In one month Little Bug will be 18 months old.

WOW!

At 17 months, Little Bug is a riot. She gets goofier and goofier by the month. This is the little “smirk” Little Bug does when she is up to something or just having fun and enjoying life to its fullest.

Little Bug wears size 4 diapers, can still wear most 12 month outfits (except dresses, which are now too short) and wears 18 months in fall/winter clothes.

Little Bug continues to have an intense curiosity of the world around her. She misses NOTHING. When we are out she is always looking around taking in the world around her. When we are at a restaurant, she will notice when the people at tables surrounding us leave and wave “bye bye” to them.

Little Bug’s obsession is airplanes! There is not a one in the sky that flies over our house without being pointed at by Little Bug. If we are outside and she hears an airplane, she points to it and makes sure everyone sees the airplane. If we are inside and she hears an airplane, she points up immediately. When the airplane is no longer visable or she is no longer able to hear it, she says “bye, bye”.

Most every morning, Little Bug goes outside to wave bye bye to Dada as he leaves for work.

She still loves the outdoors! There isn’t much that keeps Little Bug’s attention for any lengthy amount of time, but Little Bug can play outside for hours. I LOVE this … especially now that the weather has cooled down some! The girl loves dirt. There is a small patch near our gate where the grass has died and it is now just dirt. Little Bug is a magnet to that area of the yard. Many times I strip her down to her diaper when we go outside because I know she is going to get dirty!

So, she is a “tom boy” because she likes dirt and getting dirty, BUT she is also in love with SHOES!

The girl loves her shoes and calls shoes “fffff, fffff” for some reason.

She also shows her “girly girl” side when she falls down. She thinks she needs help getting up and will stay on the ground until someone comes to help her up!

Little Bug still eats a TON of food per meal. She will eat any and everything (except eggs). We seriously are amazed at how much food this girl packs away per meal. She will sometimes eat half a can of green beans or peas! Some meals, I just have to stop her because I am afraid her stomach will explode.

She drinks 20 ounces of milk each day: breakfast, lunch, after nap and at bedtime. She still calls milk “ba” for “bottle” even though she has been weaned from the bottle now since 14 months old!

Little Bug sleeps 11 hours at night and takes a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.

Little Bug loves to dance, read books, go on walks and look at the ducks.

Before this month, most of Little Bug’s words were the basic “first words”. This month she has added more complex words to her vocabulary and has amazed us with the words she knows! Recently she has said: elbow, eyebrow, knee, moon and yellow.

Little Bug can identify: eye, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, eyebrow, hair, shoulder, elbow, hands, fingers, belly button, knee, feet, toes and just yesterday … booty!

Little Bug does 45 minutes of Independent Playtime daily.

Little Bug has discovered she likes to slide!

When Little Bug gets to my parents’ house she says “meow” because she knows Grandpa will take her to see the neighborhood cats. When she gets to Dave’s parents’ house she says “neigh” because she knows when we get out of the car we will walk over to the fence and see the neighbor’s horses. Little Bug LOVES animals.

I can’t believe she’s been my baby girl for almost a year and a half. I can’t believe it’s been almost 6 months since her first birthday.

Little Bug is a joy, and a delight. All my life I desired to give birth to a little blue-eyed, blonde haired baby girl.

God has most certainly given me the desire of my heart in a way that is more beautiful and miraculous than I ever thought possible.

(Blood means nothing when it comes to parenting.)

Happy 17 Months, Little Bug!

Her shirt says: I’m so cute, it’s scary!

- Elaine