Seventeen and Change

The seventeen-month mark blew right by me last week.  Before another month goes by, here's what the wild man has been up to, in rapid-fire bullet-point style:

• He started using two-word phrases about a month ago, which initially made communication much easier.  Now he's trying to put together even more words, which rapidly turns into gibberish.  He also seems to be talking more about things that aren't right in front of him.  It was really easy when he was just identifying things as he saw them, but now I think he's often requesting things that aren't in the room, or talking about something that happened earlier, which means that sometimes (a lot of the time), we have no idea what he's talking about.  
• He is starting to understand which words and concepts go together.  For instance, if I say Izzy is taking a nap, he'll respond "doggie sleepy."  So he understands Izzy is a dog, and you take a nap when you're sleepy.  This blows my mind.
• Trucks and trains and buses, oh my.  He loves them.  It's a good thing we live in the city where we can see buses and trucks on a minute-to-minute basis.  On Sunday there was a fire truck outside a neighbor's house, so Karl took Henry outside to see.  The firemen waved to Henry and tooted the sirens for him as they left.  The kid almost died from excitement.
• He also loves shoes and necklaces.  He often occupies himself all morning while I get ready by trying on Daddy's shoes, or demanding that I get him MORE BEADS! from my jewelry shelf.  One of Karl's friends noted that it's unusual to like both loud cars and jewelry . . . unless you're a rapper.
• Henry likes to know where all of his people are.  Karl is often heading out the door when Henry and I get out of bed in the morning, and the first thing he asks when he wakes up is, "see Daddy?"  He just wants to check in and say hi before Daddy leaves the house.  Before bed he runs through his list -- "Daddy haaam?  Izzy haaaam?  RavRav bye-bye?"  And sometimes he adds "Gigi Yaya" -- after Grandma Jane visited, I explained repeatedly that she had to go home and take care of Yadi, so now he has to make sure she's safely at home with the cat.
• We're starting to set up his big-boy room.  He thinks climbing on and off the bed is great fun.  I, on the other hand, am seriously emotionally unprepared for him to be moving on from the nursery.