Where are we?

I have not done a 'what can Adelyn do' post in a while. I think mostly its because nothing ever seems 'new' to me because I am constantly seeing gradual changes in certain aspects of her behavior. Anyways, after having been gone for a week, I definitely see things in a different light. What can Adelyn do, you ask?

walk- she is a walking champ now. She has only been a full fledged walker for about a month now, and when Paul and I left for Mexico she was still a little stiff legged and straight kneed. Now? She basically runs everywhere. I thought she was hard to keep up with before....

independence- even at 17 months I am starting to see signs of a stubborn independent streak. She takes her toothbrush and instead of letting me 'help' her, she has to do it herself. She takes the lead when walking anywhere... unfortunately she breaks down screaming when we dont let her run through parking lots or make her get back in the car. She brushes her own hair and tries to put on her own shoes.

reading- She being read to. She goes through phases of her favorite books. And if you start to quote a line from the 'book of the week', Adelyn will find that book and bring it to you. Yesterday her book was 'mommy loves', all about how different mommy animals love their babies, with the last page saying: "but most of all, my mommy loves me." Every time we read that page she gets a big grin on her face and gives me a big hug. I melt every time!

talking- while Adelyn still isnt saying "mommy", etc she definitely has a vocabulary. Anytime Paul walks into/out of the room, she says "dadadadadadada", makes me feel super loved ;) She also has a fascination with the tv show Dinosaur Train so Paul got her a couple of the figurines and the train, which when pressed says "Time Tunnel Approaching" and "next stop the Cretaceous/Jurassic/Triassic time period". She seems to say 'dinosaur (didodor) and time tunnel (ti tu) while playing. She knows and understand everything!

dancing- anytime music comes on the tv, radio, or some toy (even from my singing), Adelyn dances. She bounces up and down and stomps her feet. All with a huge grin on her face!

She also has started coloring (fairly well, I might add) and we have little styrofoam blocks with cut outs and such, she will put the round parts into the holes they have been cut out of. Already much better hand eye coordination I have! She also loves playing with her baby doll- giving it kisses, feeding it, etc...

We are loving spending time with her and seeing what new things she does daily. Saturday morning when she saw us for the first time, she acted as if everything was cool beans and she did not miss us all that much. I know she had fun, but I guess us leaving while she was still sleeping made her think we would do it again. She REFUSED to sleep saturday. I tried to put her down for her nap and she screamed bloody murder, we decided to just let her play until she basically tuckered herself out. She finally went down around 3 and woke up 1-1.5hrs later still screaming. We are much happier now, though! :)