17-month milestones

Laurel turned 17 months old yesterday, so it's time for a post about her new developments! (The last one was at 15 months.)

Walking:
She's still wobbly on her feet, waddling with classic toddler bow-leggedness and falling on her bottom quite frequently. She took her very first step seven weeks ago, and I would say she has been truly walking for a bit over a month, starting just before her 16-month birthday in May. It's funny how I've already forgotten she used to crawl everywhere. (Even though it wasn't that long ago she learned to crawl in the first place -- less than five months ago!) I was about to write that she still crawls sometimes, but actually I can't remember if I saw her crawl today. Maybe not! It would be the end of an era.

Climbing:
She doesn't seem to have any fear of falling from heights. She can step down from the edge of our raised patio, which is only about six inches high, but she seems to believe she can also step down actual staircases -- not to mention right off the edges of playground climbing structures a good five feet high. She still likes to climb. Today she observed her brother climbing the horizontal slats of the fence around our back yard, so she walked over and began to climb too. She requires close watching.

Eating:
She can feed herself with a spoon, although it helps if the food is moist or sticky. She made her way through a bowl of peas tonight, but as she tends to flourish the spoon of course the peas fly off. But she had great success scooping black beans from a bowl last night. She likes cutlery so much, in fact, that when she's allowed to use it she will eat even foods she doesn't much like. Often she carefully places a morsel of food in the bowl of the spoon with her fingers, then raises the spoon to her mouth. She continues her love affair with drinking from a cup. She added "cup" to her spoken vocabulary a few days ago, and it is by far the word she says most often. (She says it with no C, so it sounds exactly like "up.") It is a huge improvement over the anguished whine she used to make whenever she wanted a cup (which is whenever she sees one).

Toileting:
She had an early success with the potty, as I mentioned before. In fact, after I wrote that post there were two more instances that she peed on the potty! (And pooped, too, but that was because I rushed her there just in time.) However, then we went out of town for a few days and I dropped the routine; over the past week there has been no success. Well, she might not understand about peeing on the potty, but she does know she is supposed to clap her hands when she sits there, and she never fails to do so! (We often sing a potty-oriented version of the folk song "Clap Your Hands" while she sits there.)

Talking:
She hasn't added that many new words since my list of a few weeks ago. Well, "cup," I guess, and "shoe." Also the sound of the crow, which is "caw." Oh, and the sound of the turkey, which is a very garbled "gobble-gobble." Yes, she really, really likes birds.