This outburst was because he wanted everyone else's ice-cream as well as his own!

Sleep

Hallelujah, we've finally rediscovered the meaning of a good nights sleep! For a few months now, A's sleeping pattern has become much more consistent and 90% of the time, he will sleep through. We've had a couple of issues (sleep regressions/teething etc) where he's been refusing to go to bed initially (toddlers get clever) but once he's asleep, he's almost always out until the following morning.

Naps are also generally the same every day too. A dropped from 2 naps to 1 around 6 weeks ago and usually goes down from 11am for a couple of hours each day. He'll almost never wake up early from a nap now, unless he's unwell as he has been the past few days. We can even move him now (if he falls asleep in the pram/car) and he'll still stay fast asleep, which is nice!

Food

I didn't realise how quickly babies go from eating mush to eating normal food (or maybe that's just how it feels), but A now eats pretty much the same as us (bar the really bad stuff!). He even sits at his own little table and eats using a knife & fork (though he's not the best at it quite yet) - it's adorable! He absolutely loves vegetables & fruit (see above) but isn't so keen on meat (though does tend to eat chicken regularly). He, of course, will demolish anything beginning with 'c' and ending in 'e' (and I don't mean coffee) and has a massive sweet tooth. Strangely, unlike his Mummy, he isn't a fan of chips or potato in general (unless it's mashed up with cheese), and downright refuses to eat pie (I don't blame him).

We're down to just 1 x 7oz bottle a day now, at bedtime, and he now has his morning milk in a cup and drinks water (and occasionally bit of juice) throughout the day.

Appearance

Since walking, A has now lost all of his chubby baby weight and really slimmed out. I miss his round face and tubby belly (though he still has a little tummy on him). He's so tall now and it seemed to happen overnight, on the rare occasion I've had to rock him to sleep, my arm has almost fallen off. ˙０˙ HIs eyes were really dark brown when he was a baby but have now lightened up and his hair is really golden blonde.

Mood

Is it possible to experience the terrible two's at 17 months? If not, I'm really not looking forward to them. A can now pull off a spectacular tantrum, sometimes for no reason whatsoever, it's quite amazing. It's still pretty hilarious and seems to have settled down since he's begun to express himself better recently. Besides the odd strop, he's a wonderful little boy! So happy and full of character. He absolutely adores other children and is constantly trying to hug the crap out of his cousin, Aiden (who gets a little annoyed with him!). He is adventurous, curious, clever, kind, funny, full of life and loving but of course, I am biased.

Likes/Dislikes

Liking playing in Grandad's van, chasing bubbles, cuddling everyone & everything, eating, having a good boogey, In The Night Garden, loves his Winnie so much, annoying his brother, shoes (he picks his own now), swinging from bars like a monkey, fish-hooking Daddy, peaches, Mummy's camera, being naked. Disliking not getting his own way, sitting down and co-operating at baby group, Mummy being on her laptop, not being able to pull all of the books out of Daddy's warddobe, staying I'm bed once he's awake, waiting for the microwave to finish, having his nappy changed, being changed in general.

Milestones

Talking! - I wasl slightly concerned for a while that A wasn't saying alot (they're supposed to say 3-5 words by 12 months apparently!) but over the past few weeks he's come on leaps & bounds and it's so exciting! Here's a list of words/sounds I'm pretty sure he's saying now (some are inconsistent, some he says regularly): Mama, Dada, Nana, Hello, Oh no (and puts his hand over his mouth as if he's shocked), whas'dat? (what's that?), 'der (there), yes, woof woof, oh dear, ball/bubble, peach, breakfast, spot, birdie, he'll mimic almost anything we say now!

A knows pretty much all of his facial features now and can point them out when we ask him too, he also knows where his winky is!

A's now started to grab our hands and pull us over to show us things - he showed me a half-dead spider the other day ⊙▃⊙ and drags us to the kitchen when he's hungry/thirsty.

A waves to everyone and tries to engage them in conversation, it's hilarious. If we're out for dinner and he's finished, he'll wander around the surrounding tables and peer right up at others eating their dinner and start to point and talk in baby babble. He's so sweet, and really curious about others. He'll also do something and then clap because he wants you to applaud him!

Recently, A has been starting to climb our side table using his toybox and make his way up onto the sofa. I moved his toy box and he now just moves his building blocks or table over to the sofa to climb it. He'll also push his table to the light switch, climb it and repeatedly turn the light switch on and off!

It's so difficult writing these updates as I'm sure there's so much that happens that I've already forgotten about, but it's lovely to look through them and see how much my little baby has grown into a little boy!

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