17 months old and so much fun!

(picture by meredith rowlen)

Helen is getting to be such a big girl, where did my baby go? She loves her pony tails that her teacher gives her at school! We are so grateful and happy to have Helen in such a great school with people that really love her and are great teachers! Miss Jordan even lays down beside her to help her fall asleep for her nap!

This month Helen had a lot of fun firsts. First pony tail, first powdered sugar doughnut.

First pair of cowboy boots, her grandaddy bought her on a trip to Texas.

First time on the beach (well the shore on a lake in Mississippi, not the gulf or ocean yet).

And her first trip to The Grove at Ole Miss! Hotty Toddy!

Helen is getting taller but still able to wear lots of 12 month clothes and is wearing more 18 months. She wears a size 4 diaper and still has one to two 8 oz bottles at nap and bedtime each day. She sleeps from 8 pm to 8 am most of the time. She loves stuffed animals of any kind but she loves her baby dolls and her woobies the best. She takes them to school and in the car and carries them all over the house.

She also loves going to the zoo, riding on Brian's shoulders and music. I get so tickled at her after school. She gets her baby doll and sits on the floor. Then she points at me or Brian and points at the middle of the room. If we don't respond right away she starts shaking her arms and bobbing her head, which means "I am ready for my performance now." So we have to sing and dance every song we can think of, she is a serious task master and will not let us rest or stop. It is best when we are both there so we can tag the other one to have a turn. She will sit for 30 minutes at a time to watch our "amazing" performances! Ha!

Some words she says: uh oh, mama, daddy, moo, ruf! ruf!, oh!, yeah, dog, no, night night, hi, and we are pretty sure she said bravery the other day. She can do lots of new things, like climb on the couch and chairs. She is very proud when she does it, but it scares us because she wants to run across the couch! She loves to go up and down stairs (also very scary) and help do chores. Everytime we think we can't love her more, we do!