17 months

I'm a few days behind, but wanted to post some notes about Kellan at 17 months! I missed his 16 month post, so we'll just have a 2 month summary here!

My little guy is beginning to become a big handful! I remember these days with Alex--they begin to perfect the art of throwing a tantrum (and man, can Kellan throw some good ones!). He wants to climb on anything and everything (even though he needs a little help getting up onto things since he's still a little short!)--he has learned to stand on top of his toys to get on the coffee table, the couches, etc. He wants to stand up and as many times as I take him down, tell him NO, he gets right back up, often ends up falling off, then wants to do it all over again...my stubborn, bull-headed little man! He is very strong and when he throws a tantrum he likes to toss his body on the floor--I just try to clear the area around him so he doesn't do any serious damage to himself while in tantrum mode! He just doesn't like to be told that he can't do something--that's pretty much what it boils down to! Guess I can't blame him--I don't really like being told NO either.

He is saying more words and is adding "Sophie" and "Alex" to his list. He is identifying some animal sounds ("Quack Quack" is his favorite, "Woof Woof" for dogs, "Meow" for cats, "Tweet Tweet" for birds). He makes the "Choo Choo" and "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!" sounds for a train, "Vroom" sounds for cars and trucks. He says "Elmo", "Brady" (the boy I babysit) and "Wow", too. I know there are more but they are escaping me at the moment!

He's becoming slightly more picky with his eating, although he still eats a great variety of food and loves his fruits the best! He doesn't seem to care for breads and cheeses too much--he tends to not want sandwiches, bread, biscuits/rolls, crackers, pizza, or cheese. He loves pasta though! Sometimes I will make him a meal that I know he's eaten before and when I set it in front of him he will look at it, shake his head, and say "Uh-Uh, No", and that's it--he won't eat it! It can get frustrating but fortunately it hasn't been happening too often.

He enjoys looking at picture books and is starting to learn to identify different objects. I know I definitely don't read with him nearly as much as I did with Alex but I'm trying to do better!

We found out recently that he is allergic to our dog! We were pretty surprised by that, and we are trying to determine how much it actually is affecting him. We don't seem to notice any really obvious symptoms so at this point we have no plans to get rid of the dog, but we are looking into putting harwood floors in the living room to help remove some of the dander.

He is a pretty big momma's boy and particularly when we are in unfamiliar territory he will follow on my heels and cry when I disappear. It can be frustrating at times but I'm trying to remind myself that soon enough he'll be a big boy and want nothing to do with me, so I'm trying to enjoy it!

He has become a pretty good sleeper as he's gotten older. When he was a baby he didn't take long naps--they were usually only 45 min-1 hr, but now he's doing much better. He usually sleeps at night from 7:30/7:45 until around 7:00 am, and he typically takes 1 1/2 hr-2 hr. nap in the afternoon.

He is learning his body parts--he knows head, nose, mouth (he can say "mouth" too), feet, toes. We are working on the "Head, Shoulders", Knees and Toes" song.

He loves to do the motions for Itsy, Bitsy Spider. He bounces along when you sing songs.

He loves to dance--he seems to prefer hip hop or something with a good beat. Marlon will put his apple TV on to play his IPod music through our TV and they will get some good dancing in!

Over the past few days he has started babbling a bunch of nonsense in a conversational manner. He will talk to you, muttering a bunch of stuff you can't understand, as if he's trying to tell you something. It's cute to watch him chatter about something, almost as if he's telling you about his day, or what's on his mind. He tends to do it right when he wakes up (maybe he's telling us about his dreams?!).

He has a minor obsession with TV--particularly in the car with the DVD player. He doesn't really watch a ton of TV in the house but if it is on and then gets turned off, he will say "OH NO" and go grab the remote and bring it to me. (does this mean we watch too much tv in our house?!)

I'm enjoying being able to be at home with him and spend quality time with him. He is a fun little boy and we love him dearly!