If I had a baby book....

I'd write down a few things that will remind me of  17 months~

•  our girl is walking everywhere, if still like a little deer getting her bearings. I think I'll be sad when she walks normally.
• Her favorite toy remains the red car given to her by her Aunt Rae Ann for her birthday. It didn't help that I went out of town and my dad took her on hour long rides 5x a day so she still expects that most of her awake time should be spent riding in this car. She climbs in it at 7am, expecting a morning walk and it is often the only thing to cure her post nap grumpy-ness.

• she is OBSESSED with Brown Bear and Polar Bear, both pronounced like "bow bear." I can be vacumming, cooking or attempting a restroom break solo and she will follow me, holding up this book saying "read it" or "uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh." I think I'll be sad when a day goes by that I don't read one of these books 25 times.
• She is also obsessed with Mack, or more specifically, with driving that poor dog nuts. I kind of figure he has it coming to him, as much as he drives me bonkers. But the way he lets her sit on him, crawl over him, pull his collar and simply licks her face in return makes me think he's earning his spot in this house.

• she is very interested in the stove and cooking. Clearly she did not come from my womb. This poses lots of issues when trying to make a home cooked meal for my family once a week. Not even baby einstein lures her to let me cook solo. "up, up" she says (sounds like upah upah) and then proceeds to blow on everything. It's cute, if inconvenient.
• We took our first trip to the aquarium a few weeks back. I don't know who was more enthralled, daddy or MK. It was a great family morning and I'm sure we'll be back soon!

• she got her first haircut 12/19/11. Her mullet was getting out of control, despite her father and memaw's love of it. How she did not get stabbed in the neck by the hairdresser, I'll never know. I should have taken photos but a) our camera died and b) it was all I could do to keep her from taking a shear to the eye. The results are cute though.

• Mary Kate's namesake, Blessed Kateri, will become a saint. (MK was due on her feast day.) Yesterday, "The Vatican announced that the Mohawk-Algonquin woman born in 1656 and known as Kateri Tekakwitha has been deemed worthy of sainthood by the Pope. Pope Benedict XVI has signed the decree recognizing a miracle performed by Kateri, and she will therefore be canonized at a ceremony sometime in the future." More here about a great lady who I loved reading about as a child, fascinated by her faith and her courage among the members of her tribe.
• Speaking of the Pope, we got the most beautiful gift from our friend, Father Tim, in Rome. We received a Papal Blessing on the occasion of both our wedding and Mary Kate's Baptism. It was a thoughtful, kind gift that took a lot of work on his part. We are blessed to have both of those holy men praying for our family!

okay, now that we are mostly caught up on my wild child love, we'll sign off. I hope your last week before Christmas is filled with joy and simply absorbing the wonder of your families.