First sentence and other cute things...

Tonight Elise said her first sentence! We were reading books on the couch when she decided to get up and play with some toys that were on the floor. After a few minutes, she walked back over to the couch, looked at me, turned halfway around, waved and said "Bye, Mama!" Then she continued walking away from me into her room to get another book.

While I am at it, I might as well tell you some other cute things that she has done in the last 2-3 weeks. I started writing things down on a sticky note so that I would remember to tell Mike. I think the grandparents would probably like to know these things as well. The rest of you can tune out if you want :)

*A few weeks ago, she started walking up to doors and waving and saying "Bye!"

*She will give her sock monkey, baby doll, and stuffed animals hugs on command. Sometimes she will give me a hug when I ask.

*We were in the living room and I said "Let's change your diaper!" and she walked into her room. When I got in there, she was sitting on the changing pad (which is on the floor).

*I keep her shoes on the dryer so that they are easily accessible when we leave the house. She brought me one of my shoes and then went into the laundry room to grunt and point at her shoes.

*She holds her toy phone up to her ear (basically she just lays it on her shoulder as I would do if I had to use both of my hands for something else. That happens a lot in my household).

*She will bring me books on command. If I ask her if she wants to read another book, she will go get another one and bring it to me, even if it is in the other room.

*She tries to put my shoes on her feet.

*Before she could walk, she liked to crawl under the dining room table. I knew she was getting taller when she couldn't stand up straight underneath it anymore. Well, after a few head bumps, she has finally learned what "watch out" and "be careful" mean. She was about to stand up under the edge of the table when I said, "Watch out, you are going to bump your head!". She twisted her head around to look up, and then bear-walked forward a few inches, looked up again, moved a few more inches and successfully stood up. We haven't had any head bumps since then.

*She knows a bunch of her body parts and likes to point them out on herself or others. Nose has been a favorite for a long time but head, belly button, and knees are gaining in popularity.

*She has been sick this week and I gave her Tylenol several times. She wanted to walk around the house with the Tylenol. She was in the living room and I asked her "Can you roll the Tylenol?" and she walked over to the coffee table, put the Tylenol on its side, and pushed it. We used to roll a cylindrical block but hadn't done it in at least 3 weeks. I was really surprised that she remembered the concept.

*We were in the living room talking about ears and she walked into the front room and made a beeline to the crinkly ears on her rocking horse.

*She will bring me just about anything on command "Can you bring Mama your pajamas/letters/ball/books/substitute any toy in here", even if it is in the other room and even if it is in a spot that is unusual. For example, she was playing with a spoon and left it on the living room floor. I was trying to vacuum her room and she was playing with the cord, so I asked her to go get her spoon. She went back into the living room and brought it to me.

*She doesn't mind getting dressed as much as she used to because she likes to help. She likes to carry her clothes around the house and tries to put them on her head. If I help and put a shirt over her head (not through the arms), she likes to take it off. This will be interesting in the future.

*She is beginning to learn boundaries for things that she isn't supposed to touch. The Swiffer in the laundry room is quite the attraction. She now walks in the laundry room and points at it instead of touching it. It only took me 2-3 times of saying "uh oh" and removing her from the situation for her to understand. This is from the book "Love and Logic for Early Childhood" (I am not sure how to underline in a blog). She likes to carry her shoes around (if they were not put out of reach on the dryer) and inevitably sticks the strap in her mouth. As soon as I say "uh oh!" she takes it shoe out of her mouth and hands it to me. Another strategy I have been using is the "that's for Mama" or "that's for Boss" to let her know that she cannot have something. Most of the time it works great without a fit.

*She has more control of her voice and now says "bah-ha" for Boss (imagine a southern accent, ha!). A stranger could hear her say "hi!" or "bye!" and know exactly what she is saying.

*She pets Boss gently now. If I am petting Boss, she will walk over and pet him and then pet me, haha.

*She can identify so many objects in her books. Her two favorite books right now aren't stories... just books that have a picture and the word together. I need to take a video of her pointing to different pictures. She says some words when looking at the pictures, like "banana" (nanana), "baby", "ball", etc. She also uses these words in public. It is hard for us to go past the bananas at HEB because she wants one right then and says nanana nanana for a few aisles!

*She giggles when she has communicated successfully with me (like when she makes the "milk" sign and gets milk, or walks over to the high chair and points at it and gets food, etc).

*Today we also got our first fire ant bites (seriously??? that is one thing I will be glad to move away from) and yesterday she tried a little cow's milk for the first time. She loved it! I plan to give her a few ounces every day for a while and see how it goes.

I think that's enough about my sweet baby girl. Hopefully she wakes up tomorrow and can breathe normally. My cold lasted about 4 days and hers has too :(