17 Months

Our little Leif is getting all grown up! He loves to go off and do things by himself and often runs away from me so he can go explore on his own. We have a particularly hard time with this since we don't have a fenced-in yard and Leif thinks he should go outside and wander where ever he pleases without any assistance.
 Leif's vocabulary is exploding. I think he adds at least two new words each day- although some of his words are only understandable by mom and dad or by the context of what he is doing. He mostly just uses one word at a time to describe what he wants or what he sees/is playing with, but he does use phrases occasionally- mostly "I want that" or "I want it", which I think is all one word in his mind, so he isn't actually putting phrases together yet.
Asher and Leif love to run off together and get into trouble. They go into Asher's room and tear his bed apart so they can jump on it or they dump toys all over the place. I love to hear them giggling together, but I know that always means a mess. A few times when I have gone down to check on them or stop them from their mischief Asher has told me "Go upstairs, Mom" or "We don't need you".
Leif has become quite attached to a blanket that has been in his crib all winter. I didn't notice this until we went on a trip to Idaho to visit Austin's grandparents and we brought both blankets from the crib with us to keep the boys warm on the car ride in the early morning. I gave one to Asher and one to Leif and they were both fine, but later when I accidentally switched the two around, Leif threw a fit until I gave him back the one he originally had. I have noticed since we have been back that when I get him in the morning, he is often holding onto that blanket. And to make  his attachment even more clear, I often catch him trying to pull that blanket out of his crib and wanting to carry it around with him. Austin is not pleased with this- not because he cares that Leif has something to love, but that he wants him to love a little grey goat we bought for him before he was born. Since Asher was so attached to his blue bunny "Jelly Cat", we decided to buy an animal from the same brand for Leif and Austin picked out the goat-named "Tiglio". Leif hugs and snuggles the goat, but seems to have a preference for the blanket, which Austin thinks is ugly (I think it's cute). We have usually had a pretty rigid rule that other than special occasions, animals do not come out of bed or at least the bedroom. That way they don't get dirty or lost when its time to use them for nap or bedtime. But Austin has been bending breaking this rule completely in an effort to make Leif love the goat more than the blanket. Its funny to see Austin make so much effort for the sake of a stuffed animal.
I got confused and thought yesterday was Leif;s official 17 months so I took some pictures of him playing and enjoying an orange during his cousin's soccer game. I don't really want to redo them, so close enough:

Easter

Easter was pretty low-key for us. The boys aren't really old enough to care about an Easter bunny, so skipped all of that and just let them have an egg hunt at grandma and grandpa's house in the evening with their cousins. We did try to get some pictures of the boys all dressed up for church this morning, but they weren't all that cooperative and we needed to get Leif down for his nap so he wouldn't melt down at church. As always, taking pictures of one kid is hard, but trying to get both of them to look and not have a goofy face is almost impossible.

This can also count as Asher's monthly update. His official 33 months was yesterday, but we had a pretty busy Saturday and I forgot to take pictures. He hasn't really changed much since last month. He is still the same spunky kid. I guess he has started to be a little more bossy in the last few weeks or so. He always tells me "I want this" or "I want that" without saying please or listening to me when I say no. He is also starting to test his limits more with Leif and will randomly push him over or hit him for no reason. I guess he is just figuring out what Leif/parents will and will not tolerate. The bad thing is that even though Leif can be pretty whiney if things aren't just his way, he can also be really mellow and a lot of times he doesn't care at all if Asher steals something from him or pushes him, so Asher thinks he can get away with it. They do get along well most of the time though, so I'm sure they will figure it out themselves.