just shy of 17 months

...which is apparently the age at which little boys begin to think that their bodily functions are hil.a.rious. It CRACKS Lincoln up when he toots. He stops what he's doing, looks up at me, laughs - then attempts a repeat performance.

In other news, he also loves puzzles and books. My dear friend, Lauren, brought Lincoln a fruits & veggies puzzle when she came to visit and he wants to put it together every day. And, he actually CAN put it together - we were shocked. The first time we put all the pieces down he put them all right where they belong. Apparently we don't give that little guy enough credit (um, basically he's a genius). Currently his favorite book is Pekaboo Morning. Several times a day he brings it to me and sits on my lap while I read it (usually more than once). My favorite part is the page that says, "Peekaboo, I see my train" - Lincoln puts his little fist in the air and says "choo choo" - love it!

His vocabulary is exploding. He still mostly speaks Lincolnese, but it's amazing how much he's learning every day. Some of the words he uses most often are: Daddy, Mommy, Belle, good girl, bye (pronounced with a deeeeep accent (?)...more like baaaai), please, thank you, shoe, kitty, and book. He also says "no" increasingly often. We can always tell when he's about to get into something he's not supposed to because we hear a little voice saying, "no, no, no" (usually accompanied by one little finger pointing at whatever he's not supposed to be getting into).

Here are a few pictures from a recent experience with spaghetti:

Love these curls!