17 months

Somehow, we have a little human. He's eating meat all of a sudden. After months of him spitting out anything resembling animal product, we're overly enthused about this, his first cheeseburger. He ate half of it. He sat there, like a person, at the table, and ate, occasionally requesting more fries. Not saying McDonald's is going to be a key menu item, and no, we didn't give him any Coke. But he'd like it. He'll try most anything, although what he'll eat depends on his mood- you know, just like.. a human.

The words are flying fast and furious all of a sudden. "Ball" is now a request, an identification, and occasionally a conversation starter . "Bubble" is a request. Now, please. He has words for other things - socks (sah!), shoes (shoo), Donut (Do), and has said a few other things - possibly in mimicry, but at the right times (Bye! to Ray on the phone, All done! when he was done with his riding toy, Yeah! sort of at random, Out! while handing Ray a shoe). What he doesn't say, he can still communicate- pointing up, down, out the door, at the high chair. Signing "more", "eat", "water"... and maybe "bird" and "airplane".

Suddenly, he has an imagination - pretending to feed me food or steal food from me - while holding actual food in his other hand, but not involving it. He has comprehension - he'll fetch the correct pair of Ray's shoes when asked, but not mine yet (perhaps the limited choices helps?) - and he does it in expectation of being taken outside once everyone puts on their shoes.

He's still all boy - balls, climbing (onto most furniture now), running and landing facefirst. Balls. And more balls. He spent the entire weekend at the campground with AT LEAST one ball in his hands. Preferably two. He does like books, so we can buy some quiet time by pointing him towards his rocking chair and a book, which he will read out loud to himself. But he'd rather crawl up on a lap and share.

It's pretty sweet. All of it.