The Never-Ending Story of Us: 17-Month Update

Wow! It's hard to believe I let the blog go so long without an update!

Andrew will be 18-Months old at the end of this month, so it's almost 3 months since my last blog post. It's hard to believe all that has changed and happened since then!

Andrew has since learned how to stand up in the middle of the floor on his own without pulling himself up on something, and also will pop a squat for lengths of time in front of his toys. Already strengthening those quads! :) He takes after his Mama in his love of books. He will look at the pictures and turn the pages, and sit contently when a book is read to him.

He is such a smart boy! He understands so many words! If you say, head, nose, chin, belly, feet, toes, he can point to them on you or himself. He also knows ball, cup, and book and will go get them and bring them to you if you ask. He says Dada A LOT and now it's definitely specific to Matt. When I talk to Matt on the phone and Andrew hears Matt's voice or sees his picture, Andrew will say "Dada" and can point him out in pictures. He babbles "Mama" but doesn't really use it specifically meaning me, yet. Other words he knows and says are teeth, lights, clock, and cat. We are so proud!

Living so close to the base, we almost constantly have a C-17 or C-130 (sometimes even a 747!) flying low over our house. Andrew just recently became really interested in the planes and loves to look at and point at them. Even if we're inside and he hears the plane, he'll stop and point outside. Such a smart kiddo!

I think his new favorite hobby is walking. He is now a master at walking and usually almost jogs anywhere and everywhere. Inside, and out. We bought him a wagon to take him for rides in on our evening walk, but he really prefers to be walking instead of riding. Bringing him inside for the evening is always dreadful because Andrew gets SO upset when we have to pick him up to bring him in. He loves being outside and walking around!!

He started using a fork (a toddler one) at the end of May and I think he actually prefers it to picking up his food by hand. Some food items he is good with spearing on the fork himself, but mostly we have to get it on there for him, but he'll feed himself with the fork. He is getting better at trying new foods, and is especially more inclined to try it if he sees Dada try it first!

He likes to dance when he hears music, too. I haven't captured that on video yet, but really need to! I met a fellow military spouse who lives in our neighborhood who has a son several months younger than Andrew, and we had our first playdates with them. Andrew and Cohen (my friend's son) seem to enjoy each other's company despite the age difference.

Grammy & Pappap came to visit us for two weeks during May and we had a great time! We did so much stuff while they were here: the Air Force Museum, Cox Arboretum, Bill's Donuts, and Mom and I did a painting class together for Mother's Day! We look forward to our next visit with them!

Here are some photos from the past few months: