Seventeen Months

Remember how in last month's Sixteen Months post we said that Walt was fun?  Well, we didn't even know fun then.  Now he is really fun.  And sweet.  My goodness he is sweet.  And did I mention smart?  'Cause if I didn't, I really should have.

If you can't tell, we are having a good 'ol time around here these days.  Except for the occasional mild tantrum, this month has been a lovely period of peace, love and harmony.  Although it may be that I am just writing through the rose-colored lenses of well-restedness.  (Is that a word?  I don't even care -- it's what I am.)  We recently invested in a set of blackout shades for Walt's room and we are now getting to sleep about an hour later in the morning.  Life is good.

So, anyway.  What's up in Walt's World this month?  Let's see . . . there's still not a lot more talking, but the "words" he does say are said frequently.  Very frequently.  He points out every car and truck he sees, which is a lot.  When he says car, it comes out "cah" and he sounds like he ought to be eating some chowder at Fenway.  Trucks used to be just "KKKKK!", but now are more like, "KKRKK!"  I know that looks like the same thing, but if you look closely, you'll see that there's a "R" there in the middle.  Getting closer.  He also continues to be the friendliest person on the planet, giving out enthusiastic "Hi!"s to EVERY SINGLE PERSON HE SEES. 

He understands so much that it's scary.  He can follow practically any command.  I've started asking him to do things just to see if he can follow what I'm saying and he almost always can.  And he copies everything we do.  If you didn't happen to read the comments on our last post, you missed the story about Josh and Walt's trip to Home Depot during which Walt watched Daddy throw away the receipt and then promptly followed him to the trashcan and pitched in the purchase they had just made.      

The issue of eating (or not, as the case may be) continues to be one of our few sore subjects.  Walt is apparently allergic to vitamins because he will not eat anything with any nutritional component to it.  Any food that is not cheese, crackers, peanut butter or gummy fruit chew thingamabobs are not on the list of approved sustenance providers as far as Walt is concerned.  Although we may have found a loophole.  Walt recently became somewhat fascinated with our forks and so we broke out the toddler-sized fork with Miffy on it (thanks, Harriet and Richard!) and showed him how he could spear lima beans and salmon with it at dinner the other night.  And he actually ate them.  I almost fell off of my seat.

Oh, and also, he likes to talk on the fork like it's a phone.

Hey, no one's perfect.

We are still spending a lot of time at the pool and this week we've widened our scope of water activities to include the "sprayground" at our local park.  We went for the first time yesterday and Walt wasn't too sure what to make of it. 

But today his buddies Aislin and Akon were there and showed him how to navigate the various sprinklers and fountains and he got more into it.  So to speak.

Between splash day at school (every Friday!), the Rhodes pool, the sprayground, helping Mommy water the plants, and baths, Walt pretty much has a constant case of prune fingers, but he doesn't seem to mind.

There is so much more I could tell you about how cute, smart and sweet he is, but then I'd sound like one of those parents.  And I'm totally not -- it's just that in the case of my child, it all happens to be true.