17 months

Caroline turned 17 months today. What a little character we have on our hands. A few more things she's up to:

• She loves to climb on everything. She is always pulling herself up on the coffee table and every chair in the house. She pulls out her stool from under the bathroom sink and then climbs on it and tries to touch the water. It is really somewhat miraculous that she hasn't tried to climb out of her crib. That I know of, at least. She's never been successful, thank goodness.
• She is still eating like a pig and not gaining much weight, but I am over worrying about it. I have a skinny child. She eats lots of "dog dogs". She can say "hot" and "dog", but she can't say "hot dog." Now she's got me calling it "dog dog."
• She's getting much more brave- wanting to go down the stairs facing forward, running across the bridge at the playset, etc. I, of course, don't think she's ready for all of these things, since I am convinced she's going to kill herself, but I want to let her spread her wings, too.
• She's also getting even more outgoing. Who knew it was possible? But we go walking down the street and she just has to say hi to every person who goes by. It is perfectly adorable.
• We bought a potty. She loves, loves, loves to sit on it, but hasn't actually done anything yet. We're not expecting much... just want her to get used to the idea now. She learned to say pee pee and poo poo. Very exciting.
• Every time she hears a train, she goes "choo choo" and does the little hand movement like she's ringing the bell. It is so cute.

And with the good comes the challenges...

• Her favorite word is no. No no no no no no no. All day long. When she's doing something she shouldn't and knows I'm coming to get her... When I ask her if she wants to go inside... If one of her friends tries to use her toys... It is all consuming. I really hope this stage doesn't last too long. I'm trying to say it less myself, but it is hard, because she's perpetually getting into things she shouldn't.
• She's very domineering. She's going to be such a boss-- must have inherited that from her father ;) She's also getting to be a little more aggressive, and hit her friend Eliza the other day when they were over here. Often when she says no, she'll hit- it's always been an object or me she was hitting, so this was a bit frustrating. She got a time out for that one, so hopefully she'll learn sooner rather than later. She pinches me all the time too, which is a habit we need to break, especially since I'm not very good at trimming her nails and it hurts!