Ian Update - 17.5 months

Ian is 17.5 months old now and I wanted to provide an update on his development.  I think he is super smart, but this should be tempered by the fact that (a) I'm his mother and (b) I have no other experience with little ones for comparison purposes.  So what is he up to these days?

His vocabulary is growing and growing.  He now knows where his head, nose, eyes, mouth, ears, feet and toes are and can point to them when we ask him to do so.

He LOVES books and will bring us books and sit in our laps on the floor while we read to him.  He especially loves Elmo and has been getting more and more into the Sesame Street characters.  He points out Big Bird (buh bur) and gets really excited to see The Count (he says "Noooooooo!" but means "The Count").  When he says and means "no" for real, it's said with more of a whine/growl and much less happy excitement.

If he's in a sweet (and undistracted mood), he will give me a hug when I ask for it.  It melts my heart.  He puts his head down on my shoulder and squeezes ever so gently.

He has learned to look at books the right way (i.e., not upside down) and will turn the book around when it is upside down.

He has a shoe addiction and loves to point to shoes (doos!) and bring mommy her shoes and daddy his shoes.

He always wants to carry his own lunch bag out the door in the morning.  And when I try to take it away from him so that I can more easily strap him into the car seat, he freaks.  So I've been doing a dance every morning trying to get him into the car seat while he holds his lunch bag.  He will only give up the lunch bag to the teacher at daycare (and not to his mommy).

He says thank you when you give him something he wants (although he says "dit doo").

He is still unbelievably amazing about going to sleep at night.  We put him down anytime between 7:15 and 7:30 pm and he grabs his lovey, rolls over and goes right to bed without any fuss.  He has been waking up later and later each morning, which is very nice for us (although it is making me get to work later and later).  Today, he just woke up at 7 am, which is why I was able to do this post!

My transfer for FET #2 is tomorrow.  Hopefully it will result in baby #2 who will be just as awesome as Ian.