17 Months {Shelby's Golden Baby Birthday!}

Waaaaay back on February 17th, Shelby turned 17 months old and celebrated her Golden Baby Birthday! :) Pretty exciting! Unfortunately, time just got away from us and we just got around to taking her 17 month pictures yesterday. So without further ado, here are some belated 17 month pictures of Miss Shelby....

Here is what Miss Shelby is up to these days....

--By far the biggest news of your 17th month is that you are WALKING! We can still hardly believe that you are a walker. It still amazes your Mommy and Daddy to see you walking all over the house. It's a whole new world for all three of us! We are just SO proud of you, Shelby-girl.
--Within a couple days of you learning to walk, you figured out how to stand up on your own (without pulling up on something) and lean over to pick up a toy without touching the ground to re-balance yourself.
--New teeth! Until 9.5 months, you had no teeth at all...and then all of a sudden both bottom teeth came in at the same time! You only had those two teeth until about 14 months when both of your top teeth came in. I thought it would take forever to get all of your teeth in if they were always going to come in two's every couple of months...or I thought maybe you would just go off to Kindergarten with only those 4 teeth. But I was wrong, and it seems like you are making up for lost time these days! You've officially got six teeth total now and several new teeth trying to come through your gums, but they're all towards the back of your mouth...which explains why you've had your fingers in the back of your mouth all.the.time lately.
--We started your Occupational Therapy services with Miss Megan this month.
--You got your first pair of tennis shoes! You've never really worn shoes until this month. You had a couple pairs of hand-me-down shoes, and we did get you a pair of winter boots & black dress shoes for our trip up to St. Louis this Christmas...but you've barely worn any of them. You never seemed to like having shoes on, and since you weren't walking it didn't make sense to force you to wear them. But since you started walking, we knew you needed a pair of sneakers. We hemmed and hawed over all of these pricey shoes trying to make the best choice for you...and then we randomly found a pair on clearance for $5 at Walmart, and they're PERFECT for you! Go figure!

{sporting your new kicks for the very first time...with a finger in the back of your mouth for good measure}

--You had your first of many pigtails this month!
--We finally stopped swaddling you for naps and bedtime. It's crazy to think we actually swaddled you for almost 17 months! You have been breaking out of your swaddle for so long, but you still liked being swaddled before we put you down b/c it was a signal for sleep for you..and we figured there was no reason to stop as long as it was working for you. {Because you are so big, it was a very loose swaddle..but a swaddle nonetheless!} But lately you would break out of the swaddle before we even left your room, so we finally decided it was time. And it definitely was b/c you never seemed to even notice the swaddle was gone!
--Your eating habits have remained the same as last month.
--Tantrums. They have officially started. Thankfully at this age, we can redirect you/distract you with something else pretty easily and you forget about whatever was upsetting you...but I know that won't always be the case! ;)
--There was about a week or two this month where you only napped for 1-2 hours in the afternoon. That might be enough of a nap for some kiddos, but not our Shelby-girl. You love {and need!} your sleep. We finally realized your teeth were what was aggravating your nap, and thankfully you are back to napping for 3 {sometimes 4!} hours every afternoon.
--You still sleep for about 13 hours every night. Your teeth haven't seemed to bother you at night..thank goodness!
--You have mastered your Fridge Farm! You got this as a Christmas gift from Mommy & Daddy. We had to teach you how to put the magnets in the farm correctly. You quickly figured out how to do this, but your animal configurations were always random! Sometimes you'd make a sheep-cow, sometimes a horse-pig, and sometimes a match! We never "taught" you how to make a match, but somehow this month you figured it out all on your own! We are so impressed!!
--We have read books to you every day since we brought you home from the hospital. I have always loved to read, and the teacher in me wants every kid {especially you!} to love reading. So we have read, read, and read to you. But now I fear we have created a reading monster! Ha! When you go in your bedroom, you zoom straight past your toy bin and head straight for your books. Sometimes you will "read" them to yourself, but usually you will pick up a book and bring it straight to Mommy and Daddy to read. As soon as we finish the book, you slam the book back on our lap {we're still working on getting you to be gentle!} which is your way of telling us to read it again or you go grab a new book to read. Sometimes we have to read the same book ten times in a row to you. It drives us crazy at times, but it truly melts my heart that you love reading as much as you do!

We keep a basket of books next to the glider in your bedroom to read before nap & bedtime. We will be moving that basket before our next monthly photo shoot b/c all you wanted to do during this photo shoot was read. :)

This is the face that says: "Read it AGAIN!" ;)