17 Months

Well, actually we at the 17.5 month point, but that's not too far off! Besides, if I'd written this at exactly 17 months then it would have been before the 'big' changes happened!

Let's see... Caden is still his happy, adventurous self. More adventurous everyday it seems. My father (Grandaddy) joked on the phone today that Caden would be safer on a rickety old boat with no life jacket than he would with me... this comment stems from the fear all my blog posts have placed in my dad. And now that I think about it I do seem to post a lot of photos and videos of Caden standing on furniture!

Caden loves to climb. He really loves to climb on the things he's not supposed to climb on, too! This month he has learned to do a lot of new things that we aren't so thrilled about. He's learned to open the bedroom doors, pull down the baby gates, and take the lid off the trash can (and throw EVERYTHING away).

He's also learning some new behaviors that we're not to excited about either! Everything is "Mine!" to Caden and boy oh boy does he throw a fit if you take it away from him. His grip on things is abnormally strong because I can't get anything out of his hands anymore without some serious prying. If we go to take something away from him he does the whole limp body thing and throws himself down, kicking and screaming. Which leads me to the next behavior he's started: temper tantrums. Not just the little protests that are expected when toddlers don't get their way, but full out tantrums. Stomping his legs if he's standing, kicking his legs if he's laying down. Arching his back, throwing his head back to a degree which seems impossible, pushing away and swatting at me (often pulling my hair) if I have to pick him up (public tantrums are the worst), and basically anything else he can do to make it difficult for me to get to him. We typically ignore them at home, other than removing the object from his death grip. It seems that overnight, my baby grew up.

Caden has also started using the word 'no,' but not in the typical way most babies his age (or younger) use it... he says 'no' when he hears another mommy telling her toddler not to do something. He thinks he's so cute, well, and he is but we just can't let him know it's cute!

Other accomplishments this month include his ever growing vocabulary. He repeats most of what we say these days, although is usually doesn't sound anything like what we said. One of his cutest new words is diaper (babo), and this is one he does without a sign! A lot of his words started as signs, but I've noticed him signing less and less and using the words more often. At 16 months he was signing almost 20 words consistently. Now he is saying all of those words with the sign (and is now dropping the sign on some of them), except for a select few words which are still strictly signing only (sleep and coat are the only two I can think of). It all happened very quickly. at 16 months he was mainly signing, and by 16.5 he was talking AND signing, and by 17 he was starting to drop the signs.

Now, although he IS talking, it's still not frequent, I mean he IS a boy! He mostly uses his words to get what he wants or needs, but doesn't talk my ear off all day long.

Sometimes he plays around with pronunciations and one word can be said two entirely different ways. For example, he knows there is an "mmm" sound and the terrible tricky "rrr" sound but he can't seem to do them together. Sometimes when he wants "more" he'll focus on the beginning consonant and say "Mmmmaa" for more... and then other times the focus shifts to the end of the word and he focuses on the "r" sound and says "gore" (saying it very slowly).

He's definitely (finally) started pointing, although he still doesn't use it much. He loves to point at dogs (gog, duck, or guck... why he forgot how to say dog I do not know, but he was saying it 2 months ago) and he loves to point at the DVD player in our car and say "maybe" (he's trying to say movie). He points away from his body and says Mommy and points to his chest and says "Daddy." We thought he was pointing AT Mommy, but since we've discovered he just thinks it means to point away. He calls me Mama, Mommy, and MeMe.... depends on the moment which name he uses for me.

Caden's favorite games and toys right now include trucks, trains, and planes and all the noises they make and things they can do! He also LOVES the "Wheels on the Bus" song and recognizes it and does all the hand motions for it! The only verse he doesn't do a hand motion for is the driver. That's a lot of verses for a little one to remember and know! He also loves (still) the falling down part of "Ring around the Rosies."

Another little thing Caden has started doing is counting. When we stack blocks or when Elmo is on TV counting or anything else he will count along all the way up to 4! The words aren't completely clear, but they are close by toddler standards! Sometimes when he is playing he will count things, too (always up to 'four' clearly and after that he just makes up sounds/numbers). Caden has also been singing his ABC's for a while now, again, NOT clearly, but to the beat and some letters make similar sounds. He usually sticks with the beat and somewhat with the letter sounds all the way to "L M N O P," and we lose him after that.

Caden is definitely going through a phase of knowing what he wants, and doing whatever it takes to get it/keep it. It's definitely been more of a challenge to parent him, but we're trucking on along... I just wish he'd waited to enter this new phase until AFTER the 13.5 hour plane ride home! Oh well! :)