17 Month Tidbits

• Natalie now knows a handful of color words, understands that they are related to each other, and can say them with pretty good clarity. She has NO IDEA what color each word represents, but will cheerfully offer one up whenever asked to identify a hue.
• She has started walking on her toes from time to time. It's adorable.
• She's discovered the joy of dipping. She will eat unadorned carrots quite happily, and has no interest in french fries (is she really biologically related to me?), but if she spies a bottle of ranch dressing or ketchup, she is possessed by a frenzied desire to have some on her plate to dip things into. Often her fingers. Or her tongue. When she can be persuaded to use a vegetable or fry, she sees no need to eat the dip vehicle, either. She's a double dipper, all right.
• Whoever said that nonviolent resistance techniques were learned from toddlers was spot on. Natalie has a wide variety of resistance moves, and employs them very frequently these days. She's a skilled practitioner of going limp - she turns her entire body, even the bones, to jello instantaneously. At the other end of the spectrum, she's recently started experimenting with arching her back and forming a rigid arch. This is of course a favorite when we're trying to get her in the carseat. But my favorite response is wide-eyed innocence. When given a choice between two alternatives she does not want, Natalie usually looks back with big eyes and says "No" or names a third choice the moms are not offering. It's as if to say, Look at sweet li'l me. How could you persist in pushing those horrid options? It doesn't work, but it amuses the hell out of me.
  
• She continues to be absolutely in love with Banjo Man at the local Farmers Market. Each Sunday, one of us sits with her as she listens, dances, and draws with sidewalk chalk, while the other negotiates the crowds and picks out produce. Today, we sang for most of the walk from the Co-op to the market, and talked and talked about "Man-na" (her name for Banjo Man)*. As we approached his usual spot, we were horrified to see that he was.not.there. Natalie half-heartedly watched the juggler instead, but turned to me every now and then to ask, "Man-na?" Or she would scratch at the sidewalk and say "daw?" She managed to hold the outright hysteria back until we were close to leaving the market anyway. I sincerely hope he returns next weekend.
• When does walking really fast become running? I can't decide if what I've seen is real running or just really really fast walking.
• Her climbing skills are definitely growing. Last weekend at the playground, she went down a slide, turned around, and climbed back up it. This weekend she pretty fearlessly scampered about on equipment meant for 4 and ups. The thing is, we have to pry her out of the swings to get her to do this. Swinging is better than almost anything in the world.

*Not to be confused with "ma-nah, doo doo doo"