Esme at 17 months

The time just keeps on going by...

Esme still weighs about 25 lbs, and still isn't much taller than 30.5 inches. They say they slow down in the growth about this age and pick up again a little later. Her feet have gotten bigger though, she is up another size in shoes, again.

New Words: 'uh oh' (I dropped it), 'thank you' (give her something or she gives it to you), 'ready set go' (playing ball), 'all done', 'owies' (something hit me or I hit someone), 'hey kitty (come here)', 'bathtub'. Uses 'hi' and 'bye bye' often. 'bye bye' could mean I want to go outsude, go home or go downstairs. She says 'hi' to lots of people in stores and the library now - watches them get confused and wonders why they don't answer. Likes to call lots of things 'pretty.'

Pretending! : Not only pretending things are phones now, but also pretending blocks are food she is 'eating' with lots of lip-smacking and throwing the 'eaten' block away etc etc... Likes to hug her pretend stuffed kitty now and point to it's nose and eyes. Also points to the nose of her real kitty (like the picture above).

She asks for lots of treats by pointing to the container or bringing it if she can reach it.. trying to get her to say the treat name but needs more work on that. She was pretty good at saying 'skittle' but we stopped giving her those because she wouldn't actually eat them anymore! She's really good at using a spoon, no luck with a fork and very little success with a 'big people cup' instead of a sippy cup. She pretends to drink out of the real cup and smacks her lips but spills more water than she drinks and then gives up. Practice Practice!

Likes to page through her books by herself and brings them to us to read. Points out every possible picture of a kitty while saying 'meow?' Points to letters on things and on 'Starfall.com' and says 'E' Tries to sing ABCDE then loses her place. Knows where her crayons are and where the paper is kept and will ask for each of them in order to draw.

She loves to go outside. Understands she needs shoes to go outside and will bring them to me as a signal 'go outside please?'. If I put hers on and still don't get up - she will bring me my outside shoes as a nudge.

Understands varying degrees of 'no'. Still hasn't actually said 'No' herself. She understands so much more than she can actually say and can follow lots of directions when she feels like it.