17 Months Old...on Friday

October 15 we hit that 17 month mark.  Putting us so close to saying she's a year and a half...then we'll be on the downhill side towards TWO!  Just thought I would throw together a more updated list of random things about Anna. 

1. She's independent.  She likes to walk places herself, she likes to do things herself, she likes to feed herself. 
2. She has figured out how to open the gate at the top of our stairs.  Doesn't help that she's super tall, but she's mastered it.  You just have to pull the pin out, but luckily it makes a noise when the wood clanks together, so it gives us plenty of warning if she's thinking of heading downstairs. 
3. The nice thing about the gate situation too, is that she handles stairs very well.  She goes up and down all on her own and with good form. 
4. She loves her baby dolls.  She loves to rock them, feed them, dress them, cover them with blankets, pat their backs, hug them, put them to bed.  She is a good little mommy. 
5. She finally has learned that we have two cats and their names are different.  She now calls them by the correct names, Lola (woah-waa) and Pascal (ask-kal).  She loves her kitties and is very good at being gentle. 
6. The library is our current favorite weekly spot to visit.  She knows right where "her" books are located and knows she has to check them out before we leave.
7. This might not be a proud parenting moment, but she loves her movie....our trailblazer has a dvd player...and whenever you get in, she wants to watch her movie.  We had Oliver and Company in when we went camping, we thought on the long trip a movie might help...but now she wants to watch the kitties EVERY time we're in the car.  We don't let her every time, but sometimes mommy is weak and lets her watch.  It's a great movie! 
8. She loves phones.  She gets mine for me every morning.  I always have to "fix" it before she plays with it...aka-lock the keypad.  She walks around with her little thumbs on the keyboard just like a teenager texting away. 
9. Anna loves to eat.  She loves having snacks...she gets little bowls from the Tupperware cupboard and asks you to put fish in them (Goldfish crackers).  She is great about trying new things.  She doesn't have too many foods she doesn't like...olives and spinach are about all she refuses. 
10. We bought her a potty chair.  She sits on it sometimes, but mostly she likes to make it play music.  She has also started using it as a step stool, which she LOVES being able to see what's happening on the counter tops. 
11. She's struggling right now with whether she needs one nap or two at daycare and she thinks she needs no naps at home.  Hopefully in the end, we both get at least one nap a day. 
12. She's getting good at her night time routine.  Get her seahorse and blankie, rock for a few minutes, lay down and go night night.  She gives goodnight kisses and hugs all around. 
13. She's getting quite the arm.  She loves to throw the ball and anything else that seems fun to throw.  Still not quite sure if we have a righty or a lefty. 
14. She loves all of her old baby gear.  The swing is still in the living room since last May.  She often pulls out the Bumbo and her most recent was her baby bath tub...she likes to sit in it like a lounger.  She's crazy.
15. She likes to dance.  To my cell phone jingle or the radio.  She's a dancer.
16. She loves bows in her hair.
17. She tells you when she does something in her diaper and will go right back to her room and lay down for a new one. 
18. She likes to climb.  She climbs on everything...couches, coffee tables, our tall kitchen chairs...she's even tried scaling our cupboard doors to get to the counters. 
19. Anna knows that all kids get a cookie at Cub when they go grocery shopping and she never wants to be left out. 
20. Anna loves stickers.  She loves to stick them to herself.
21. Lately she likes to crawl and pretend she's baby Poppy (little girl from daycare). 
22. She knows lots of her animal sounds. 
23. She's going to be a monkey for Halloween and loves to chew on the banana that's attached to the suit.
24. She would eat an entire container of cottage cheese if you let her.  Along with a bunch of bananas.  Too bad that messes too much with her system. 
25. Anna loves to read.  Book after book can be read in an afternoon and she'll never tire of it. 
26. She likes to "cut the pickle" and get tickled. She's even making her own pickles these days! 
27. She's getting much better about saying what she wants as opposed to just crying.  It's making life so much more calm. 
28. Anna is a great mess maker, but not a great mess cleaner-upper. 
29. Bath time is one of her favorite times of day...she loves blowing bubbles and pouring water on herself. 
30. Anna's not much of a morning person; she doesn't like to get up in the morning anymore and doesn't like to get up from naps, even when she's the one to wake up, not be woken up. 
31. Anna is the coolest cat I've ever met.  She's adorable, really developing a sense of humor and learns so fast and so much each day.  17 months doesn't sound like long enough to be alive and doing all these things....but she is....the next 17 will probably continue to surprise us!