17 Months: Wild Thing

"Wild Thing,  I think I love you...." - The Troggs

Mommy & Fiona enjoying the snow at Duke Park on December 26

Fiona is now 17 months old and is a wonderful wild thing in full swing! Whether running through the house at top speed, climbing all over us during our morning playtimes, investigating every nook and cranny of any room she's in, or fearlessly riding her rocking horse, our girl is ALWAYS on the move. 

This month her personality has really blossomed in a new way.  She's curious, kind, funny, talkative and always ready to laugh.  She's also really developing her independence and testing boundaries with her parents -- as evidenced by the recent minature teeth marks on my cheek!

The biggest excitement from the past month has been Fiona's fascination with The Potty.  At the risk of embarrassing my little girl for years to come, I'll simply say that she's very into mimicking her parents and has successfully tested out the little potty she received  for Christmas on several recent occasions!  We're not holding our breath that we'll be done with diapers any time soon, but we're happy about this development none the less.

Other notes from this month:

• Fiona's vocabulary is growing daily and new, unprompted words are surprising us all of the time. She also seems to be learning a few colors. Just this week she successfully named "blue" and "green" items.
• Fi knows nearly all of her body parts and can point to them on herself and others when asked.
• She also knows lots of animal sounds and endlessly entertains her parents with them.
• Teething seems like a never ending process for these poor little kids! She now has four molars and is working on two more bottom teeth.
• Fi has a voracious appetite for reading (much to the delight of her English major mother).  Books continue to be a huge part of her day.  Ryan and I can now recite by heart the vast majority of board books we own. 
• One thing Fiona is NOT wild about: Being Messy.  Our gal HATES to have messiness on her high chair tray or hands - and gets completely freaked out when she finds specks of dirt on the floor (which is quite often - hey, we're working parents who's cleanliness standards have fallen significantly since Fi entered our lives!).  Wonder where she gets this Type A-ness?