Lex is 17 Months Old Today!

Watching a kitty cat in the back yard

Tonight when I tucked Lex into bed and told him, "sweet dreams," he repeated it back to me. It was his first time saying that.

He has been saying things for the first time all over the place lately. My favorite? "I love you." It's awesome to hear him say that.

Later tonight when I went in to check on him in his crib, I noticed that the ear of his new friend, Johnny Lemur, was all wet. I asked him if he had been chewing on it. He nodded, and said "no." (More on that later.) Then I asked him if Johnny was tasty. He kept saying, "tasty, tasty, tasty, tasty, tasty" as I was hugging him.

Lex's yes sounds like "no." But then he nods. When he says no, though, he says "NO!" and shakes his head. So even though it can be confusing, I can usually figure it out. When he does successfully say yes, though, it sounds like "yeah."

When Lex gives me a hug, he gives me a full on squeeze. He squeezes as hard as he can. Sometimes, he grunts. When I want a hug, I don't ask him for a hug, I ask him for a big squeeze, and that's what I get.

He's gotten in three of his four molars. That fourth one should be poking through his gum any day now. It's really swollen.

He loves to pretend to drive the car, which is fun. What isn't so fun is when he cries every time he gets buckled into his car seat because he would rather be sitting in the driver's seat. Speaking of car seats, I turned his around so that he is forward facing last week. He really likes it.

He loves to take the cushions off of the couch and dance and jump around.

I'm finally confident in his ability to go up and down stairs, so I don't put the baby gates up in the house any more. Which is nice, because I don't have to jump over them all the time any more.

He finally figured out that he was the only one in the family who wore a bib, so now he won't wear one any more. I've been buying Shout by the gallon to treat his dirty laundry.

When he runs really fast now, he puts both of his arms up behind him, like he is an airplane. He looks like he is imitating a swan.