17 Months Old

On our way to Ashley's one morning...about to play with Ella and Molly!

Oh my...these posts are getting harder and harder.  Early into parenthood, it was easy to name every single new thing that Bentley did and every little milestone that he met.  That is getting harder and harder because he is doing new things, literally, everyday.  So, lucky for you, I don't have time to name every smart, funny, cute, or even annoying thing that Bentley did over the last month.

For starters, he is still only 19 pounds.  Yep, that's right...he's growing up but not out.  He's definitely getting taller, but the poor guy just cannot gain weight.  He eats good, but he is so active that I think his metabolism is working overtime.  I'll get his flu shot this month, so I'll talk to the doc to make sure we don't need to be supplementing.  My guess is...he got his Mama's genes. :)

Teeth...oh, those sweet pearly whites!  Bentley has cut three teeth in last five days, thus getting our count up to seven teeth.  He's still drooling like crazy and I can see and feel the beginnings of three more teeth.  The good news...he's been a trooper.  He doesn't like me to brush his teeth when a tooth is about to make it's appearance, but other than that, he's not had any symptoms of teething except for a few extra dirty diapers.

Word worthy...Bentley is a talker.  He will try to repeat almost anything you say.  Sometimes it comes out right, and sometimes...not so much. :)  He no longer calls Sleepy Bunny, "mama."  He finally refers to it and all other bunnies as, "bunny."  He loves to call for people.  (Not on the phone, but yelling out their names.)  When he talks about Daniel or talks to him, he refers to him as, "Dada," but when he calls him he says, "Daaaaaadeeeeee."  So sweet to hear.  He is trying to say everyone's name that he is around a lot, and some of them are really good:

• Ella - "Lala"
• Molly - "Moeee"
• Karington - "Taton"
• Coen - "Dadoo" (I don't have a clue on this one, but that's also what he calls the cat across the street, and her name is Sunny.)
• Reese - "Weese"
• Nana - "Nana"
• Papaw - "PawPaw"
• Granddaddy - "Dadaing"
• Mimi - "MiMi"
• Daniel - "Nanel" (He heard Karington calling Daniel, so he called her this for a while.)
• Jennifer (Jen Jen) - "Den Den"

Just this week he started saying, "Uh huh," while nodding his head.  I said, "say, yes Ma'am," so he said, "Ma Ma'am."  Pretty cute!  I told him to go tell Daddy that dinner was done, so he went to the patio door (Daniel was outside), saying, "Do-in."  He loves to hide behind the fan in his room as he says, "Hidin'."  He will stand somewhere he shouldn't (on the couch, on his firetruck, etc.) and say, "Dit," which translates to "sit."  Bentley has also been piecing together two words to make phrases rather than saying one word for everything.  The other day he said, "big truck" and "Dada bed" when Daniel was still in the bed. 

Though he's not really ready to start, we've begun the introduction to potty training.  We talk about pee pee and poo poo on a regular basis.  He has a little potty that he loves, but he only sits on it for about 10 seconds.  He wants so badly to put pee pee or poo poo in the potty, but he just can't figure it out yet.  So, we're not pushing the issue, but we are encouraging him to understand what it means to be wet and dirty.  Hopefully we'll have at least one success soon for him to be able to understand more. 

He knows ALL of his body parts, and yes, I mean ALL of them.  Of course the cutest one for him to find is his wee wee.  He starts looking up his pants leg for it.  SO funny!

There are a few things that Bentley has grown to LOVE lately.  He LOVES the lawnmower ("mamowa") and the blower ("bowa"), as I've mentioned before.  He also loves golf, and he wants to play with his play clubs, Daniel's real clubs, and watch it on television.  If golf his on T.V., Bentley will actually sit for a few minutes and watch it.  He still loves cleaning, including sweeping, vacuuming, and dusting.  He loves anything with buttons, so he really enjoys helping with laundry and cooking because he gets to push any buttons that need pushing.  Bentley's latest fascination is with bugs and spiders.  He loves to find bugs and spiders, dead or alive, inside or outside, he doesn't care.  And finally, our little fella is a pyromaniac.  He LOVES to see anything with fire ("Byee").  As a matter of fact, Goodnight Moon is his favorite bedtime story because there's a fireplace in it.  Sometimes we light candles, not because we like the smell, but because he wants to see the fire.  He does understand that fire is hot, so maybe we've got that on our side. :)

So, now for the fun part...the pictures.  On the 11th, which was Bentley's 17 month birthday, Daniel decided to mow the yard.  Bentley was thrilled, and so was I because Daniel found a frog.  I've been wanting to get another frog for my classroom, so I've been looking for them for a couple of weeks.  Bentley and I got to spend the afternoon together catching a frog, fixing it's aquarium, and just letting him be a BOY!  So much fun!  Here's our documentation of the night.

Daddy's mowin', Bentley's blowin'.

"Hey frog."  The more he said "frog," the more it sounded like, "Bob."

You wanna play?

Helping Mommy fix the aquarium...planting plants and filling it with dirt ("dut").
Mommy filled it up...Bentley tossed it out.

So excited!

More time to play with the blower before we introduce the frog to his new home.

Peek-a-boo!

New favorite way to go on the slide.

"Weeeeee!"

And the big reveal...see the frog...

Hold the frog...

"Bye bye frog."

Meet Skippyjon...he seems happy in his new home.
My kids at school LOVE him!

Using the frog's spray bottle to spray himself...he's drenched!

So, needless to say, we had a WONDERFUL time!  I absolutely love coming home, changing clothes, and playing outside with my little man.  We have such a good time, and seeing him do things for the first time makes me such a happy mommy!