,
Mommy