17 months.

At 17 months old, we have successfully transitioned from two 1.5-hour naps a day, to one 2-3 hour nap a day! It's so much easier to plan our day when we don't have to be home twice for naps, and I get so much more done when Linna takes one LONG nap. This month, we also started Linna on her first round of antibiotics EVER! She caught some kind of virus over Christmas and was quite the sick lil' bug. Three weeks later, she still had the crummy cough that came along with it. Since her cough was waking her up at nap and nighttime, I took her into the doctor and they thought she might have a sinus infection that just wasn't clearing up on its own, and they prescribed her a 10-day (2X/day) liquid antibiotic. Well, her cough has FINALLY cleared up, so it looks like it worked!

Checkin' out her new owl hat.

Linna is repeating EVERYTHING! She such a little investigator, and wants to tell you EVERYTHING she's doing and seeing. I love hearing her little voice. When she cries, she says "oh my" over and over again, which may be the cutest and most unusual thing ever. Not sure where she picked that one up! We're working on the alphabet with her, as well as colors, and shapes. Right now, if she sees letters on a sign or something she's playing with, she will just shout out a random letter! It's so cute. She's obviously learning the alphabet, even if she doesn't know which letter is which yet. She can say so many words, but a couple of the more impressive words/phrases are "oh dear" and "cupcake"!

Testing out some salsa at lunch.

We've also gotten into some weird eating habits. Linna seriously wants to eat Kashi Cereal Bars, Pirate's Booty Puffs, oatmeal, and toast. We've gone days without any fresh fruits or veggies. She often refuses to eat the Green Egg Cakes she used to love so much too! Yes, it could be worse, but some days I'm having to "hide" her fruits and veggies in her juice (I give her the Naked juices/smoothies) and oatmeal. Like every other kid, she would also eat cookies all day. Whenever she's at Grandma and Grandpa Specken's house, she walks around saying "Cuc Cuc" (AKA "cookie"). When Grandma and Grandpa Saigh are around, she follows Grandma ("MeMaw") around saying "Om-N-Um" (M&M). The grandparents sure love to give our little girl what she really wants:) We (AJ and I) actually got into a habit of giving Linna a "healthy" cookie (the belVita Breakfast Biscuits) every night after dinner, even if she didn't eat her dinner, just to make sure she had SOMETHING in her belly (I have a "fear" that she'll wake up in the middle of the night because she's hungry). I think she caught onto this bad habit of ours, so she decided that she didn't need to eat her dinner because mom or dad would give her a cookie with her milk before bed (smart girl). About a week ago, I finally wised up and decided to say "no" to the cookie before bed, even if she didn't eat her dinner. If she doesn't eat her dinner, she goes to bed with just her milk. The next morning after we tried this, she must have been really hungry, because she ate an entire banana, half a mango and a bowl of oatmeal. I'm slowly learning that if she's hungry, she will eat, and she WILL eat fruits and veggies if we don't give into her wining for "other options". Tonight, she ate a bowl of butternut squash soup, with some rice, and carrots, celery and onions I sauteed in olive oil, after she decided to "skip" lunch.

(We did this video while waiting for Grandma and Grandpa Specken at their house.)

Linna is also really into hiding these days. She hides behind anything she can find (mostly the chair in her bedroom, or the ottoman in the living room) if we say things like "let's change your diaper", or "let's clean up your toys". She's also been a little shy around people. She'll hide behind my legs, but as she warms up, I'll ask her to say "hi" to the person, and she quickly gives them a wave and a hello.

With Grandpa Saigh at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Being silly.

Linna still has a baby mullet, but we just can't get ourselves to have it cut. So for now, we continue to hide it with pigtails. Linna loves showing off her somersault skills, twirling skills, and of course her dancing skills. She's really starting to take direction well, and is FINALLY putting the toys away when she's asked to do so at ECFE, Kindermusik, and The Little Gym classes. She's really proud of herself when she does this! Linna loves reading books, swimming at the indoor pool at the gym, and does a really good job at playing by herself and keeping herself busy. I thank my lucky stars every day that she doesn't need me to entertain her all the time:)

Can't believe our little bug will be a year and a half next month!