Jonathan is 17 Months Old!

Dear Jonathan,

Today you are 17 months old! I confess that I did not take an official monthday picture last month. In my defense, I did take your picture ON your monthday, we just never got around to taking it in the big green chair or adding a picture to your monthday post. I'm sorry, buddy. You were born into an already crazy busy house.... so it's pretty much the story of your life. If it makes you feel better, your baby book is up to date!

So this month... let's see. This month you learned to say "kitty" and "go" to sign a bunch of different things and, just yesterday, I think you said "Bah" in reference to Ben. You point to all of your body parts and to people in the room. You make more and more new sounds every day, so things are getting exciting in that department.

You still take your two naps, which I thought for SURE would be over by the end of this month. But you are yawning by 9:30 every morning... so two naps it still is. This works for me! Nighttime sleep hasn't been an issue for a long time now and those 14 months of you getting up a hundred times a night are fast fading from my memory. In the morning, you greet me with a smile, a hug and a kiss, but only after packing up your binky and ducky before I lift you out of the crib. You are a happy little guy from the minute you wake up!

You LOVE your books lately and, if you find one lying around, you'll pick it up, toddle over to the nearest lap, turn yourself around and plop right down. The big favorite in the rotation this month include a Curious George book we have with popups, doors to open and a wheel to turn where George hides behind shapes, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a book about a baby Hippo and his mama called "Kiss Kiss", your picture books with animals and babies in them, and any book that has textured pages where you can pet fuzzy animals. OH how you love fuzzy things.

You love to play "phone". This one has been a mainstay for months and months, except that now, not only do you hold the phone under your chin and say "oh?", you continue the conversation in baby babble, "Ah? Ohhhhhh.... ahah? Ohhhhhh...." It's so funny!

Another favorite lately are the baby dolls in the playroom. One is in a stroller and one is in the shopping cart... you push them all around the basement, stopping to adjust them and make sure they are sitting up straight. It's adorable. In the same vein, you also love your little Laugh and Learn Puppy. True to its name, that thing makes you laugh and laugh. And every time it says, "Hug me!" you obey, giving it a giant baby bear bug.

You eat just about everything still. And, interestingly, the stronger the flavor, the better. We discovered you even like Indian food. Weird. You want whatever is on everyone elses' plate and often try to finish your brothers' food after they've abandoned it. During the day, you'll wander over the pantry and point to cereal bars or baby cookies and sign "please". If I open the refrigerator, you do the same thing for string cheese, Kraft singles, and blueberries. You LOVE to eat and it seems like you are always hungry!

You are such a little lover... You hug. You kiss. Just yesterday, a somewhat scary elderly man with some missing teeth (who would have sent your two older brother running for the hills as babies, and possibly even now) asked you for a kiss in the bagel shop and you open mouth kissed him. We need to work on making you a little more selective, although I'm pretty sure you made his day.

You still climb and hurt yourself constantly. We're working on stair skills this month and slowly, you are agreeing to go down on your backside. Life will be so easy when you can do stairs. I hope that day comes soon.

Your oldest brother adores you, your middle brother is slowly coming around. They love on you all the time with hugs and kisses and the occasional wrestling match that inevitably results in me yelling, "Be gentle with him!" You love every minute of it though!! You can hold your own in the moonbounce and it is one of your favorite activities right now. You throw yourself all over the place and then, eventually, dive headfirst down the slide. Never a dull moment!

As the months go by, I realize just how PERFECT of an addition to our family you have been. We can't imagine life without our littlest!

Love and huggles,

Mommy :)