17 Months

The last month has seemed to go by even quicker than usual. We were fortunate enough to have a few weeks of vacation and we're just starting to get back to normal. Katelynn seems like she had grown two or three inches in the past few weeks. She is such a friendly little girl. She says hi and waves to everyone who walks by our house. She says hi continually (sometimes four or five times) before she stops and then she'll say bye bye. She also does this everywhere else we are: the park, the store, church, airport, restaurant, etc.

Katelynn has 12 teeth and is working on getting the remaining eight. She's been teething the past 3 weeks or so. Not that much fun, especially with the cottonwood floating around. She's coughing and sneezing non-stop.


In the past month, her vocabulary has increased and she is saying several phrases. Her enunciation is getting much better as well. We are trying to get her to use her words to communicate with us instead of "uh!" She repeats some things that we say and answers questions. My favorite story is when we were in Kansas City last month, sitting in the drive thru ordering dinner. They asked if we wanted a small, medium or large (in their garbled speaker voice) and Katelynn replied, "Medium!" We couldn't believe it and could barely stop laughing.

Katelynn loves to be outside. I'm sure you have noticed the magnitude of pictures of her with her car. She loves pushing her car around and riding in it. She loves to run around and help water the plants. She can climb the stairs to her slide all by herself. She also believes she doesn't need any help on the stairs to the deck, front porch, or to the basement. She's much too big for our help! And, check out her hair!





She's not our little baby anymore, she's a big girl (or so she thinks she is). Katelynn uses a spoon and fork to feed herself. Sometimes she can feed herself unassisted, but we normally help her. She loves to drink from a straw and loves to dip her food.

Here are some of the many words and phrases she says:
Mom (and every variation of it)
Dad, Daddy
one
two
three
night night
love you
see ya
bye bye
hi
where are you
thats it
no
yes
yeah
kitty
baby
good
mine
kitty
Bob
yabba dabba do
Gus
Diva
Grandma
Grandpa
medium
teeth
shoes
boo

We enjoy watching her play and imitate what the older kids are doing. She plays with the boys at church and even said Tristan's name on Sunday. She's always amazing us. I wish that we lived next door to the Mullinax Family... she had so much fun with them when we were in KC! She loves to play with the older kiddos. Wow...just imagine all the fun we would have then! I would love to be closer to our family and friends in KC!




Katelynn has been spending Thursday nights with Gran, while Jason and I are at the race track. They have this special bond. Katelynn is always excited to see Gran. She also loves to terrorize Grandpa's remote controls. She runs into their house and heads straight for his table of notes and the remotes! Nothing makes me happier than seeing that devious look on her face! :)


We've talked about it and we believe it is impossible for her to be almost 18 months old - so we aren't going to let her get any older! ♥