17 MONTHS

A few days ago, Zeke turned 17 months old. This kid is a complete mix of sweet and stubborn, and has been such a joy in our life. It's interesting how some of the changes he has gone through have been so gradual, as they have taken place over time, while others seem to just happen over night. So far his language skills are coming along slow and steady. He has the words Mama and Papa (grandpa taught him that one), and Dada (his first word) down, but he's still working on Grandma. We've also tried his sister's name over and over again, and it's just not happening.

Saying that Zeke is more active and mischievous than Bea was would be an understatement. Just this morning he threw my iPhone in the toilet (still works!) and then subsequently threw two TV remotes in the toilet as well. We're constantly checking to see if what he has in his mouth is food or not, and covering the outlets with those plastic childproof thingies was a must. On the other hand, he has this incredible calm side, in which he just crawls right into your arms and cuddles against your warmth. He still wakes several times a night, and I think this closeness he desires is the reason behind that. We started putting him in a toddler bed around 11 months old, which is CRAZY, I know. The thing is, I could rock him, sing to him, and nurse him to sleep for hours, and the second I lay him down he would wake up. This solution makes it easy for us to lay down next to him and then sneak away once he drifts off to sleep. And then, in the middle of the night, I hear his little feet pitter-patter their way into our bedroom to be with us once again. There is this moment during the night when Mr. C cuddles me while I cuddle Zeke, and it is just bliss.

Something Zeke loves to do is blow kisses. I love seeing how excited he gets when he sees someone he recognizes and blows them a big, giant kiss. He's pretty good at taking direction as well, which helps us know that he understands language even if he can't say all of the things he wants to say quite yet. The other day, Bea and I taught him what a hug was. He had already been giving them all the time, but now when we say "hug" he runs to the nearest person and wraps his arms around them. His favorite things at 17 months are Elmo and pretend cooking. He's also a little engineer and loves to focus on how things work. He is obsessed with turning the dishwasher on and off.

He is really good at mimicking people and constantly has us cracking up at his impressions. If you cross your arms, he will cross his arms, too. We feel so blessed to have Zeke in our life and can't wait to see him grow with our family.