17 months! almost!

It's so hard to believe this little sweet potato will be 17 months old tomorrow!  

Charlotte is turning into a big girl!  She's taking after her brother and has suddenly formed a fierce attachment to her own Buddy.  Buddy goes with Charlotte everywhere.  Charlotte is a sweetheart who also recognizes Colin's attachment to his own Buddy, so if she finds Colin's Buddy anywhere, she immediately snatches it up and toddles off to find Colin and shove his Buddy into his arms.  Awww...

Speaking of which, she's obsessed with Colin these days.  She calls him "Brother" and loves to point at him (ie, jab her finger into him) and yell "Brother! Brother!" at us as though we do not know who he is.  And, though she generally refuses to give me or Mike hugs, she will waddle up to Colin at any time and lean into him for a hug.  He loves it.  Ha ha.

At 17 months, she's full-time walking, climbing, jumping, and trying to be a gymnast / dancer.  She still has no physical fear whatsoever.  But, my barnacle is still around - she's still my little mommy's girl too, who loves to be cuddled and carried and rocked like a newborn and never ever set down or walked away from ever by me.  It's awesome how much she loves me?

If I were writing her personal ad, I'd say her interests include animals (especially birds and dogs), books, carbs (she ate an entire box of mac n' cheese by herself last weekend), stroller walks (we can't even walk past the stroller in the garage without her lunging towards it and screaming), and going bye-bye.

considering making a break for it

She understands, it seems like, nearly 100% of what we say, and communicates quite well between shaking her head yes / no and signing "more" and "all done" and pointing.  She babbles and sings, and says mama, dada, BIRD!, doggie, brother, uh oh, bye, more, milk, book, "thank you," "there you go," and I'm sure more I'm forgetting right now.  At the doctor's visit last week she busted out screaming "GO BYE BYE" as she lunged for the door.. so who knows what other complete sentences she's holding out on us with.

She's got an arm like a major league pitcher, and we're working on the "hitting = bad bad" concept right now, but she's also so lovable, fun, sweet, and funny.  Here she is playing hide and seek on me the other day.

We love our little red headed comedian!