Seventeen Months

Dear Zachary,

Yesterday you turned seventeen months old.  I didn’t get a chance to write anything yesterday because we spent the day having a late Thanksgiving dinner at your Grandpa’s house.  We had a wonderful dinner and then spent the afternoon lounging around with the family.

It has been unseasonably warm around here this month, which I am very grateful for.  I have gotten to spend a lot of time with you outside, which you seem to love.  At Grandma’s house on Thanksgiving, you had a blast running around her big backyard with your cousins.  I really enjoyed taking pictures of the three of you out there playing catch and falling in the Autumn leaves spread around the yard.

This month you have perfected a lot of words and added many more to your vocabulary.  It seems like you are always saying something new.  I have also started teaching you a few signs because there are certain useful words that you just haven’t figured out how to say yet.  So far, you have learned the signs for please, thank you (even though when you do it you are actually blowing kisses), eat, and more.  I tried to teach you a few signs when you were younger, but you just never picked up on it.  Even though you still require prompts most of the time I’m glad that you are picking up on it now.  I love watching you try to maneuver your hands to make them look like mine.

In the last few days, you have figured out how to say "Hi!"  You have said it before, but now you will walk up to me or daddy, belt out a big "HI!", and then give us a big grin.  Every time you do that it melts my heart just a little bit more.  You have also re-discovered the word "mama" and like to use it very frequently.  It seems every time I walk even a few feet away from you, you go into panic mode and start screaming out "mama! mama! mama!"  It was cute the first few times, but believe it or not, it does get old after a while.

On October 28th, you got your very first haircut.  Everyone was surprised that I didn’t cut it for you, but we decided to take you to a salon so I could sit back, take pictures, and enjoy this little milestone.  You weren’t very thrilled with the whole thing, but after I handed you a pacifier you settled down and let the lady cut your hair.  Daddy and I were both a little sad to see your curls cut off, but you looked so good with your big boy haircut.  The best part is, the curls didn’t stay away very long.  You definitely inherited the curls from your mommy.

I have been feeling really guilty lately because I think I’ve been letting you watch entirely too much TV.  It is hard to turn it off or not to give in to you when it is the one thing you really love.  Your attention span is obviously growing because you will sit still on the couch for a full 20 minute episode of your favorite shows on Noggin.  It is so hard not to let you do this.  Besides the screaming that occurs when I don’t let you watch your shows, it gives me an entire 20 minutes to do what I want to do, or you know, cook dinner which seems to be important to both you and Daddy.

For the last few weeks we have changed up your bedtime routine a little bit.  You pretty much told us we had to change it when you started screaming and grabbing at me every time I tried to put you to bed.  I used to be able to take you to your room, turn off the lights, turn on your music, lay you down, and walk out of the room.  You would quickly be off to lala land and I got a couple of hours alone with Daddy before I crashed for the night.  Now the only way I can get you to go to sleep is if I lay down with you in my bed and that can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour.  So, we changed things up a bit and now Daddy puts you to bed most of the time.  You will usually lay down for him, but some nights it still doesn’t work and you end up just sleeping with us because after fighting to get you to sleep for two hours we are exhausted.

Fall always seems to be a very busy time for us.  There have been lots of exciting things going on.  We celebrated Halloween where you dressed up as Blue from Blue’s Clues.  You had a great time trick-or-treating with your cousins even though you didn’t quite get the concept down.  Daddy went out of town for a weekend and left us on our own for the first time since you were born.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with our family.  Then we celebrated your cousin Dylan’s seventh birthday. 

This next month will be just as busy, if not more.  Your cousin Ryan will be turning two, I will be going out of town for a weekend without you (I just hope I don’t cry too much!), then there will be Christmas, and Granny and Papa are going to try to come up for a visit.  I’m anxious for all of it, although I wish things could just slow down a little bit.

The best part of the busy holiday season for me is that I get to spend it with you.  You are the best gift I could ever receive.

Love,
Mama