Yesterday you were 17 months old.

And I bet you're curious to know what a typical day in your life is like these days, aren't you?

Generally you awake anywhere between 6:00 a.m. and 7:15 a.m. (Normally you reserve the earlier wakings for the weekends, for some reason!) You drink a sippy cup of diluted juice--apple, orange, or pineapple usually--and after Papa has made our coffee, you eat breakfast. Breakfast could consist of eggs and cheese, or oatmeal (though you don't like the steel cut stuff we've been buying), or cold cereal, or if you're really lucky, Papa's French toast. After breakfast you play. (Hopefully soon you'll start going with Papa to the gym nursery, but for now you guys have just been hanging out at the house.) During the weekdays Papa tries to get some chores done while you play, but here lately you've been a little crabby and haven't wanted to entertain yourself so Papa has had to entertain you. On the weekends we'll take turns playing with you or, if you're in a good mood, reading the paper while you play.

A month or so ago you started moving to one nap a day, which meant that you were up all a.m. and through lunch, but lately you've gone back to taking a morning nap. So depending upon your mood and sleep needs, you'll either stay awake all morning and have a snack around 9:30 or you'll go down for a nap around that time. Either way, lunch is around 11:30 and, if you haven't taken a a.m. nap you'll go down for your daily nap directly after lunch. Nap or not, you have a snack around 2:30-3:00 and then dinner is between 6:00 and 6:30. Bath time is 7:00 and your bedtime routine--PJs and a book, followed by rocking and singing--is directly thereafter.

You go to bed easily these days and for the most part stay asleep all night. Lately you've woken up during the night screaming for some unknown reason, but even when you have those kinds of episodes you end up going back to sleep.

So anyway, that's a day in the life of YOU!

You keep us busy, but we're enjoying every minute.

Everyday it seems you're adding a new word to your vocabulary and a new skill to your repetoire of them. You can ride your ride-on bumble bee (I'l'l have to be sure to take a picture of it because I could you scratching your head over this) all by yourself. You can walk, run, squat, and stand on your tiptoes. And you completely understand what we're saying most of the time, even though you don't always have the words to respond.

As far as big events that happened this past month, the two things that come to mind are Papa's birthday and Alex's wedding. Papa turned 64 (remind me, one of these days I want to be sure to talk to you about Papa's age) and we celebrated by having family and friends over. Alex married his finance Nikki at a church in N. Wilkesboro. Lizzie and William were in the wedding and we spent from Thursday through Sunday in a cabin in the mountain. Peepa and Aunt Liz went with us and Aunt Liz helped watch you. It was a little stressful because you get out of sorts in a new environment, but overall it was not too painful. And of course the most important part is that Alex and Nikki had the wedding they wanted...or at least that Nikki wanted, which is all that counts.

I would discuss national and world events...but those are just too depressing right now with the economy and the housing crisis, so I won't go there. All that you need to know is that Papa and I are doing well, all things considered. And we love you and will make sure that you're safe and well taken care of, no matter what.

I love you! Happy 17th month!

Love,
Mommy