17 months!

Geez, I'm almost losing track of her "birthdays" each month. Hard to believe, since when she was but weeks old, the time seemed to drag. I'd get to the end of each week and sigh, "well, she's that much older" and hope that things would get better.

And they did!

Rachel is:

--no longer a baby! She is walking walking walking everywhere.

--saying "hi" in a bright, sweet voice. Tonight she said, "hi!" over the phone to me!

--extremely helpful, picking up crumbs, shrugging out of her sweaters and jackets when we take them off, handing us stuff when we ask for it. We hope this generous trait sticks!

--adjusting quite well to the new Toddler 1 room at daycare. We are told this is the hardest transition she'll make, and we feel we got lucky. She's an old pro now at playing in the dollhouse, going down the slide, listening to songs...

--very appreciative of music. She recently clapped when Rhonda, one of the teachers, sang songs. And sometimes she claps after Drew or I finish singing her lullabies.

--developing a sense of rhythm. She moves almost in time to music, whether it be hymns in Hebrew, Old MacDonald, or bebop.

--regularly feeding herself out of the jar of baby food and, in contrast to last month, getting most of the vegetables/applesauce/fruits on the front of the spoon, instead of the back, and putting it in her mouth!

--sitting in a booster seat; she's done so for the past month. And on Friday night, when we forgot the booster seat at the Hanukkah service, she did quite well just on a folding chair.

--very meticulous at mealtime. When she's finished with her food or her bottle or her sippy cup, she carefully places them on the table rather than the tray of her high chair. Then, when she wants to partake of them, she reaches out and puts them back when she's finished.

--still afraid of or uncomfortable with the toothbrush, meaning that I can rarely get it inside her mouth. I really don't know what to do other than give her her fluoride drops every night and hope she doesn't develop baby cavities.

--very resistant to the changing table; she thrashes and cries most of the time we lay her on it. Don't know if she does this at daycare. Maybe she's trying to let us know that she wants us to change her while she stands up?

--"reading" books to herself. Today she took them out of the bookcase and tried to re-shelve them!

--getting long hair (at least in the back) but it's still thin. Her hands and feet are big, but her face is still little and delicate. I think she may be developing a snub nose rather than an aristocratic, aquiline one.

--very curious, still asking her trademark "wash shat?" when something unusual enters her field of vision, such as a big bus.

--able to climb onto a wooden coffee table we have upstairs. She did the climbing mostly with her arms, which led Drew to admire her strenght.

--loving her mega Lego blocks and stacking boxes, which she loves to work with.

--a little person who is more and more fun to be around!