17 months.

Seventeen months old, practically a lady!  It seems as though everything about Ellie is growing like gangbusters these days.  Her hair, legs, appetite, vocabulary, tendency to stretch the rules - all on the rise.

Here's a little confession:  A few times in the last month I have picked Ellie up out of her crib right before Pete and I go to bed for the night.  I sit in the glider with her asleep on my shoulder because it's the only time all day that we get to snuggle.  From the moment she wakes up in the morning until we put her in her crib at night, she is on the go.  This morning, before her feet had even hit the ground, she was saying, "shoes? shoes? shoes?" and trying to get dressed for the day.  I requested a hug, and she complied, but then she was on her way downstairs for milk and cereal.

Ellie's seventeenth month was a busy one with her first cubs game, croquet tourney, our trip to the natural bridge, her first haircut, a trip to Shaker Village, her first sick day from school, and I'm sure many other things we didn't think to photograph.

Month eighteen has started out as busy as the past one - we've had the aquarium, bourbon chase, and, last night, pumpkin picking with our neighborhood friends!