Elise turned 20 months old last week. I started this post a while ago but since I'm up with allergies for the second night in a row I decided to finish it tonight (make that this morning?). Maybe next month I will actually finish the post on the 23rd.
She is at such a fun age right now. She is generally very happy and playful. She continues to talk and talk and talk. Most of the time, we can rationalize with her. She understands what is hers and what is not and accepts it. If she wants something that she can't have (or can't have at the moment), she generally accepts the "we'll have a snack when we get home" or "we'll have some more milk at home" or "that's daddy's food" or "we'll eat lunch in a little while" or "you already had an orange for breakfast, so we'll wait and have another orange tomorrow" or "we'll go to the park tomorrow" or "finish your ___ first, and then you can eat ___" or "we might see another ___ later" (if she sees a school bus, airplane, helicopter, etc and immediately wants to see "another one!"). If she gets upset about something, it is usually that she wants to be picked up while I am making dinner or doing something that requires both of my hands.
Highlights of this month:
*says a ton of 3-4 word subject-verb sentences (like "Mama peel orange", "Elise did it", "Mama go get it", "Mama pet Boss", etc
*counts to 10 (we like to count pieces of food in the high chair and she especially likes to alternate saying the numbers with us)
*often uses a fork at mealtimes, though not exclusively
*is starting to get a little bossy! She has been "ordering" Boss around for a few months (by saying "down here, Boss", "right here, Boss", or "come play, Boss" and now she is doing the same thing with us
*memorized a lot of her books and constantly surprises us by what she remembers. If you start reading and pause, she will fill in the next word, phrase, or sentence. Sometimes she will even turn to a page and tell you what it says without you saying anything at all. The other day, she opened "Moo, Baa, La La La" and read the first three pages without me doing anything.
*knows the name of her books by looking at the cover or looking at the spine (when the books are in the bookshelf)
*often plays with duplos, tea set/dishes, books, crayons, and purses
*loves to pray at mealtimes and before bed... sometimes will ask you to pray and always asks you to "pay again!" when you are finished
*often says "please mama" and "thank you mama" without being prompted
*likes to "sing" along with songs from her learning home or from the radio in the car
*immediately recognizes many places and says the name as soon as we drive past it or into the parking lot (like HEB, Walmart, Gap (the mall, haha), Starbucks, church, home, Mark and Ali's house, Mimi's house, Gram's house, etc)
Sleeping
Elise is still a GREAT sleeper. Right now she goes to bed around 7:30 and usually wakes up around 8:15 or 8:30. I usually let her talk happily in her crib for another 15-20 minutes. She has been going down for a nap between 12:45-1 and sleeping for 2-3 hours. If she wakes up crying (which rarely happens), I will go in there, read her a book, and tell her it is time to go back to sleep. She'll either fall back asleep or just lay there and eventually start talking to herself.
Nursery
She is doing very well in the church nursery for 2 services (from approximately 9:25-12:10). We weren't sure how this was going to work out since she used to eat lunch around 11:30 and take a nap around 12, but I slowly pushed all of this back and she has been doing great. Several of our friends have worked in her class and say that she is super quiet. Last week, the workers from 2nd hour said that she had been talking a lot and seemed surprised by all of the words that she says. I was excited to hear that she is getting more talkative in there. There are usually fewer kids in there for the second service so maybe she feels more comfortable in a smaller group. I am hoping to start a mother's day out program with her when we get settled in Alabama and I think she will love it.
Behavior
She is very good about not getting into things that she isn't supposed to. I have never walked into a room and found a big mess. She just doesn't get into things that aren't hers. She also does well at other houses that are not babyproofed. I think she's going to be a neat child. She is very bothered by seeing trash on the floor (or ground outside, etc) and hates having messy hands. She asks for us to wipe her hands several times during a meal. She still behaves very well in the car, in the stroller, in the high chair, and during errands.
Eating
She is still a good eater. I think she has been going through a growth spurt because she has been eating constantly for several days in a row. Last night, she claimed that she was hungry just before bedtime. I heated up some frozen peas and carrots and she devoured them and then asked for "more peas carrots?" What a yummy bedtime snack! Haha. She is very reluctant to try new things, especially things that are mixed together and cooked (for example, this week she has rejected spaghetti and enchiladas). However, she will eat most vegetables, all fruits, cheese, beans, and most meat.
A few funny things that she's done this month...
A few weeks ago, we were reading an alphabet book that pairs letters with animals. I got to the J page and said "J is for...." and she excitedly said "John John!" I'm not sure where she picked this up, but it was pretty funny. To this day, she still equates "J" with "John John".
One day, I was making dinner and she climbed up on the couch. She triumphantly shouted "Elise did it!" followed immediately by "Elise sit down! Elise sit down!" I guess she had heard that before :)
She looooves her grandparents and could care less if Mike and I leave while she is with any of them. Recently, my mom was playing with her and Mike and I walked into the room. She looked up and said "Bye Daddy! Bye Mommy!"
So, I know I promised pictures last month and it still hasn't happened... I do think it is highly likely that I will post some pictures as my next post. Please forgive me! In other news, it looks like we have a buyer for our house! We're still negotiating but we expect to go to the title company with the buyer next week to start the process. Please pray that God's hand would be on this process and that it would work out as He intends. We would love to close within the next few weeks and then rent the house back until mid-November. Have a great day!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
19 months of Elise
August has been a very fun month for us! After we returned from Lake Tahoe, Mike and I took Elise to Sea World. She loved it! We didn't love the drive (traffic in San Antonio both ways with a toddler is not a good combination). A few days later, Elise and I flew to Chicago to visit Sarah and John. Elise did great on the plane (aside from a brief meltdown around bedtime on the way there, which was quickly stopped by a sheet of stickers). Luckily, I was able to bring her car seat on the plane and she stayed in it almost the entire time we flew. We had a wonderful trip and the kids definitely got some good sharing practice! A week later, we flew back to Texas with Sarah and John (with another very smooth plane ride, even though it started at 8:30 pm). We had such a great time hanging out with our friends for two weeks! A few days after they left, we dropped Elise off in Austin and headed to Horseshoe Bay for a fun weekend away at an Army marriage retreat. Pictures to come from this month, I promise! I started this post over a week ago and it will never get finished if I sort through all the pictures right now.
She is still eating and sleeping wonderfully (7 pm - 8:15 am almost every night, with a nap from 12:30-2:30!). If you give her a big piece of food, she will tear it into little pieces before she eats it. She has outgrown her size 7 shoes and is probably a 7.5, but a size 8 with a pediped foam insert underneath fits well. We turned her car seat around last week, and she is really enjoying the new view in the car... especially since we live very close to the high school and she see a "yeyow cool bus" multiple times a day. She is very accurate with her colors and loves to point out the colors of cars, trucks, buildings, toys, clothes, etc. She continues to enjoy labeling things with the person who owns or uses them. For this post, I'm mostly just going to share some funny stories that I wrote down from this month. Our video camera has been acting funny and I don't have many videos.
Story #1:
Here is some evidence that Elise did in fact learned something about sharing this month. The day after John flew back to "Cago", we were at the store looking at tricycles. They had a floor model out so I showed Elise how to push on the pedals and helped her ride it. After a minute or so, she suddenly said "Mama turn!" and climbed off the tricycle! I obliged her sweet request and rode a tricycle designed for 1.5-3 year olds down the aisle of Walmart. I then announced that it was "Elise's turn!" and she smiled and climbed back on. About 15 seconds later, it was "Mama's turn" again. We are making progress!
Story #2:
One of my favorites... we were driving and...
Me: "Elise, do you want to go to Starbucks with Mama?"
Elise: "No!"
Me: "Well, where do you want to go?"
Elise: "Gap!"
Story #3:
I was sitting on the floor against the couch while Elise sat on the couch behind me and John played across the room. Elise was obviously trying to turn my attention from John to herself but I didn't respond quickly enough because she said "Mama.... Mama! STEPH!". She knows the first names of her parents, grandparents, etc, but she has never called any of us by our first name before!
Story #4:
We were visiting Mike's grandma and Elise noticed her cane and quickly pointed to it and said "cane". I commented that I didn't know that she knew that word, and Mike's grandma asked Elise "Where did you last see a cane?" Elise thought hard for about 20 seconds, and then smiled and said "Gigi's house!" Gigi is my grandmother, and she uses a walker but my grandfather "Paw paw" does use a cane... so it totally makes sense that the last time she saw a cane was at Gigi's house. She is always amazing us with the things she understands and remembers.
Story #5:
While we were in Chicago, Elise and John got to go to a fun bookstore to play in the toy area. They had a train table set up and the kids loved it. Fast forward a week or two later... While Sarah and John were in Texas, they went to Barnes and Noble to meet up with a friend. Elise kept asking for them while they were gone, and I told her that Sarah and John went to the bookstore. She ran to the door and said "train? train?" because the last time she went to a bookstore there was a train there.
Story #6
When Mike comes home from work, Elise yells "Daddy home!" and either runs to the door or runs to me to pick her up and carry her to greet him. When he got home yesterday, she walked toward the garage door and said "Daddy home! Happy! Happy!" We didn't even know that she knew the word "happy". How sweet is that?!
Here are a few other things that describe Elise at 19 months. She says "new diiiiiaper" whenever she poops or pees, and if you ask her which one it is, she'll tell you. She has sat on the potty a few times but never done anything without a diaper. She will sit on the potty and poop or pee into her diaper sometimes. I feel like the potty training time is getting closer, but I'm not planning to start anything until after we move.
She carries around 2 little Vera Bradley purses all the time. She loves these things so much and gets quite upset if she can't find one. She has 2 cell phones and a set of keys that she transfers back and forth. She leaves the purses on the glider while she sleeps and takes them with her everywhere. Depending on where we go, sometimes I make her leave them in the car. Sometimes she is okay with this and other times she cries. The only time that she willingly parts with them is if she is eating. She will say "thank you" and hand them to me. Anytime that she hands something to me, I say "thank you", so she has started saying "thank you" instead of "here you go" before she hands something to me.
She still loves to read books. She knows a lot of titles and asks for specific books. With many books, she anticipates what is on the next page and tells you before you turn the page (or fills in a word if you pause in the middle of a sentence). For example, in the "Polar Bear, Polar Bear" book, if you pause before you announce who the animal hears, she will tell you the animal that is on the next page (with a pretty good degree of accuracy). In the "Go Dogs Go" book (which she calls "Dog go!"), when you turn to the second to last page, she yells "Almost there!" and on the last page she yells "Dog party!". She tries to sing the ABCs (up through G-ish) and often counts 1-3 things (usually pieces of food). If asked, she will usually tell you what she has done or seen that day. She even remembers things that happened weeks and weeks ago. For example, she will tell us which animals she saw at Sea World at the beginning of August.
Our moving time is rapidly approaching and we look forward to starting a sequence of moves over the next several years (with no deployments!). We will start in Alabama from November to July-ish, then follow Mike to grad school for 2 years, and then go to West Point for a 3-year teaching assignment. Of course, we are going to miss our family and friends in central Texas, but we are both very excited and ready to move forward. Therefore, we are getting ready to put our house up for sale next week (this might explain why I have been behind on blogging!). If anyone has home staging tips, please let me know! I promise that I will try to get pictures up sometime soon :)
She is still eating and sleeping wonderfully (7 pm - 8:15 am almost every night, with a nap from 12:30-2:30!). If you give her a big piece of food, she will tear it into little pieces before she eats it. She has outgrown her size 7 shoes and is probably a 7.5, but a size 8 with a pediped foam insert underneath fits well. We turned her car seat around last week, and she is really enjoying the new view in the car... especially since we live very close to the high school and she see a "yeyow cool bus" multiple times a day. She is very accurate with her colors and loves to point out the colors of cars, trucks, buildings, toys, clothes, etc. She continues to enjoy labeling things with the person who owns or uses them. For this post, I'm mostly just going to share some funny stories that I wrote down from this month. Our video camera has been acting funny and I don't have many videos.
Story #1:
Here is some evidence that Elise did in fact learned something about sharing this month. The day after John flew back to "Cago", we were at the store looking at tricycles. They had a floor model out so I showed Elise how to push on the pedals and helped her ride it. After a minute or so, she suddenly said "Mama turn!" and climbed off the tricycle! I obliged her sweet request and rode a tricycle designed for 1.5-3 year olds down the aisle of Walmart. I then announced that it was "Elise's turn!" and she smiled and climbed back on. About 15 seconds later, it was "Mama's turn" again. We are making progress!
Story #2:
One of my favorites... we were driving and...
Me: "Elise, do you want to go to Starbucks with Mama?"
Elise: "No!"
Me: "Well, where do you want to go?"
Elise: "Gap!"
Story #3:
I was sitting on the floor against the couch while Elise sat on the couch behind me and John played across the room. Elise was obviously trying to turn my attention from John to herself but I didn't respond quickly enough because she said "Mama.... Mama! STEPH!". She knows the first names of her parents, grandparents, etc, but she has never called any of us by our first name before!
Story #4:
We were visiting Mike's grandma and Elise noticed her cane and quickly pointed to it and said "cane". I commented that I didn't know that she knew that word, and Mike's grandma asked Elise "Where did you last see a cane?" Elise thought hard for about 20 seconds, and then smiled and said "Gigi's house!" Gigi is my grandmother, and she uses a walker but my grandfather "Paw paw" does use a cane... so it totally makes sense that the last time she saw a cane was at Gigi's house. She is always amazing us with the things she understands and remembers.
Story #5:
While we were in Chicago, Elise and John got to go to a fun bookstore to play in the toy area. They had a train table set up and the kids loved it. Fast forward a week or two later... While Sarah and John were in Texas, they went to Barnes and Noble to meet up with a friend. Elise kept asking for them while they were gone, and I told her that Sarah and John went to the bookstore. She ran to the door and said "train? train?" because the last time she went to a bookstore there was a train there.
Story #6
When Mike comes home from work, Elise yells "Daddy home!" and either runs to the door or runs to me to pick her up and carry her to greet him. When he got home yesterday, she walked toward the garage door and said "Daddy home! Happy! Happy!" We didn't even know that she knew the word "happy". How sweet is that?!
Here are a few other things that describe Elise at 19 months. She says "new diiiiiaper" whenever she poops or pees, and if you ask her which one it is, she'll tell you. She has sat on the potty a few times but never done anything without a diaper. She will sit on the potty and poop or pee into her diaper sometimes. I feel like the potty training time is getting closer, but I'm not planning to start anything until after we move.
She carries around 2 little Vera Bradley purses all the time. She loves these things so much and gets quite upset if she can't find one. She has 2 cell phones and a set of keys that she transfers back and forth. She leaves the purses on the glider while she sleeps and takes them with her everywhere. Depending on where we go, sometimes I make her leave them in the car. Sometimes she is okay with this and other times she cries. The only time that she willingly parts with them is if she is eating. She will say "thank you" and hand them to me. Anytime that she hands something to me, I say "thank you", so she has started saying "thank you" instead of "here you go" before she hands something to me.
She still loves to read books. She knows a lot of titles and asks for specific books. With many books, she anticipates what is on the next page and tells you before you turn the page (or fills in a word if you pause in the middle of a sentence). For example, in the "Polar Bear, Polar Bear" book, if you pause before you announce who the animal hears, she will tell you the animal that is on the next page (with a pretty good degree of accuracy). In the "Go Dogs Go" book (which she calls "Dog go!"), when you turn to the second to last page, she yells "Almost there!" and on the last page she yells "Dog party!". She tries to sing the ABCs (up through G-ish) and often counts 1-3 things (usually pieces of food). If asked, she will usually tell you what she has done or seen that day. She even remembers things that happened weeks and weeks ago. For example, she will tell us which animals she saw at Sea World at the beginning of August.
Our moving time is rapidly approaching and we look forward to starting a sequence of moves over the next several years (with no deployments!). We will start in Alabama from November to July-ish, then follow Mike to grad school for 2 years, and then go to West Point for a 3-year teaching assignment. Of course, we are going to miss our family and friends in central Texas, but we are both very excited and ready to move forward. Therefore, we are getting ready to put our house up for sale next week (this might explain why I have been behind on blogging!). If anyone has home staging tips, please let me know! I promise that I will try to get pictures up sometime soon :)
Sunday, August 8, 2010
5 days with the grandparents
We recently returned from a wonderful vacation to Lake Tahoe with our friends Mark and Ali. Elise spent 5 days with her grandparents! She is a lucky girl. Gram and Grandpa kept her for the first half of our vacation and then traded with Mimi and Pop.
You know you're in for trouble when the first thing Mimi says upon picking you up at the airport is "don't forget that your pastor said that my job is to spoil my granddaughter" (true story from the Mother's Day/baby dedication service at TBC). You reply with a nervous laugh and wonder what is in store for you when you get back home and try to regain your routine. When we got back home, Elise was a little... shall we say... "different". Here is a funny story to illustrate my point.
We now have a small child who asks for your hand in a way that clearly indicates her request has never been denied. She takes your hand and walks you to wherever she wants you to go. If there are two adults available, she'll gladly ask for both of your hands and travel as a group across the room so that you both can watch up close as she plays with her toys. If you decline the request, she simply repeats her command, not having experienced rejection from anyone over the last five days.
Her first real annoyance came when she reunited with Boss, and he clearly didn't have any desire to appease her. Happily perched atop the couch in his usual spot just out of Elise's reach, he was content to doze quietly. Elise decided he should come watch her play with her house across the room, and began ordering him, "Boss, down here!" Repeating her order several times, the tone and pointing became somewhat frantic before Mike intervened. Mike picked Boss up and put him on the floor to see what she had in mind next. She then said, "Boss, move house!" to instruct him to move over to the house. He was just as happy lying on the floor as he was on the couch and was content to stay put. Boss was clearly amused at Elise's notion that she could move him without his consent. She wrapped her arms around his waist and attempted to drag him across the floor, but Boss never budged. Mike asked Elise what she wanted, and she sadly exclaimed, "Boss, move house!" Mike walked over to the house and signaled Boss to join him, and Boss happily trotted over to the house and stretched out on the floor. Elise was overjoyed and resumed playing with her house...by herself, but now with an audience.
Thankfully, it only took 5 days for her to return to her normal pre-grandparent-vacation self. Thank you to Gram, Grandpa, Mimi, and Pop for making our childless vacation a reality!
Here are some pictures of our unspoiled angel taken by the future Mrs. Michelle Boyd! Elise says "Tank you, Eyell!" Stay tuned for some pictures from our Lake Tahoe and Sea World trips!
You know you're in for trouble when the first thing Mimi says upon picking you up at the airport is "don't forget that your pastor said that my job is to spoil my granddaughter" (true story from the Mother's Day/baby dedication service at TBC). You reply with a nervous laugh and wonder what is in store for you when you get back home and try to regain your routine. When we got back home, Elise was a little... shall we say... "different". Here is a funny story to illustrate my point.
We now have a small child who asks for your hand in a way that clearly indicates her request has never been denied. She takes your hand and walks you to wherever she wants you to go. If there are two adults available, she'll gladly ask for both of your hands and travel as a group across the room so that you both can watch up close as she plays with her toys. If you decline the request, she simply repeats her command, not having experienced rejection from anyone over the last five days.
Her first real annoyance came when she reunited with Boss, and he clearly didn't have any desire to appease her. Happily perched atop the couch in his usual spot just out of Elise's reach, he was content to doze quietly. Elise decided he should come watch her play with her house across the room, and began ordering him, "Boss, down here!" Repeating her order several times, the tone and pointing became somewhat frantic before Mike intervened. Mike picked Boss up and put him on the floor to see what she had in mind next. She then said, "Boss, move house!" to instruct him to move over to the house. He was just as happy lying on the floor as he was on the couch and was content to stay put. Boss was clearly amused at Elise's notion that she could move him without his consent. She wrapped her arms around his waist and attempted to drag him across the floor, but Boss never budged. Mike asked Elise what she wanted, and she sadly exclaimed, "Boss, move house!" Mike walked over to the house and signaled Boss to join him, and Boss happily trotted over to the house and stretched out on the floor. Elise was overjoyed and resumed playing with her house...by herself, but now with an audience.
Thankfully, it only took 5 days for her to return to her normal pre-grandparent-vacation self. Thank you to Gram, Grandpa, Mimi, and Pop for making our childless vacation a reality!
Here are some pictures of our unspoiled angel taken by the future Mrs. Michelle Boyd! Elise says "Tank you, Eyell!" Stay tuned for some pictures from our Lake Tahoe and Sea World trips!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Elise is 18 months old!
I have so much to blog about that I am finding it hard to actually sit down and write one post. I've been working on this post for at least a week! Elise says and does so many funny things every day. 18 months is a really fun age for us.
Physical facts:
Her last two incisors came in earlier this month, so she now has 16 teeth. She wears size 2 shirts, size 2 or 3 dresses, and size 3 or 4 shorts/skirts (I bought big and use the adjustable waist thing. It is awesome!). She has officially outgrown all things 18-24 months. There are a few wide dresses that she can still wear with leggings or jeans underneath. She is about 27 lbs and between 33.5 and 34 inches tall (it is hard to measure her!) and is already bigger than her mommy was at age 2! It looks like she stayed in the 75th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height.
Verbal changes:
Elise is a BIG talker. Last week, my mom and I sat down with the laptop and counted up the words that she says on her own (without being asked to repeat something... if I counted that, there's no way I could even make a list!). We stopped counting at 500 words and over the last few days, I keep thinking of many others that are not on that list. She says well over 500 words, including 26 letters, 6 numbers, and many animal sounds. I am going to print out the list for her baby book. More and more of her conversation is made up of phrases or short sentences. She likes to add adjectives or verbs in front of nouns to more effectively communicate. She is a little parrot and will repeat anything you ask her to say. She is getting much more accurate with her colors but is still only 100% with the color blue. She also identifies green, yellow, orange, red (this is her weakest color), white, pink, and purple with about a 75% accuracy. She is most accurate with her colors if she initiates the color description. She likes to distinguish things by their colors, size (big, little, or heavy), owner, or temperature (hot or cold) by saying "orange ball", "purple mail", blue W, yellow 1, heavy purse, big truck, hot stroller, Eeese shoes, etc. She knows the numbers 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, and 0. She still thinks that 5 is the same as S and proudly pointed out the S candle on her grandpa's recent birthday cake, haha. She will forever think that 9 and 6 are the same thing. If you ask her to count, she says "one two!" or "one two three!". I can't think of any words that she should know that she doesn't already use and she daily surprises us by using a word that we didn't already know that she knew. Today it was "juggle". Most of the time, I have to prompt her to say "thank you" or to add "please!" to the end of a request, like "strawberries, please!". If she really wants something, she will definitely add it on her own, like when we had Chick Fil A for dinner last week (only her second time to try it, yum!). "More Gicken! Gicken, please!" We think it is funny that whenever she runs into something or otherwise "hurts" herself, she immediately names the affected body part and often wants a kiss to make it all better. In summary, she says a ton of words and can accurately say up to 4 syllables (either one word or several words combined).
Here is a video of her with her letters (I was grabbing random handfuls off the fridge but after the third one, she got bored).
She has an amazing memory. This month, she really started getting bothered by missing things. If one of her shapes goes AWOL, she will carry the others around while saying "square, square, square?" or "purple mail, purple mail?" until we can find it. If you can't find it, you are stuck hearing the word over and over and over again until it turns up. This goes for anything that is part of a set (her groceries, mail, balls, shapes, etc). Last week, I got out a new package of wipes. This just so happened to be the same package that Sarah brought for John when they came to visit last month. Elise stared at the wipes and immediately said "John John? John John wipes?" I was absolutely shocked that she recognized the wipes from the time she saw them one month ago and then associated it with the rightful owner. She has about 20 people that she asks for on a regular basis, even if she hasn't seen them in a while. It is really funny to watch her brain move from one thought to another in a logical sequence. People and places generally go together, along with things that she likes to do with those people or in those places. At the end of dinner, she pointed to her bib, which was hanging a few feet away, and said "bib! on! (short pause) no no no!" (She saw the bib, knew that you put a bib "on", but immediately wanted to make it clear that she did NOT want to put her bib on).
Here is a video of her "memorization" of the Five Little Monkeys book. This is actually very representative of Elise at this age. In summary,
Me: "Five little monkeys jumped on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head..."
Elise: "Mama call doctor!"
Me: "Mama called the doctor and the doctor said..."
Elise: "No more monkeys!"
She will repeat it verse after verse! Haha. The funny thing is, this isn't even a "regular" book for her to read. She also tries to repeat part of the alphabet song.
For the record, the orange mentioned in the video was indeed in the car... haha.
Other funny "conversations" from this month...
Elise: (squatting) "Toot. Pee Pee. Poop."
Me: "Sweetie, do you need a new diaper?"
Elise: "New diaper?"
Me: "Yes ma'am!"
Elise: "No ma'am! no no no!"
Me: "Love you!"
Elise: "Love you mama! Hug!" (moves in for the hug... so sweet!)
Elise: (garage door opens) "Daddy home!" (runs halfway to Mike and then back to the living room) "Daddy get you!"
Mike: "I'm going to get you!"
Elise: (falls on floor giggling hysterically)
This happens nearly every day around 6 pm.
Me: "Elise, do you want to go to the library?"
Elise: (running to the door with her purse) "Eeeese go wibarry! Eeese go wibarry!"
She loves to play with Boss and point out his body parts. She says "hey Boss!" whenever she sees him. Thankfully, he is a pretty good sport.
One morning a few weeks ago I took her to run errands while Mike was still sleeping (since he was flying that night) and I told her to "whisper because Daddy is sleeping" when we walked past our bedroom to go out the garage door. When we got into the garage, she said "bye daddy sleeping!".
She has a book that has the baby animal and daddy animal on each page. She will open the book and say "tiger! big tiger! little tiger!" (or the appropriate animal on the page)
"I pooped! New diaper!"
(holds up her purse) "Eeeese purse."
(holds up my purse) "Mama purse. Heavy."
When the toaster beeps, she says "waffle done!"
One afternoon, I was working in the kitchen and she started handing me all of the colored balls that belong with her house. She started saying "guggle!" and it took me asking "what?" a few times before I realized that she wanted me to juggle for her. This was the first time I heard her say that word. Mike occasionally juggles for her and she loves it. The next thing I knew, she ran into the living room, sat down in the middle of the floor and said "in here! in here!". Thankfully, she was impressed with my juggling attempt even though I can only do 2 balls at a time.
I would have expected her to hate being confined in a stroller at 18 months old, but she actually LOVES it. It is the strangest thing, but hopefully it will last for a long, long time. We went to Pottery Barn Kids last week and I took her out of the stroller so that she could try on a back pack. Instead of wanting to run all over the store and explore, she asked to get back in her "roller".
She likes to ask for hugs and gives hugs and kisses. For some reason, this happens most frequently when she is sitting in the high chair and I am working in the kitchen. She always wants a "hug".
She asks for your "hand" so she can take you somewhere. She usually says "hand. walk."
Behavior:
Since Elise is such a strong communicator, we never have the "I can't communicate what I want" fits. She can tell me (in words) exactly what she wants. Rather, we occasionally have the "I told mom what I want and she said no or she won't let me have it RIGHT NOW" fits. Fortunately, for the most part, she accepts the "we'll have _____ later" or "we'll do ____ later" answers and sometimes we can still distract her by asking her questions about other things. It took about a week to get her to accept the fact that she isn't allowed to stand on the couch. She typically doesn't get into things that she isn't supposed to. Several times a week, she starts throwing food from her high chair when she doesn't want it anymore. The other day, she was happily eating her turkey and cheese when she saw the cucumber. This is one of her newest favorite foods. She finished the cheese and left some turkey on her tray. I gave her several pieces of cucumber to eat, and she was enjoying them immensely. At some point, she thought that the turkey would be better if it was on the floor. I immediately removed her tray (which still had some cucumber on it), and in her most pathetic voice, she wailed "cuuuuucumber! cuuuucumber!" like the world was coming to an end. Mike and I both couldn't stop from laughing.
Her eating habits are still about the same as they have been for the last several months. I bet that 98% of her diet is composed of the same 30 foods. She eats lots of fruits, vegetables, beans, cheese, and meat. I usually let her have a bread or grain (like cereal) for part of her breakfast or for a snack later in the day. She can name all of the foods that she eats, even cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumber, and guacamole. If she decides she is finished eating her vegetables, we can usually bribe her with fruit until she has eaten it all. She is still not really interested in eating with a fork or spoon. She prefers to pick things up with her hands. Occasionally she will try it, but gets frustrated when she can't shovel the food in as fast. I figure, as long as she is eating what I want her to eat, the spoon and fork isn't a huge deal. She won't go to kindergarten still eating with her hands, and her fine motor skills are obviously improving in other tasks so I am not too worried.
Sleeping habits:
Her sleeping habits have also been pretty constant over the last few months. I can't remember the last time she woke up in the middle of the night. She goes to bed between 7-7:15 and usually wakes up between 7:45-8. She averages about 12 hours and 45 minutes of nighttime sleep. Not bad! This might explain how she has a boatload of energy throughout the day. She takes her nap right after lunch (between 12-12:15) and typically sleeps until 2ish, sometimes later. She totals between 14.5 and 15 hours of sleep each day.
Playing habits:
Elise loves to play with her toys and loves to go outside. Unfortunately, it is July, so if we want to go to the park, it has to be right after she wakes up or right before she goes to bed. Even still, we still end up sweaty. Hopefully October will hurry up and get here! Elise is allowed to have one toy out of her toy closet at any given time. When she is ready for a new toy, she says "new toy!" and walks to the toy closet. About half the time, she carries the old toy to the closet to make the trade. She loves to read books, and reading books really makes us realize how many words she knows. She doesn't really want you to read the book to her, she just wants to point out the names of everything on each page of the book before turning to the next page. She also likes for me to move her big toys from room to room. For example, she'll go up to her rocking chair and say "rocker! move! living room!". She still likes playing with her magnetic letters and numbers. She carries her little Vera Bradley purse around all the time (with her cell phone inside, of course). She loves to play with people just as much as she loves to play with toys. She also likes Duplos and her Haba animal blocks. She has learned how to stack the parts of the animals together to make a pig, alligator, monkey, and lion. I will have to take a video of this. She especially likes playing with people. Her favorite "games" are "____ get you!" (insert the name of the person who is instructed to chase her) and "hide" (where she hides under a blanket or couch pillow.
Potty habits:
She has started asking for a "new diaper" after she poops (about half the time). Sometimes, she even says "poop" a few minutes before she actually does it. I think that is probably the first step to potty training. I am hoping that we can start doing that in a few months so that she's trained by age 2. We shall see. She often says "pee pee" when she pees in her diaper.
I will leave you with some recent pictures. You'll notice that she finally leaves a bow in her hair. :)
Boss just took my fruit snack! (her "reward" for letting me cut her nails... that is the only time she gets to have one)
A serious tea party
Lots of teeth
Playing with her letters
Probably eating something (imagine that)
Physical facts:
Her last two incisors came in earlier this month, so she now has 16 teeth. She wears size 2 shirts, size 2 or 3 dresses, and size 3 or 4 shorts/skirts (I bought big and use the adjustable waist thing. It is awesome!). She has officially outgrown all things 18-24 months. There are a few wide dresses that she can still wear with leggings or jeans underneath. She is about 27 lbs and between 33.5 and 34 inches tall (it is hard to measure her!) and is already bigger than her mommy was at age 2! It looks like she stayed in the 75th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height.
Verbal changes:
Elise is a BIG talker. Last week, my mom and I sat down with the laptop and counted up the words that she says on her own (without being asked to repeat something... if I counted that, there's no way I could even make a list!). We stopped counting at 500 words and over the last few days, I keep thinking of many others that are not on that list. She says well over 500 words, including 26 letters, 6 numbers, and many animal sounds. I am going to print out the list for her baby book. More and more of her conversation is made up of phrases or short sentences. She likes to add adjectives or verbs in front of nouns to more effectively communicate. She is a little parrot and will repeat anything you ask her to say. She is getting much more accurate with her colors but is still only 100% with the color blue. She also identifies green, yellow, orange, red (this is her weakest color), white, pink, and purple with about a 75% accuracy. She is most accurate with her colors if she initiates the color description. She likes to distinguish things by their colors, size (big, little, or heavy), owner, or temperature (hot or cold) by saying "orange ball", "purple mail", blue W, yellow 1, heavy purse, big truck, hot stroller, Eeese shoes, etc. She knows the numbers 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, and 0. She still thinks that 5 is the same as S and proudly pointed out the S candle on her grandpa's recent birthday cake, haha. She will forever think that 9 and 6 are the same thing. If you ask her to count, she says "one two!" or "one two three!". I can't think of any words that she should know that she doesn't already use and she daily surprises us by using a word that we didn't already know that she knew. Today it was "juggle". Most of the time, I have to prompt her to say "thank you" or to add "please!" to the end of a request, like "strawberries, please!". If she really wants something, she will definitely add it on her own, like when we had Chick Fil A for dinner last week (only her second time to try it, yum!). "More Gicken! Gicken, please!" We think it is funny that whenever she runs into something or otherwise "hurts" herself, she immediately names the affected body part and often wants a kiss to make it all better. In summary, she says a ton of words and can accurately say up to 4 syllables (either one word or several words combined).
Here is a video of her with her letters (I was grabbing random handfuls off the fridge but after the third one, she got bored).
Letters for Breakfast from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.
She has an amazing memory. This month, she really started getting bothered by missing things. If one of her shapes goes AWOL, she will carry the others around while saying "square, square, square?" or "purple mail, purple mail?" until we can find it. If you can't find it, you are stuck hearing the word over and over and over again until it turns up. This goes for anything that is part of a set (her groceries, mail, balls, shapes, etc). Last week, I got out a new package of wipes. This just so happened to be the same package that Sarah brought for John when they came to visit last month. Elise stared at the wipes and immediately said "John John? John John wipes?" I was absolutely shocked that she recognized the wipes from the time she saw them one month ago and then associated it with the rightful owner. She has about 20 people that she asks for on a regular basis, even if she hasn't seen them in a while. It is really funny to watch her brain move from one thought to another in a logical sequence. People and places generally go together, along with things that she likes to do with those people or in those places. At the end of dinner, she pointed to her bib, which was hanging a few feet away, and said "bib! on! (short pause) no no no!" (She saw the bib, knew that you put a bib "on", but immediately wanted to make it clear that she did NOT want to put her bib on).
Here is a video of her "memorization" of the Five Little Monkeys book. This is actually very representative of Elise at this age. In summary,
Me: "Five little monkeys jumped on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head..."
Elise: "Mama call doctor!"
Me: "Mama called the doctor and the doctor said..."
Elise: "No more monkeys!"
She will repeat it verse after verse! Haha. The funny thing is, this isn't even a "regular" book for her to read. She also tries to repeat part of the alphabet song.
Elise 18 months from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.
For the record, the orange mentioned in the video was indeed in the car... haha.
Other funny "conversations" from this month...
Elise: (squatting) "Toot. Pee Pee. Poop."
Me: "Sweetie, do you need a new diaper?"
Elise: "New diaper?"
Me: "Yes ma'am!"
Elise: "No ma'am! no no no!"
Me: "Love you!"
Elise: "Love you mama! Hug!" (moves in for the hug... so sweet!)
Elise: (garage door opens) "Daddy home!" (runs halfway to Mike and then back to the living room) "Daddy get you!"
Mike: "I'm going to get you!"
Elise: (falls on floor giggling hysterically)
This happens nearly every day around 6 pm.
Me: "Elise, do you want to go to the library?"
Elise: (running to the door with her purse) "Eeeese go wibarry! Eeese go wibarry!"
She loves to play with Boss and point out his body parts. She says "hey Boss!" whenever she sees him. Thankfully, he is a pretty good sport.
One morning a few weeks ago I took her to run errands while Mike was still sleeping (since he was flying that night) and I told her to "whisper because Daddy is sleeping" when we walked past our bedroom to go out the garage door. When we got into the garage, she said "bye daddy sleeping!".
She has a book that has the baby animal and daddy animal on each page. She will open the book and say "tiger! big tiger! little tiger!" (or the appropriate animal on the page)
"I pooped! New diaper!"
(holds up her purse) "Eeeese purse."
(holds up my purse) "Mama purse. Heavy."
When the toaster beeps, she says "waffle done!"
One afternoon, I was working in the kitchen and she started handing me all of the colored balls that belong with her house. She started saying "guggle!" and it took me asking "what?" a few times before I realized that she wanted me to juggle for her. This was the first time I heard her say that word. Mike occasionally juggles for her and she loves it. The next thing I knew, she ran into the living room, sat down in the middle of the floor and said "in here! in here!". Thankfully, she was impressed with my juggling attempt even though I can only do 2 balls at a time.
I would have expected her to hate being confined in a stroller at 18 months old, but she actually LOVES it. It is the strangest thing, but hopefully it will last for a long, long time. We went to Pottery Barn Kids last week and I took her out of the stroller so that she could try on a back pack. Instead of wanting to run all over the store and explore, she asked to get back in her "roller".
She likes to ask for hugs and gives hugs and kisses. For some reason, this happens most frequently when she is sitting in the high chair and I am working in the kitchen. She always wants a "hug".
She asks for your "hand" so she can take you somewhere. She usually says "hand. walk."
Behavior:
Since Elise is such a strong communicator, we never have the "I can't communicate what I want" fits. She can tell me (in words) exactly what she wants. Rather, we occasionally have the "I told mom what I want and she said no or she won't let me have it RIGHT NOW" fits. Fortunately, for the most part, she accepts the "we'll have _____ later" or "we'll do ____ later" answers and sometimes we can still distract her by asking her questions about other things. It took about a week to get her to accept the fact that she isn't allowed to stand on the couch. She typically doesn't get into things that she isn't supposed to. Several times a week, she starts throwing food from her high chair when she doesn't want it anymore. The other day, she was happily eating her turkey and cheese when she saw the cucumber. This is one of her newest favorite foods. She finished the cheese and left some turkey on her tray. I gave her several pieces of cucumber to eat, and she was enjoying them immensely. At some point, she thought that the turkey would be better if it was on the floor. I immediately removed her tray (which still had some cucumber on it), and in her most pathetic voice, she wailed "cuuuuucumber! cuuuucumber!" like the world was coming to an end. Mike and I both couldn't stop from laughing.
Her eating habits are still about the same as they have been for the last several months. I bet that 98% of her diet is composed of the same 30 foods. She eats lots of fruits, vegetables, beans, cheese, and meat. I usually let her have a bread or grain (like cereal) for part of her breakfast or for a snack later in the day. She can name all of the foods that she eats, even cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumber, and guacamole. If she decides she is finished eating her vegetables, we can usually bribe her with fruit until she has eaten it all. She is still not really interested in eating with a fork or spoon. She prefers to pick things up with her hands. Occasionally she will try it, but gets frustrated when she can't shovel the food in as fast. I figure, as long as she is eating what I want her to eat, the spoon and fork isn't a huge deal. She won't go to kindergarten still eating with her hands, and her fine motor skills are obviously improving in other tasks so I am not too worried.
Sleeping habits:
Her sleeping habits have also been pretty constant over the last few months. I can't remember the last time she woke up in the middle of the night. She goes to bed between 7-7:15 and usually wakes up between 7:45-8. She averages about 12 hours and 45 minutes of nighttime sleep. Not bad! This might explain how she has a boatload of energy throughout the day. She takes her nap right after lunch (between 12-12:15) and typically sleeps until 2ish, sometimes later. She totals between 14.5 and 15 hours of sleep each day.
Playing habits:
Elise loves to play with her toys and loves to go outside. Unfortunately, it is July, so if we want to go to the park, it has to be right after she wakes up or right before she goes to bed. Even still, we still end up sweaty. Hopefully October will hurry up and get here! Elise is allowed to have one toy out of her toy closet at any given time. When she is ready for a new toy, she says "new toy!" and walks to the toy closet. About half the time, she carries the old toy to the closet to make the trade. She loves to read books, and reading books really makes us realize how many words she knows. She doesn't really want you to read the book to her, she just wants to point out the names of everything on each page of the book before turning to the next page. She also likes for me to move her big toys from room to room. For example, she'll go up to her rocking chair and say "rocker! move! living room!". She still likes playing with her magnetic letters and numbers. She carries her little Vera Bradley purse around all the time (with her cell phone inside, of course). She loves to play with people just as much as she loves to play with toys. She also likes Duplos and her Haba animal blocks. She has learned how to stack the parts of the animals together to make a pig, alligator, monkey, and lion. I will have to take a video of this. She especially likes playing with people. Her favorite "games" are "____ get you!" (insert the name of the person who is instructed to chase her) and "hide" (where she hides under a blanket or couch pillow.
Potty habits:
She has started asking for a "new diaper" after she poops (about half the time). Sometimes, she even says "poop" a few minutes before she actually does it. I think that is probably the first step to potty training. I am hoping that we can start doing that in a few months so that she's trained by age 2. We shall see. She often says "pee pee" when she pees in her diaper.
I will leave you with some recent pictures. You'll notice that she finally leaves a bow in her hair. :)
A future mathematician (haha)
Pretty mullet
Eating oranges (new favorite snack)
Boss just took my fruit snack! (her "reward" for letting me cut her nails... that is the only time she gets to have one)
A serious tea party
Her beloved house
Playing "mama get you!"
Lots of teeth
Playing with daddy
Playing with her letters
Probably eating something (imagine that)
Thursday, July 8, 2010
July 8 is a fun day!
Congratulations to my brother (and faithful blog reader) and his new fiancee! We are so thrilled to officially welcome Michelle into the family. Aren't they precious?
Happy birthday to my dear friend Sarah and happy 18 month birthday to John John! We miss you guys and hope that you are having fun in "Cago"!
Stay tuned... 17.5 month post is coming soon (with videos)!
Happy birthday to my dear friend Sarah and happy 18 month birthday to John John! We miss you guys and hope that you are having fun in "Cago"!
Stay tuned... 17.5 month post is coming soon (with videos)!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Funny video
Elise says short phrases, including "here you go", "daddy go?" (where did daddy go?), and "boss go?". Here's a video of her playing "daddy go" with Mike. At the end of the video, she records a short video message for her boyfriend John, who just moved to Chicago :( John John, don't worry... she loves you and she won't forget you!
Daddy go and John John from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.
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