Random update

Elise is obsessed with the Christmas tree. She never gets tired of looking at the "gee" (and trying to take off the ornaments, etc). So, every time we leave the tree, we turn off the lights and wave 'byebye'. Today, she decided to crawl out of the office (away from the tree) of her own accord, and then thought better of it. She sat up, turned halfway around, and waved byebye to the tree. Then she kept crawling into the living room. Too cute!

Tonight she got much more adventurous with her walking. Even though she can walk, she chooses to crawl or cruise unless I am within a few feet (and she's already standing). Tonight, she walked to me almost every time she was ready to leave the furniture. She also tried walking to Boss, her Mega Bloks truck, her walker, and the coffee table. This is getting scary... I hope there are no bruises in our future! Let's just say that I am very thankful for carpet right now. She's quite good at lowering herself down from a standing position if she is walking slowly. A problem arises when she gets excited about something and goes too fast. She has the best balance when she is holding something in her hands.

Tonight she also got better at communicating her needs while eating. She gets fussy a few times during every meal, and it is either because she wants "more" (and signs or says it often if her tray is empty), wants a different type of food, wants something to drink, or is finished eating. I am trying to get her to communicate without fussing. Tonight she pointed to her cup every time she was thirsty. She looked quite pleased with herself because she knew I understood her. We are making progress!

Here are a few words that she said on camera recently. Notice how excited she gets when she remembered the Christmas tree and then was able to peer around the corner to see the 'gee'. She says it twice. In the second part of the clip, she says 'buh' for book right at the beginning. This is a pretty good representation of her excitement level when it comes to books. She LOVES to read her books and isn't content to just read it once. If I close the book when I finish reading and hand it to her, she will turn and hand it back to me if she wants me to read it again. I estimate that I read anywhere from 30-50 books per day. We don't have that nearly that many books, but she has some favorites that she loves to read, and reread, and reread, etc. She will always pick out "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and "Goodnight Moon" out of her basket of books. She is starting to add a consonant to the end of some words, like "ball". Bath is getting close as well.

Favorite Words from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.