17 months

At 17 months, JT

• is learning new words every day (boots, church, Jen, baby - rather than "dada").
• still calls me Mama... which I love.
• calls his hedgehog puppet "Acha". He likes when Acha reads Sheep in a Jeep.
  
• says "ish" all the time, which means "What is this?" He absolutely CRAVES new vocabulary!
  
• uses me as his translator... I'm fluent in JT.
  
• loves books. Really, we spend SO MUCH of the day reading books.
• likes watching Sesame Street podcast.
• watches the Muppets at home and Barney at the sitter's.
• can feed himself with a spoon fairly well.
• will put spoon, cup, or food on his head if he sits in his chair too long past finishing his meal.
  
• asks for a "sip" when he's thirsty.
• drinks from a straw... he had his first juice box!
  
• listens to Lullaby Metallica, Peter Rabbit, or James Taylor cds at bedtime.
• says shhh holding a finger to his lips and hiding behind our bed from Dada.
• will grab you by the finger to go see or do what he wants.
• can identify mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. Even though he taunts us by calling ears, eyes.
• is losing some stranger anxiety. Didn't cry the past two Sundays when we took him to the nursery at church.
• is best buddies with James and Bradley at the sitter's.
• doesn't care if his fingers are frozen solid... he doesn't want to come inside.
• giggles when I hang him upside-down by his ankles. I think it might be making him taller though...
• is getting stronger. You can tell when he throws a ball!
• weighs 25 pounds.
• still has Dada's red hair.
• wears larger 18 months and some 24 months or 2T clothes.
• remembers people between visits. Nana is a favorite, but he also asks for Jen and Geesh (Theresa). He calls Becka Bot and remembers that Jari talks like Elmo when you press his finger!
  
• is the sunshine of our lives.