Seventeen Months

Dear Ethan,

And yet another month that seems to have just flown by! So much so that it's hard to even remember what happened. Most notably, you finally dropped down to one nap. After a week or so of transition, it was like a flip just switched and you have only taken one nap a day ever since. You've finally figured out how to nap for 2-3 hours each day, and, as a result, your night sleep is getting back to normal. As much as I thought I would miss wearing you for naps, I honestly haven't minded as much as I thought. For almost seventeen months, I wore you at least once every day with only 2-3 exceptions, and since you've dropped your morning nap, instead I'm only wearing you once every few days. Just another sign that you're growing up.

Another sign is how much better you're getting at communicating. Here is where I've been neglectful because I don't know that I can even remember all of your new words this month. For starters, you are getting into animal noises. From "Baa" (goat) to "Rawr" (dinosaur), from "Moo" (cow) to "Meow" (cat), each one is more adorable, and you can do them all on cue! You're also learning more words for everyday use: "bobble" (bottle) for your (and my) water bottle, "hmmm" (home), "sak" (snack), "bear" (bear), "Buppy" (puppy) more specifically for your favorite stuffed animal, "dapa" (diaper) for both your diaper and for everything underneath, "baf" (bath), "bah-rone" (pinecone), and so many others that have now become a part of your daily vocabulary. Now most of your tantrums are less a failure to communicate and more a failure of us to give in to what you want (this is where your new use of "bear" to mean gummy bear comes into play...).

Food continues to be a struggle as you have persisted in your texture aversions, making it difficult to find nutritious things for you to eat. Once again, I can only hope it's something you'll outgrow, though I'm becoming more skeptical of it happening any time soon. Thankfully, you continue to grow and thrive, so I can only hope you're getting what you need!

This next month should just be more of the same. I'll try to balance school with domestic life and motherhood. You'll find new ways to get into trouble and new ways to be so adorable we can barely stand it. And the next thing we know, you'll be a year-and-a-half!

Love,
Mommy