17 months!!!

Ben turned 17 months old on Sept 23rd. He started walking a few days after he turned 16 months. He still prefers to crawl - we're just letting him take his time. Ben's now eating pretty effectively with a toddler fork and spoon. He's also saying lots of new words - there are too many to list. Blueberry or "booburry" is our favorite right now - it's pretty much the best. He's stringing some words together. The other day he told me "Uh oh, momma. Binkie" after I dropped his pacifier on the floor. He's still taking swim lessons and is now comfortable with putting his head under water.

This month Nonna visited us!  We drove down to Tucson to see Kartchner Caverns and visit with Uncle Joe and Aunt Debbie. Ben was pretty good in the cave, although he thought the tour was entirely too slow. We celebrated dad's birthday, too!

We finally painted his room with Ben's favorite paint brand :)

Ben tours Dad's work at the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU.

Working on walking at daycare. This was a couple of days after he turned 16 months. He's much better now, but I LOVE the look on his face when he realizes what he's doing.

Learning how to golf!

"Helping" Vincent play with his toys.

Ben REALLY get into his doot-doots (songs).

Silly face at daycare. 

Reading his new book from Grandma TT.

Helping mom and dad pick out pillows. Seriously, we actually bought these ones.

Ready to go to work!

Ben's new silly face.

Visit with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Joe at Kartchner Caverns. Joe is teaching Ben how do make a super serious face for pictures :).

Crawling through a cave at the Kartchner Caverns Visitor's Center.

Learning about bats!

Visiting with friends in Tucson. Ben loved Miss Elaine and the painted egg from Ukraine that she gave him.

So excited about his marshmallows for dinner!!! Those aren't actually marshmallows :)

He's been really enjoying his numbers game lately. He tries to count, but usually only says two. 

Attacking some yogurt after his swim lesson.

Helping dad take his suitcase to the car. Ben loves suitcases and airplanes - he must be remembering all the traveling we did this summer.