Where does time go?!

At almost 17 months old, our little monkey continues to amaze us as every turn. Just this morning, after I pulled out a container of fruit (to chase down the bowl of oatmeal, 5 oz bottle, crispix, and honey graham bunnies he'd already hungrily consumed) and handed it to him to bring to the living room to eat while he was entertained by Disney jr, he handed it back to me and toddled back to the playroom to retrieve something. I watched him wondering what on earth he could want more than the food he'd just been begging me for, and suddenly I understood: he was bringing me his bumbo. We don't always use it but I'd say it's 80/20. Obviously enough to engrain in his smart little brain that the two go together. So, I walked forward and relieved him off it telling him what a great job he did and we went into the living room together to top his little growing belly off.

I love to watch him play by himself. While he loves to play with us, he's also very independent. Again, just earlier today, I watched as he turned over his pepper shaker like a glass, put it under his faucet so that he was "filling it with water", then put it in the microwave like he sees me do so many times with my coffee mug after i've let my coffee get cold. Such a little mimicker.

At almost 17 months, his little personality blooms a bit more every day. Ever since his horrible stint with the flu and bronchitis right before Christmas, he has developed a love for Mickey mouse clubhouse... He literally smiles from ear to ear when he hears the intro theme song and will stop whatever he's doing to watch it. Before he was sick, he had no interest in anything over than a few minutes here or there of Chuggington, the hot dog dance at the end of MMC, or toy story. He still loves his Toy Story characters and will cart them all over the house (especially Buzz or Woody) but now he will also do the same with my old Tickle me Elmo or his new Mickey he got for Christmas (that sings the hot dog song).

For Christmas, he got a ton of new clothes and already at a week later we had to go exchange some one-piece jumpsuits because they were already fitting him "just right"... He hit a growth spurt not long after he finished the flu/bronchitis and started eating all the time! I went and hunted up a tape measure and sure enough, he's at close to 32 inches... The top end of 18 month clothing. It's funny though, there are more than there are not outfits he will have plenty of room to grow into and the 24 month stuff swallows him whole. He is definitely going to be built like his daddy and have a long torso. Oh, and did I mention that he grew from a size 4 shoe in October to a size 6 in December?!?

Crazy!!