11 months and one week

I realize that this blog is all about Elise. If you get tired of reading about Elise, you can skip this post and we will still be friends. Her first week of being 11 months old has been a big one, so I have to give Mike and the grandparents a quick update. Stay tuned for Christmas Part 2.

Since she started walking on Sunday, she's really enjoyed practicing her balance and taking steps, but she doesn't want to venture out in the middle of the room by herself. She likes to have someone to walk from and walk to... a slight problem considering that I have to be the "from" and the "to". We make it work though... I stand her up (facing me) and back several feet away and she walks towards me. She gets really excited when she reaches her destination (me). She demonstrated her walking skills for Mike on the webcam today.

On our Christmas trip to Austin she cut 2 new bottom teeth, so now we are up to 7. The 4th top tooth is looking VERY close. She's also been practicing her words. Here is an updated word list (of words that she uses correctly without repeating the word after me) for Mike and the grandparents:

hi
byebye
look
book
puppy
boss
bath
mama
daddy
bell (for the bells in the kitchen at my parents' house)
ball
pop (my dad)
Christmas tree (it comes out in 2 syllables)
dance (a new one today!)
picture (a new one today!)

Here are few cute things that she does:
-rock herself while sitting in her mini rocking chair
-plays peekaboo where she goes behind a door and then peeks around
-picks up boss' rawhide off the floor and holds it out to him saying "boss"
-hands me books to read
-tries to put bows back on her head, ornaments back on the tree, magnets back on the fridge, blocks back in a stack, etc... still working on those fine motor skills :)
-walks to mommy or crawls/climbs on mommy for a hug
-can identify all her toys by name (she either points to or goes to them)
-she loves to be surprised
-she notices when things are odd (like if I put a cup on my head) and thinks it is hilarious
-she speeds up when she is crawling or cruising and I say "I'm gonna get you!" and giggles uncontrollably when she gets caught

This week we are working on saying/signing eat, drink, more, and all done. She gets fussy when her tray is empty and when she is thirsty, and I would like her to communicate with me other than fussing. I gave her a spoon today to see if she would feed herself. I prepared some cereal and put it on her tray. She let me feed her a few bites from the spoon, and then I tried to show her how to get some cereal on the spoon and then put it in her mouth. Instead, she decided to hold the spoon in one hand and eat the cereal with the other. Needless to say, she got a "bah" right after lunch.

On a sad note, the Leapfrog table was retired this week. I found out recently that it contains high levels of a heavy metal and is not considered safe. I'm sorry if you bought it based on my recommendation. I have contacted Leapfrog to see if they will give me a refund. If you are interested, look here.



I will post some videos later!

3 short videos

Where does your bow go? from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.

Fun with the Fridge Farm from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.

Peekaboo from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.

Walking

Elise has been practicing her walking big time over the last few days... and tonight she took 36ish steps! Here is a short video with about 12 steps. After this video was taken, she figured out how to take a few steps, pause, then take a few more steps, and pause until she got to what she was after. I can't believe she is getting so big!

Elise walking from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.

Christmas Part 1

Elise and I traveled to Austin to spend a few days with my family and Mike's family. On Wednesday, I went with Kara and Jennifer to buy the bridesmaid dresses for Kara and Ben's wedding in May. They are so pretty! I'm excited to wear it (and I will definitely wear it again!).

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents and grandparents and Elise got to open her very first present from my grandparents. It was a little house by Haba and she loves it! There are little finger puppets that fit inside as well as a wooden person with a little wooden car. It is a really cool toy and she will enjoy playing with it for a long time.

The camera caught this toy in midair...

This morning we celebrated Christmas with my parents and brother. Elise had a lot of fun with some new toys and a set of wind chimes! She LOVES the wind chimes on their back porch and always points to them when she is outside. She gets a sheer look of delight on her face when she hears them.

Looking at the tree

Come on in!!!

Mega Bloks wagon from Mimi and Pop. There is a little bus that goes with it, too!

More Mega Bloks from Bryan

Bear from Mimi and Pop

Some stocking toys

Then we headed to Lockhart to see my dad's side of the family for lunch. Tonight we are going to have dinner with Mike's family. We are saving our family and Mike's family Christmas celebration for January when Mike is here. I have already picked out the toys that we/Santa are going to give Elise and I am so excited to see her open them after he gets home.

She's been practicing her walking and talking over the last few days. Today she took several steps in front of the crowd (twice!) at my grandma's house and received much praise in return. She LOVES to point at things and I usually say something like "look, there's the ____" when she does it. At the Christmas Eve church service last night, she pointed to a tree and said "look!" We will add that to the word list. She has repeated 'tay' or 'table' several times but hasn't said it yet without repeating after someone else. I haven't been counting something as a word until she's used it a few times without me saying it first (does that make sense?). She did another cute thing this morning in the bath tub. She was holding a few of the cups from these bath toys:

http://www.amazon.com/Munchkin-Bath-Toy-2d-Caterpillar/dp/B000V9A2S0/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1261779251&sr=1-9

One of them has a little spinner in the cup. She was holding it and I asked her to spin the cup, and since she had cups in both hands, she placed the cup in the water and took her little finger and started spinning it. So cute!


I am looking forward to starting some Christmas traditions with our little family next month. What are your favorite family traditions?

Happy 11 months!

I can't believe my sweet girl is one month away from turning 1! This is great news though, because that also means that Mike will be here in less than a month. I am so anxious for him to get to play with his baby-for-just-a-little-longer girl. We are looking forward to a lot of time at home with our little family.

Here is a little 11 month summary for my baby book (that only has 4 months done, yikes!). Elise...

-weighs somewhere between 23-24 lbs and measures about 31 inches tall.

-says several words consistently (without me saying them first)... mama, daddy, book, boss, puppy, bath, and ball. The other day in the car I was watching her in the rearview mirror and she held up the book with Mike's picture and said "daddy". it was so cute!

-tries to repeat lots of words

-LOVES to read books. I keep a basket of books under her nightstand and we read several books in the morning after she nurses. As soon as she is finished, she starts saying "buh" or "ook" for book.

-has 5 teeth (3 on top, 2 on bottom). She is working on her molars.

-enjoys riding in the car. I rotate the toy that she plays with every time we get in the car. Her favorite car toys are Freddy the Firefly (Lamaze), Sophie the Giraffe, Stretch the Giraffe (Lamaze), her plastic keys, and an ice cube in a mesh feeder when she is teething. In a pinch, I just stick my hand in the backseat to give her a water bottle and she's happy.

-loves to explore the house... especially the kitchen. She loves to push and pull the dining room chairs around. I am convinced that she and Boss have teamed up against me because she pulls the chairs out so that he can climb on the table to search for crumbs.

-is beginning to learn how to walk. Tonight she took 4 steps from the coffee table to me.

-hates to have her diaper or clothes changed. I have a few toys that I rotate during diaper changes and that seems to help. The toothbrush, the Haba Max toy or the Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes usually work, but sometimes I still end up putting her diaper on while she is crawling or standing. Thank goodness for snaps on the cloth diapers!

-knows all of her toys and major things in the house by name. If I say "Where's your walker?" she will crawl over to it, pull up, and start walking with a big smile. The "Where's the..." game is a great distraction if she gets upset because I took something away or moved her away from something.

-likes to hand me toys or food. I use the word 'share'. We'll see how long this lasts!

-tries to stack things, put things back together, play with the shape sorter, model my actions (put the ball in the cup, etc).

-eats 2 meals of all finger foods. She still won't eat from a spoon if I try to feed her. I just ordered her some toddler spoons and I think she is ready to learn how to eat with them. She holds her own straw cup. She likes pretty much everything... fruits, vegetables, meats, cheese and beans. I haven't really introduced grains. I gave her half of a half of a bagel yesterday and she loved it! She starts clapping when she is done eating. I think I need to teach her 'all done'!

-loves to dance and rock (sway back and forth or push the glider, depending on what room she is in. It is kinda funny because she doesn't even like to be rocked.)

-has a slightly different sleeping/eating schedule. With a new tooth, two growth spurts, teething, and 2 bouts of sickness in the month of November and early December, she got in the habit of eating in the middle of the night (not good!). I finally decided to let her cry it out at night last week. I never had to do that before but I had been praying for wisdom about the situation and decided it was time. I finally came to the realization that, yes, she was hungry, but no, I couldn't feed her or else the cycle would just continue. She wasn't sick any more... she was waking out of habit. I decided not to go in her room at all. She woke up 2 times and cried off and on for 20-30 minutes before falling back asleep. The next day, she didn't get distracted while she was nursing like she had been in the afternoon feedings. She slept 12 hours straight the next night and all of the nights since then. It has been about a week. I couldn't really do the cry it out sooner because of the growth spurt, teething, and sickness, and I was pleasantly surprised that it only took one night for her to get back on track. I decided to nix the breakfast meal because she never ate much and still goes down for her morning nap early. If she starts waking early from that nap, I will add breakfast. She is very, very, very easy to put down for a nap or at night. I can't remember the last time she fussed at any of these times. She knows when it is time and she actually reaches for her crib. I think I am going to teach her the sign for sleep.

So, if you are curious, the schedule is:

8:00- wake up/nurse/read books/play in the living room (we are pretty slow-moving in the morning unless we have a playdate... sometimes we jog if the weather is nice)

10:00 to 11:30- nap

11:30-wake/nurse/independent playtime in the big pack and play with her new Wonder Dice toys.

12:00-lunch (She gets 2-3 different things and water in her straw cup. She eats either steamed veggies, fruit, cheese, beans, meat, etc. I try to do at least 1 fruit, 1 veggie, and 1 protein every day. I don't know what I would do without my Babycook. It is awesome.)

12:30 to 2:00-talk to Mike when he gets back from work/play

2:00 to 3:30-nap

3:30-wake/nurse/play/go for a walk or run errands if necessary (of course the early evening is the worst time to go to the store... oh well!)

5:30 or 6-dinner (She gets 2-3 different things and 4-5 oz of thawed pumped milk in her straw cup.)

6 to 7:30-play

7:30-bath/nurse/in bed by 8

So there you have it!


I also have a few cute stories. We were driving in the car the other day and stopped at a light. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw her hold up her picture book with Mike's picture and say "Daddy". So cute!

Tonight I was trying to cut her nails. This is always a battle. I usually do it while someone else is at the house to distract her, but Boss wasn't being helpful. I turned on the Baby Einstein First Signs DVD. This is the only baby dvd that I own right now (and we've only turned it on a few times to cut nails. I'm not a fan of babies watching TV until they can communicate and interact with you while they are watching.) Anyway, Elise was fascinated with it tonight. She was so interested that we kept watching it together after I finished her nails. When a girl and a beach ball came on the screen she immediately pointed to the TV and said 'bah' for ball. She did the same thing later for baby. Eventually, she crawled over to the entertainment stand and pulled up to get a closer view. When 'milk' was being discussed, she got really upset for a few seconds, then got down and crawled over to me because she wanted milk. It was about 30 minutes before she would normally nurse. She started clapping when they talked about the sign for 'eat'. A few minutes later, she got bored and decided to go play with her toys. I was pretty impressed though. I think she understands waaaaay more than I know.

I am impressed that you made it to the end of a really long and really disorganized post. I'm not even going to reread it to make sure it sounds right. I just wanted to get this typed before Christmas. Time for bed!

Santa

Well Elise went with John to visit Santa today at Avery Ranch. She was not impressed at all and tried to escape.




She and John also had a little photo shoot outside before they met Santa. This was the first time I have used my new camera outside, and I think the photo quality is excellent. Unfortunately, Elise didn't think that was worthy of looking at the camera. Oh well :)

"Mom, how can I possibly look at the camera when there are all these leaves to eat??"


Leaves are so yummy...


"Pick me up, Mimi!"


John obliged and looked right at me for a few pictures.


They look like twins here!



Playing with mommy outside... AFTER the whole Santa incident.

Yes, I know I'm cute

I think she will wear this outfit for her Valentine date with John... I just bought it and the onesie sleeves fit perfectly. Most of the 18-24 month tops are a little long in the sleeves, but these fit great. She's also into size 5 shoes. These silver shoes were passed along from Brooke, and I just bought her some size 5 Stride Rite brown shoes at Marshalls for $16 (they are originally $40-50!). Hopefully they will last for a few months!

Go to Old Navy...

They have coupons at the store for 20% off the purchase of gift cards from December 18-24. Old Navy gift cards can also be used at Gap. I buy almost all of Elise's clothes at BabyGap and I have found that the quality is better than the other brands of clothes that she has worn. Of course, I also wait for the clothes to go on sale (and then get marked down again...). Happy shopping!

All over the place

Elise loves to explore the house. She can identify so many things if I say the word... like "crib", "table", "stocking", etc. She tries to repeat a lot of the words, but it comes out pretty garbled. Today she tried to say "stocking" and "Elise"... it was pretty funny. I can ask her where something is and she'll point to it or crawl to it or pick it up. She has been saying "hi" or "iiiiii" more (while waving to me or Boss) and "buh" for "book" quite often. She has taken 3 steps a few times, but she can't stand alone well so she just drops to her knees. She has started to push her walker with just one hand. If I ask her to "dance" she will bounce up and down, and if I ask her to "rock" she will sway back and forth (or push the glider, depending on which room she is in).

Her 5th tooth FINALLY popped through today. She was a little cranky last night and this explains it. It has looked very close for at least a month. She's about 95% back to normal from all of the sickness and is finally back to sleeping 12 hours straight without waking up. I had to do a little "sleep training" to make that happen. Previously when we would hit a growth spurt, teething, etc, she would revert right back to normal when it was all over. So much has happened in the last month and a half with developmental milestones, teething, two rounds of being sick AND two growth spurts that I had to do a little "intervention" of my own. She is still napping well with no sign of decreasing her amount of sleep. She usually wakes between 8 and 8:30, takes her first nap at 10, her second nap at 2, and goes to sleep around 8. We went back to nursing 5 times a day since she was adding a 5th one at night when I tried to drop it to 4. I decided to just continue this until she is a year old and then offer her milk to replace one or two of the nursing sessions.

I am working on editing a video that shows some funny stuff. In the meantime, here are some pictures from today.

These chairs were pushed under the table before she got to them... she actually holds the back of a chair and walks backwards. It makes me really nervous, so I stand right behind her.



She loves to play with the laundry when I am folding piles or putting it in the washer.


She also loves the bathroom. I try to remember to keep the door closed. I regret my decision to add knobs to these cabinets a few years ago. I think she has learned "open" and "close" from them though!


She still loves to play with Boss and giggles hysterically when she tries to chase him. He is such a tease. He will stop and wait for her to get close and then take off again.


He jumped off the couch and she had to follow...

Favorite toys of a mobile baby

Well Elise has been creeping or crawling for almost 3 months now so I thought I would blog about her favorite toys. Click on the link to see the toy on amazon.com. I have become obsessed with checking reviews on amazon before I buy something. I like to rotate her toys so that she doesn't see them all the time.

Toys for Now

Leapfrog Learn and Groove Musical Table
This is a wonderful toy that she has loved from the beginning. I think we started using it when she was 6 or 7 months old. She loved to stand holding onto it, then cruise around it, then pull up on it, then get down from it, etc. She will enjoy this for a long time.

Leapfrog Fridge Farm

This is a great toy to play with in the kitchen. She loves to take the magnets off the fridge and press the button that plays a song. She is just now starting to try to put the magnets back on the fridge. Eventually it will be a matching game for her. This toy will also last a long time. I wouldn't recommend it until your baby is crawling or a VERY good sitter... you don't want him/her to fall when they are sitting on the tile! The magnets also work on my dishwasher. Elise follows me around the house, and this is a wonderful toy for her to play with while I cook or do dishes.

Chicco Activity Baby Walker

I think I got this for her after she had been cruising for a few weeks. I had previously bought and returned two other walkers because they would fall out from under her. This one has a nice wide base and is sturdy enough for her to pull up on without me holding it down. The toys on the front are an added bonus. She is just now getting interested in her shape sorters, so this is a great 2-in-1 toy. She likes to put the balls in the hole at the top (it lights up and plays music) and play with the sides.

Baby Einstein Animal Exploration Tunnel

I bought this on clearance at Walmart this summer for $15. I have seen it at Babies R Us for $40-$50. She loves to crawl through it, sit in it and play with toys, and play peekaboo with the mesh flaps. I think she will like playing with the tunnel for a long time. It folds up and stores easily in a box.

Fisher Price Brilliant Basics Shape Sorter

She has played with this toy for several months. She loves to take things out of buckets, boxes, baskets, etc, and really enjoyed emptying the box of the shapes. Now she is showing an interest in putting the shapes back in the box. She can only put the circle through right now, but she tries to get the other ones through. I think this will be interesting for a while. Other shape sorters might be better, but this is inexpensive and enjoyable.

Discovery Toys Measure Up Cups

These cups will always attract Elise's attention. We have had them for months. She loved them when she was learning to sit and would reach for them. She loves to crawl after them and pull up to get them on a table. She loves to knock towers down, pull cups out of the nesting position, and is now starting to try to stack them herself. These will last for a long time.

Sophie the Giraffe Teether

Elise still loves to play with this toy. She squeaks it and chews on it. I keep it in the car because Boss also likes to squeak it and chew on it. Amazon has a really good price on it right now!

Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo

Well, this toy was a major hit in the 4-9 month range but she still loves to play in it at nearly 11 months old, so I have to mention it again. I don't use it very often because I want it to be a novelty for the times that I need to confine her. If you have a younger child and don't have one of these, you need to buy one!

Graco Pack n Play Bugs Quilt

This is Elise's other place of confinement. We do independent playtime here. She enjoys playing with the toys on the sides. I recently bought her some soft toys to use while she plays in here. Now that she likes to stand in the pack n play, I am paranoid about leaving hard toys in there! My mom originally bought this to use at her house but has graciously let me keep it here. Thanks, Mom!

Elise is really starting to love books now. They hold her attention and she loves to turn the pages (in the board books). Her favorites right now are Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Goodnight Moon.


Toys for the Future

For the last few months I have been asking moms about toys that their 12-24 month children enjoy and then making myself a little wish list. I have been eyeing a bunch of bigger toys for a while and recently found some GREAT prices on a few items from the Baby Cheapskate blog. I could give them to her now and she would love them, but I am going to wait until her birthday for the wagon (since she already has a walker) and a rainy day in the spring for the farmhouse. December is such a great time for toy deals and I will plan to take advantage of that every year.

Radio Flyer Walker Wagon - I got this for $40 and free shipping on target.com last week! It is so cute and will be a fun walker. I also plan to use it to store toys.

Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Learning Farm - I got this for $40 and free shipping on target.com last week! I had wanted the Learning Home instead, but couldn't pass up the $40 for the farm.

Radio Flyer Scoot About Trike - I also got this for $20 and free shipping on target.com last week. I am planning to give this to her in the summer.

Step 2 Push Around Buggy - A friend gave this to me for a baby gift for the future because her children enjoyed it so much. It is still in the attic but when we get it out this summer, it will be a lot of fun!

Manhattan Toy Snuggle Pod - This is going to be Elise's first doll. I wanted something soft and small and this is SO cute in person. We are going to give it to her for her birthday.

Mega Bloks Fill and Dump Wagon - My mom found this toy and is giving it to Elise for Christmas. She will love playing with the blocks and pushing/pulling the wagon. I think this is a great first birthday gift!

Haba Toys - I am in love with a lot of these Haba toys! They are a little pricey so I have only gotten a few of them. She is going to get the Wonder Dice from Santa in her stocking. This will be a perfect soft toy for her independent playtime. She is getting several from other family members for Christmas. I will be sure to blog about them later!

Here are some outdoor toys that I am eyeing for next summer (around 18 months)... it is SO tempting to buy everything now but I will resist! The free super saver shipping gets me every time!
Step 2 Waterwheel Activity Play Table
Step 2 Naturally Playful Sand Table
Little Tikes EasyHit Golf Set

If you have children, I would love to hear about their favorite toys!

Happy Birthday, Mike!

Elise has a little message that she wrote for you today. We've been working on her capital letters and so far she is doing very well. We love you so much!

Elise dancing

Well Elise has discovered her inner dancer. She definitely doesn't get this from me :)

Untitled from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.

Elise and John reading from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.

She has also been making a little progress with walking. Sometimes she will take a step or two and then fall down on her knees and start crawling. Other times she will lower herself to her knees without taking a step OR just fall in whatever direction she is leaning.

I found this Baby Einstein tunnel on clearance at Walmart for $15 a few months ago. I think it sells at Babies R Us for $50. I keep it in her closet and get it out every now and then. She has a lot of fun crawling through it, sitting in it, and making it roll over.

Kindermusik

We had our first Kindermusik class tonight with Sarah and John. The kiddos loved it! We are doing a set of four Christmas classes. Elise was SO excited to be there and had a blast exploring the room, dancing with the music, and playing with the "instruments". She quite the vocal and enthusiastic participant. Afterwards, she took John's rice cracker right out of his hand while he was eating it. John's mom was nice enough to offer her one of her own. I think she learned this trick from Boss.





So far, I have only used my camera on auto mode, but I am really pleased with the results. One of these days I will take the same picture with both cameras so that you can see the difference. It is so nice to catch Elise in action without blurry body parts!

New camera

Mike and I decided to get a new camera for Christmas this year. I patiently waited until Cyber Monday to order the Canon Digital Rebel XSi and scored a free case, memory card, lens cleaner, and screen protector. The price of the camera dropped about $50 in the last two weeks of November, woohoo! I wanted to get a DSLR camera so that I would be able to take better indoor pictures and better pictures of Elise in action. Since she is so mobile, I inevitably get a blurred hand, head, foot, etc, in a lot of pictures. It arrived today and I decided to snap a few pictures of Elise before bedtime. The shutter speed is very fast and the pictures turned out very nicely for the setting. It was already dark outside and I just had the overhead light on in her room. I didn't experiment with Photoshop or any settings on the camera other than "Auto". I think the picture quality is wonderful!