Dexter is 17 months old!

Signs: Not a whole lot of development in the signage department this month. Which isn't such a bad thing, because...

Words: Dexter is talking more!  Still not a lot of real words, but he is definitely getting chattier and is clearly trying to tell us stuff all the time.  I never thought I'd be so glad to hear my kid say "Shah-baaah!  Shah-baaah!"

Teeth: Still 12.  His molars are all broken through and progressing very nicely.  They make it very easy for him to chew his new favorite food (see below.)

Sleep: This has gotten extra interesting since the conversion to a toddler bed.  Mot of that drama is chronicled elsewhere in this space, so I'll spare you a recap here.  Let's just say that our current goal is pretty much just for everyone in the house to get as much sleep as possible.  I guess that was always our goal, but it was much easier to accomplish when we had a little baby jail to help us out.

Food: I think we can say that bananas have been demoted a bit in Dexter's food repertoire.  He still really really likes them, and I still buy a dozen at a time if I can get the appropriate variety of ripeness.  But now Dennis and I actually get to eat a banana ourselves on occasion.  And Dexter is just as likely to ask for grapes or milk as he is to ask for a banana. 

Really, though, his favorite thing to put in his mouth these days is crayons.  Yep. Crayons.  And most of the ones we have are "washable," which means they are at least a little bit spit-soluble, which means he gets a whole face/mouth full of color. Yes, we try to stop him.  Yes, we usually fail.  Yes, I'm about to give up, because the things are nontoxic anyway, and there's not a whole heck of a lot we seem to be able to do about it.

Things he knows:  I'm soon not going to be able to put anything in this section, because he is learning too much too fast!  He's now helping us dress/undress him. (Zips up his own jacket and everything, once we get it started.  He can take it off all by himself!)  He's more hit than miss on colors - won't say the word, of course, but if asked "which is green?" he will point to the correct one.  (Ditto for red and yellow and blue. Sometimes orange.)  We're working on "patty cake," too.  He doesn't quite get the clapping/high-five part yet, but he LOOOOVES to "roll it" and "pat it."  It's really quite adorable.

Games: Let's see. I don't think he will ever tire of playing chase. :)  He also still loves peek-a-boo. Now he will put his hands over his face (peeking out through his fingers, though he thinks we can't see his little eyeball) and then pull his hands away and squeal with delight. The last few nights, he's thought that going to bed was a fun game.  

Toys: For some reason, Dexter ALWAYS goes for these stacking blocks.  (Thanks Mary & Stephen!)  I mean, it's great, I'm glad he likes the stacking blocks more than some of the electronic toys - leaves more room for imagination and all that. It's a great toy. But it's also one of the messier ones.  He has two sets.  So digging out these two, usually nice and compactly stored toys, results in 15 boxes of various sizes being strung all over the living room. 

Books:  Dexter's favorite book lately has been Dizzy Dragon. It's a really cute book that Tootsie gave him. (I don't remember the occasion - probably just because she likes to spoil him.)  Each page has a different dragon with googly eyes and some other touchy-feely part (bumpy, scratchy, soft, etc.).  Of course, Dexter just flies through those pages, so we don't get to read the little rhyme about each dragon. (Fiery Frank loves sausages/Pan-fried, grilled, or roasted/Flame-grilled are his favorite/He likes them nicely toasted!)  We're lucky if we can get out "Pink Dragon!"  "Blue Dragon!"  "Green Dragon!" etc. before he jumps to the last page, where the KING dragon lives, and the book plays a little song.  He loves it.

Tantrums:  Yep. Tantrums.  We seem to be in full-on tantrum mode these days. Certainly not every day, but there's at least one meltdown most days, sometimes a major serious meltdown with lots of hysterics and drama.   Hey, it's tough to be 17 months old, right?  Dexter often knows what he wants but can't tell us (frustrating) or just can't have it (playing in raw ground beef is just not allowed).  So he flails around and screams.  There's not a whole lot we can do about it except try to make sure he doesn't hurt himself.  I hope and hope and hope that he'll get some actual words soon to at least eliminate part of these major fustrations.

Eyes:  Finally, it looks like Dexter's eyes are maybe losing a little bit of their blueness.  They're still quite gorgeous, in my humble opinion, and light, but starting to go a little more green/gray/hazel.  We're watching closely to see if it's really true.