17 Months Old

Today my girls turned 17 months old.  I love the month birthdays. They are a reminder to me that my girls are still small....still babies, as much as a baby they each can be.  I have had many friends tell me that once their baby turned 17-18 months, their development started sky rocketing.  I am already starting to see that in my girls.

At 17 months old, Madeline finally added "Papaw" and "Pa Pa" to her vocabulary.  When she called my dad "Papaw" I thought his chest was going to pop right out there in the the middle of the church fellowship hall!  Later that day she kept calling Chris' dad "Pa pa" and when he finally heard it, I thought HIS chest was going to pop right out!  We were at a restaurant with the girls Nana and Pa Pa and every time Madeline would say "Nana?" "Pa Pa?" they were left speechless with joy!! Savannah loves to say "Nana!" but hasn't yet mastered the Papaw or Pa Pa yet.  It will come soon!

Savannah on the other hand, clearly said to me "Where did it go?" just the other day.  She looked at a picture of a strawberry today and said "straw?" "straw?"  She cracks me up with her tongue....Savannah will stick her tongue in and out, mimicking the look of our speech.  And then she'll just laugh!  Wow do I love watching both of my girls language skills develop.

These girls love books.  They LOVE to be read to!  They grab books all the time and carry them around, asking us to read to them by saying "huh? huh?" and handing us the book!  Madeline's favorite book is the "Thank You Prayer" and Savannah's favorite book is "Baby ABC's" although they both love both of those books.  

The girls still love to eat.  I mean they eat, and eat, and eat.  A typical breakfast consists of Cheerios, fresh strawberries (lots of them), a banana, yogurt, and 1-2 pancakes with peanut butter and syrup and lots of milk.  A typical lunch or dinner consists of Gold Fish, broccoli or corn or green beans, whole wheat toast with butter, whole wheat penne pasta, and Fri-Chik (veggie chicken for my little vegetarians), and lots of milk.  The girls can eat!  And they love their vegetables and fruit.  Love it.  

Naps are still twice a day!  Yay!  The girls wake up at 7:15 a.m. and are back down for their morning nap by 9:30 a.m.  until 11 a.m. After lunch, they are ready to go back down for an afternoon by 2 p.m. and sleep until 4 p.m.  By 7:30 p.m., the girls are tucked away in their cribs and out for the night.  I am blessed by their sleep schedule right now....I will count my blessings NOW as I sense they are nearing the close of 2 naps a day.

Oh, and the girls now take Kindermusic!  They love it!  Once a week we take them to their class where they meet up with their other new friends and sing songs and learn.  I love watching them explore the toys and flowers and different instruments they play with each week, and I love watching them become familiar with the other babies and the songs being played each week.

The girls weigh around 18 pounds!  My sweet petite girls can eat so much food but they remain petite!

Oh how I have loved the last 17 months of my life.  I have experienced joy like none other before.  I miss them when they sleep and love them when they awake.  I love just watching the two of them play much like I did when I loved just watching them sleep in their one tiny bassinet.  We have our ups and downs as they are in the depths of the toddler years, but I am enjoying every challenging/rewarding moment.  Happy 17th month birthday girls....you are the lights of my life.