17 months

Goodness, how crazy has it been here!? Ok, so not super crazy, but I had a hard time posting pictures last night and when I finally got the pictures to upload I didn't get a chance to post. Although the day/time stamp is going to say I did this yesterday.
So, what is new with Gwen this month, a whole lot I feel like. I think she is learning new stuff at a rapid pace. The little booger does like to not admit that she knows what is going on. The other day I caught her 'reading' her baby signs books and actually doing the signs for the pages that she was on. Not that she would do those signs when I have tried to get her to do them. Sometimes the signs are more what I like to call contextual, she uses the sign for open for open, out and off.
As far as speaking goes, she seems to have a preference for learning words that are more complicated. Like she won't try to say stuff like hot or red or blue, but when we say words like bubbles, purple, elbow...which sounds more like 'belbow', but she is trying. That was a pretty funny bath time, I kept telling her 'elbow' and making sure I enunciated the 'el' and she kept looking at me, kind of like yeah, that is what I am saying Mom, 'belbow, belbow, belbow!' I have heard rumor that many of the girls in our exercise group language skills really started after they turned 18 months. We'll see!
Gwen's eating I have decided not to focus on, if she tries something she tries it, if not, well then I take it back (because she hands it back to me if she doesn't want it). I am tired of this being an issue and I think I need less stress in my life, so stressing about her eating habits is not going to help anyone. She has tried some new stuff but her diet mostly consists of what she likes, fruit and 2 meats and whatever carb she can wrestle out of Daddy's hand. She doesn't really wrestle anything out of Eric's hand, he gives her whatever she wants! (As you can see in the previous pictures and the last pictures, she doesn't have bloody lips, just candy Daddy gave her that is red)
Gwen keeps us laughing most of the time, sometimes it seems like she actually is having a conversation with us, and sometimes even says 'Oh' with the correct intonation and everything. She definitely tries to exert her own authority, she grabs our hands and tries to push or pull us to wherever she wants to go. And, she is surprisingly strong...not that she could really man-handle us.
Gwen has become more affectionate to her toys-specifically some of her dog stuffed animals and walking toys. She gives them hugs and carries them around. She also is giving Eric and I more hugs, but she is still rather shy of strangers. She will warm up to some people, but not to everyone. She is also getting better at waving to people, she has always waved to people, but typically after they leave, sometimes, just sometimes she actually waves bye to people when they are leaving and they see her. What progress!

If you look real close at her last picture, you can see her nose, which is actually healing up nicely. Kind of just looks like a shadow now! Oh and the bottom 2 teeth have appeared, so now we only have the 2 top teeth and then no more teeth coming in until her next molars come in.