17 months

Hard to believe Camden is already 17 months old!  Though it's also hard to believe she's not even a year and a half yet, with how grown up she seems.

Her favorite words are:

• Far too many to list, but she can now say just about anything we ask her to.. including "hap brday momma" and "facebook"
• She just recently started saying "mommy" instead of "momma".. Char loves it :)
• "GG" (Great Grandma), which actually comes out as"ng ng"
• "Dow Ma" and "Dow Pa" (Grandma and Grandpa)
• "James".. our friend who she is apparently in love with 
• "Baby".. which she says in German pronunciation
• Something like "avo gobbo gobbbo" which actually means "If you throw a pig a party" (see "likes" below)
• "Backpack".. which she always wants to put on when she sees it
• "Neue Neue" (German for "New New") when she wants a diaper change.. because daddy says "Neue Windel" ("New diaper")
• "Bye bye".. which she either says as a "see you later", or because she wants something to go away (as in "bye bye wa wa" when the ocean waves scared her and she wanted off of the beach asap).. she used this on the nurse today.. wonder if she meant "see ya" or "go away"..?

She likes:

• (LOVES!) water.. ever since seeing the ocean and being afraid of the waves, she's obsessed with water.. rivers, lakes, puddles.. you name it
• (LOVES / is obsessed with) shoes..  she likes to run off into our closet because mommy made a shelf on our shoe rack just for Cami's shoes, where she can pick out her faves and proudly show them to momma and dadda
• (LOVES) babies babies babies.. carrying them.. pushing them around in her stroller.. taking their diapers off (and asking momma or dadda to put it back on)
• Reading books (or more appropriately having books read to her).. her favorite seems to be "If You Give a Pig a Party"
• Trying to climb the bookshelf to get to her favorite books (see previous point), all the while saying "avo gabbo gabbo, avo gabbo gabbo"
• Kissing the characters in her books, like the baby from "Counting Kisses" (which used to be her favorite book until she realized it always meant she was about to go to bed) and Dora the chicken from "Dora's Eggs" when the chicken is crying because her eggs cracked
• Giving hugs and snuggling with those she loves
• Her daycare buddies - Stella, Max, and Micah ("babies")
• Her doggies - Gus and Nessie.. leaning on Gus, sitting on their beds..
• People watching.. especially kids and babies
• Cooking in her play kitchen.. she "cooks" up pretty much anything that will fit into her little pots and pans, stirring vigorously with her plastic slotted spoon
• Feeding herself.. and making a big mess.. the messier the better (for her and for the dogs, who are the official floor cleanup crew)
• Drinking out of a cup or with a straw all by herself
• Cleaning her dirty hands by rubbing them all over her shirt/dress/etc.. "someone" taught her that.. you know who you are ;)
• Playing with her mommy-made play-dough which she calls "balla" because mommy showed her you can make it into a ball
• Walking all by herself.. and especially with her backpack on
• Dancing or shaking her head side to side to music
• Playing piano or watching mommy play piano
• Brushing her teeth or combing her hair when mommy is doing the same

She does NOT like:

• Any tools the doctors or nurses try to use on her.. stethoscopes, needles, tongue depressors, ear checkers, thermometers, etc..
• Eating her own food if it is different from what momma and dadda are eating
• Sitting still or doing any one thing for very long
• Having her face cleaned
• Having her nose cleaned (hmm.. no change in these last two since our post at 9 months)