17 months

I might cut his hair someday.

If there is a door open, it must be closed. This is the law in the land of Christopher. Is Mommy still standing at the refrigerator removing food for lunch? Doesn't matter. That door will be closed come hell or high water. The same applies to drawers.

This has been a stressful few weeks for a number of reasons, one of them being Christopher's raging diaper rash thanks to a GI infection/teething. We're not sure which. Before that, it was a cold. And before THAT, it was a header off a table at the library, resulting in a trip to urgent care. The conclusion: he did not have a concussion, but he does have a nasty goose egg that is currently a lovely shade of purple. So it has been a rough few weeks for the little guy. He seems to be slowly but surely on the mend, though, which is good because I miss his smiling face and good-natured personality.

He seems to have a new word every day. His current favorite is cheese, which he yells with glee when I get out the camera, or when I open the refrigerator. (That he then tries to close.)  In addition to his other words, he now says baby, eat, boot, Josie (his cousin), car and nana (banana). He tries to say window. He says vroom vroom a lot when driving his cars across the floor. When asked, he can point to his head and his feet.

He enjoys sleeping, and typically doesn't fight naps or bedtime. (Except for the past few weeks when he's been ill or hurt.) When I tell him it's time to go to bed, he walks over to the stairs, ready to go up. In fact, sometimes I think he gets annoyed that we spend too much time putting him to bed. The other night I was singing to him, and he kept grumbling and whining, so I stopped. He rolled over, thumb in mouth. I was dismissed.

One part of the bedtime routine that he does love is reading books. He'll stand at his bookcase, looking at the selection. One will get tossed on the floor, while the chosen one is brought to me. I wish I could know what he is thinking. I have no idea what his criteria are. Right now he is especially enjoying first word books, although "Goodnight Moon" has always been a favorite, as is the kids' version of "Pride and Prejudice" that I couldn't resist buying for him.

He loves saying hi and waving goodbye. He adores Clare, and tries to say her name. It's a hard one for him, though. Other times he sees her coming and turns and runs. Or, he hides whatever he's playing with so she can't take it. He'll wave his arms at her to keep her away. It's pretty funny watching them interact.

It's a fun but exhausting age. It will be even more exhausting once my niece is with us full time, but I think it will be fun, too, especially when Christopher and Josie are old enough to play together. And Clare is actually very helpful when she wants to be, so I think we'll be okay.

When I went to download the pictures of Clare and Christopher I found, and I am not exaggerating, 40 pictures of parts of faces, walls, and who knows what. I also found the evidence of who was responsible, as if I couldn't tell:

Clare really want a picture of herself and Christopher with their stuffed toys. Christopher wasn't having it, but that didn't stop Clare from striking a pose.

Read to me, please.

Practicing Yoga.