Kellan is 17 Months Old!

Kellan turned 17 months on Wednesday, March 20.  He will have a well baby doctor's visit next month so there is not one this time.  These are his measurements from his 15 month doctor visit except his weight.  I put him on our scale here and it shows 29 pounds.

Height: 33 1/4 inches

Weight: 29 pounds

Head Circumference: 19 1/4 inches

A few more statistics for this month:

Sleeping: Kellan's bed time has inched more towards 9:30 pm. A lot of nights it can be even later than that.  Most mornings he wakes up between 8-8:30.  If he wakes up while Michael is getting ready for work, we put him in our bed with me and he will sleep for another hour or more. 

Morning naps change day by day.  Some mornings Kellan needs a nap around 11:00 am (usually for about an hour) and other mornings he just doesn't.  I don't push it because he takes an afternoon nap every day.  His afternoon naps are around 1:00 if there hasn't been a morning nap and around 3:00 if he did take one.  I still mainly just watch his behavior and he lets me know he's sleepy by going in search of his paci and blankie and carrying them around the house.

Eating: Kellan remains to be a good eater but his preferences continue to change each day.  Most meals he will eat anything that we give him and if not, I can usually find something that he wants.  There was another week this month where he did not eat very much of anything and was extremely picky.  He was doing a lot of drooling and putting his fingers in his mouth so I believe we are working on some more teeth.  He also threw his butter beans which were his favorite last month.

He has 3 meals a day with breakfast being between 8:30-9 am. He usually eats half of an avocado (that I feed to him) and we have now moved up to a whole banana that he holds and bites.  If I make myself scrambled eggs or grits sometimes he may have a bite of that too.  He particularly loves bites of mommy's strawberry jelly toast.

Around 12:00-12:30 he has any combination of 3 items for lunch.  Most of the time he has cut up fruit, pieces of cheese/cup of yogurt, and some kind of vegetable or maybe even left over meat from our dinner the night before.  

Around 5:30-6:00 he has his "first course" of dinner which is usually something that he can feed himself while I am cooking our dinner:  cheese, cut up fruit, veggies, raisins, hard boiled egg, cut up leftover meat, etc.  Then when we sit down to eat dinner, he goes back in his high chair and eats whatever he might like that we are having.

Kellan continues to try new foods and still loves biscuits and crackers.  We limit his bread intake as much as we can and he mostly only gets it at restaurants.  If there is a cracker or biscuit anywhere nearby he will find it and demand to eat one.

We still avoid all processed/boxed foods and always try to make the healthiest choices for him.  I still keep eggs, cheese, blueberries, oranges, strawberries, grapes, bananas, baked sweet potatoes, baked butternut squash, etc...always on hand in our kitchen so that he has plenty of healthy options for mealtimes.  

On a Chick-Fil-A lunch date with mommy.  I love their kids meals!  Grilled chicken, a fruit cup, and whole milk.  Then of course he did eat a bite or two of mommy's sandwich and fries :)

Drinking: Kellan always drinks either whole milk or water.  He loves to drink water out of our glasses and he is going through a stage now where he does not want his own cup, he wants to drink out of ours, even if we all have the same thing.

Clothes: Kellan is wearing all 24 months.  24 months fit him perfectly although we do sometimes have to cuff the bottoms of his jeans so that he doesn't trip.  He is moving up to size 5 diapers as soon as we use up the last of the 4's.  We still haven't gotten his feet measured but hopefully we will soon before we buy him some new shoes for warmer weather.  Right now his size 7 Nike's fit perfectly.  

This is what a too little 18 month pj set looks like...skin tight pants and belly poking out the bottom of the shirt :)

Milestones: 

1. I continue to be amazed everyday at the words that Kellan hears, repeats, and then uses correctly later.  Lately he has been saying phrases with two or three words.  Here are some new words and phrases that he can say and USE:  soup, shower, "see you," raisins, phone, TV (TB), work, shake, "the end" (dee in), ready, "I get it,"  "I dropped it," "that's funny," marching, Kellan, "bye! see you!," blankie, bed, Gigi, grandma, "in it" (when he wants to get in his high chair), "up here," miss, egg, avocado ('cado), potato (tae-toe), train, Calliou, Mickey, mouse, fork, coming, naked, "Oh no!," Wow, song, "stop it," dunk, jump, taggie, phone, bathroom, coming...I know I'm not remembering them all.  At least once a day I look at him and think "Where did he learn that?!"

Words that he has been using in previous months:  nana (banana), night-night, cheese, shoes, socks, duck, yes, no, mommy, daddy, thanks, you, car, truck, tractor, doggy, ball, paci, Briggs, papa, Elmo, spoon, milk, tootie (cookie), chicken, bath, shoot, this, hat, more, uh-oh, book, hammer, hot, cold, light, button, mess, dirty, read, fish, fire, poot, bed, yucky, bread, Mimi, apple, water, egg, berries, cootie (cookie), go, remote, house, cow, funny, up, movie, burp, moose, avocado, blocks, bless you, miss, clock, nose, eyes, brush, phone, hey, bye, horse, train, lotion, read...and the list continues to grow.  

2. We are still holding at (at least) 10 teeth. He has 4 on the bottom and 4 on the top and two molars that we know about.  The way he has been drooling tells me that there may be more but he won't let me get a good look.

3. Kellan loves to watch people on TV sing and he twirls, sways and tries to hum along when he hears music.

4.  Kellan continues to love looking at books on his own and having us read to him.  He has started to want us to read the same book over and over.  His current favorites are "Machines at Work," "Where's Spot?," and "Brown, Bear, Brown Bear."  Now when we get to the end of a book (or when he's decided its time to stop) he will loudly say "Dee In!!" (the end) and close the book.

5.  He loves to point out objects that he recognizes.  He has to point out every one's eyes and nose and thoroughly enjoys letting us know when he sees an animal that he knows by yelling out its name.  He gets so excited when he knows the word for something that he sees.  On our walks around the neighborhood he points out every car, dog, truck, house, etc.  We have many conversations daily about socks and shoes.  He points to himself if you ask him "Where is Kellan?"  And he can say his name now...he says it sometimes when he's looking in a mirror.

6.  He has officially learned "mommy."  Before everything used to be "daddy."  Now Kellan is usually found wherever mommy is and says her name about fifty million times a day. I can't go far before he is following close behind.  He also has started saying "mommy daddy" for no apparent reason when we are both at home. :)

7.  Kellan is watching everything.  Whatever we do he is right in the middle of it.  If mommy is on the computer, he needs to tap on the buttons too.  If mommy is cooking, he needs to "see."  If mommy is loading the dishwasher, Kellan is climbing into the dishwasher.  If mommy is taking clothes out of the dryer, Kellan is throwing his toys INTO the dryer.  He gets very mad when he tries to open a drawer or cabinet that has been child proofed.  He wants everything that he can't have and touches everything that he shouldn't.

8.  I am still letting Kellan practice feeding himself with a toddler fork and spoon but now I keep 2 towels underneath his chair.  He makes such a mess and throws his food or spits it out when he's done or doesn't want it.  Even when I'm feeding him, he wants me to scoop it, hand him the spoon, and he will feed himself.  When he can't get pieces of food on his fork, he will yell "HELP!"  This lets me know that he wants me to stab it for him and then he will feed it to himself.

9.  Kellan still has an affectionate side and loves to hug at random times.  Several times a day he will plop himself in my lap just to hang out.  He loves to sit beside us on the sofa.

This picture didn't capture it very well but he was hugging and kissing Elmo's eyes this morning.

Hugging Briggs :)

More hugs...

10.  We are still working on the hitting...especially the hitting of other people.  Everyone tells me that its just his age and the fact that he is a boy.  He loves to hit things all over the house with his plastic golf clubs and wooden hammer.  

11.  He still loves to play "shoot shoot" (basketball) with his indoor basketball goal.  His new favorite basketball word is "dunk" and he still loves to tell you when you've "missed."

12.  Kellan still loves Elmo and gets so excited when he comes on Sesame Street.  We don't have to play the videos on our phones quite as often because he loves playing so many other apps.  I do have to hide the iPad from him sometimes because if he sees it he has to have it and he doesn't want to do anything else.  His favorite app right now is PBS Kids where he can pull up videos from Sid the Science Kid, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Calliou, The Cat and the Hat, and Curious George.  These are also his favorite TV shows at the moment.

Rubbing his fingers impatiently waiting on something to download. 

Watching "Sid the Science Kid"

21.  One thing is definitely for sure.  Kellan's hearing works.  He notices every time a train comes by, a dog barks, or a song comes on TV.   He stops what he's doing, points his finger in the air and says "train!" or "doggy!"  In the mornings if he hears the cabinets open or water running, he sits straight up and says "Daddy!"

22.  Kellan's new way of saying bye is to wave and say "Bye!  See you!"...although its usually after we have already gone.  When we were on a walk this week he told every car that passed "Bye!  See you!"

23.  Kellan is constantly looking and asking for "Papa"...a lot of time he just asks for him out of the blue (we're not sure which one, that's what he calls both of our dads and Michael's grandpa).  He has also started saying "grandma."  I think this is coming from one morning when he stayed with his Great-Grandma Grizzard while I went to the doctor.

His artwork with Great-Grandma and Aunt Tina :)

24.  He sometimes calls his daddy "Michael" when he's not around.  Where does that come from?!

25.  Kellan still has to have a blankie and rubbing the tag between his fingers in order to fall asleep.  He always has a paci too but I'm not sure if that's a necessity...I'm just not brave enough to take it away to find out yet.

26.  It is still a struggle to change his diaper or put his clothes on.  He loves to run around the house with no clothes on saying "naked! naked!" and wanting me to chase him.  He wiggles and bucks and kicks his legs.  He absolutely HATES to have Desitin put on him during diaper changes.  He screams like its burning.  

27.  Another of Kellan's new frequently used words is "coming."  We always have told him that Elmo was coming when he is waiting on a video to download.  Somehow that has translated to everything.  When he is waiting on his breakfast in the morning he chants "nana coming?" " 'cado coming?"  Everyone or something is always "coming."

Here are a few more pictures from this month:

Kellan loves bath time and bath toys.  He especially loves the Penguin from my Aunt Tracie.  It sings to him and the baby penguins dive into the water :)

He loves to pull everything off of mommy's nightstand...everyday.

He was not happy with mommy at the doctor's office when he had to get his flu shot.

He hates shots so much (and mommy does too) so I took him to Panera to get a cookie afterwards.

Kellan loves to brush his own teeth (he does not care for us to help).  I am constantly having to take away our toothpaste because he sucks on the open end.  We had to baby proof the bathroom drawer to keep him from getting it.  One day when I was brushing my teeth this is what I found.  I guess he figured shampoo is just as good as toothpaste :/  So I pulled him out of the wet shower and went back to brushing my teeth.

Then I heard the bathtub water turn on...here he is wetting his toothbrush...

And then brushing...*sigh* never a dull moment with this one in the house.

Eating a cup of strawberry ice cream at Baskin Robbins BEFORE dinner.  This won't happen again for a looooong time.  He acted crazy for the rest of the night.

One of Kellan's new words is "march."  This is him marching in the backyard one afternoon.

We have had a few really nice weather days so Kellan and I tried to take advantage of them.  Here he is loving his swing.  I couldn't capture all of the shrieks and giggles in a picture :)  He loves to be outside and asks to go " 'side" even when its dark out.

Appropriately golfing OUTSIDE instead of his usual inside.

And mommy pulling him in his wagon.

It is so hard to believe that in one more month my little buddy will be one and a half!  I love this little guy so much and I treasure every minute I get to spend with him :)