Elle-centric random ramblings

I didn't do a 16-month post for Elle and won't do a 17-month post - she's just changing so much, so fast (stat of the month, though: she's 26.6 pounds as of a doctor's appointment two weeks ago). There are a few things I want to make note of, and I'll have a video post soon with examples of some of the nearly 18-month-old toddler fun we've got going on around here.

* Elle hasn't grown out of a reaction to strawberries. We were at a holiday party a few weeks ago and she was chowing down on strawberries ... and broke out in a nasty diaper rash, much like she did when she was 6-8 months old and were introducing her first solid foods.

* Baby Girl is HILARIOUS. And smart. She has started using the following words in the appropriate ways/context: Burp, P.U., yuck, gross, fart, poopy, diaper. (As in "Poop. P.U." Or "Burp - gross.") We're so proud.

* Side note: This is hilarious in most cases, but I'm just waiting for the time when she does this in public ... Elle has started to figure things out, and she'll often say "Daddy work" or stand by the door and say "We go" because she knows where Tim is or that we're leaving to go somewhere. But she also knows about bodily functions, and will say"Momma fart" or "Elle Belle fart."

* On Christmas, I was getting ready for church and Elle kept coming in to the bathroom and closing the door. I told her she was killing me. Then Elle started repeating "You're killing me."

* Daddy makes a good lounge chair:

Although really, it appears Daddy has always been a comfy couch:

Circa six weeks old.

* Elle has inherited her mother's sweet tooth. Any time there is food around, Elle looks hopefully at me and says "Cookie? Canny?" When I tell her no cookie and/or no candy, she woefully repeats "No cookie. No canny." I offered her peanut butter on a banana the other night, and she looked at me hopefully, saying "Butter - cookie?" because she wanted peanut butter on a vanilla wafer. She's also a big fan of the "cuppick" (cupcake).

* Bibs speak the truth:

* Some other super cute/smart/funny things Elle is saying lately: "Book? Which book?" ... "Oh my. I tired." ... "Ho ho ho .. Santa?" ... "Simming simming" (swimming swimming, for any fish, lizard or frog) ... Telling me she wanted to go "outside in the grass."

* Elle had taken all of her books out of her bookshelf (nothing new), and I was trying to get her help to put them away. She handed me one, then grabbed another. I asked her if I could have it, and she said "No" and shook her head. I was half talking to myself when I asked "What are you going to do with that one?" Elle answered "Read it." So. Stinking. Smart.

* Our daughter is quite the singer. She loves Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, Jingle Bells, Row Row Row your boat and Baa baa black sheep (she sounds a bit tipsy when she says "Yesshir, yesshir, three bags full"). She's also started "Take Me Out To the Ballgame," much to her father's delight. She gets super excited at the end with "One, two, three!" strikes you're out, and sometimes repeats "One, two, three hometeam ..." Today she clearly said "I don't care if I never get back." Another favorite line is "Bring back ..." from "My Bonnie lies over the ocean."

* After a brief hiatus from the number 5, Elle is counting from 1-10. She can recognize some numbers and letters in books, too.

* Elle now knows that "Daddy at work," as mentioned above. Sometimes, she'll predict that "Mommy go work," too. If one of us isn't home, she automatically thinks we're at work.She's started comforting me when I fake cry, saying "Momma cryin'." Although the other night, she started saying "Daddy cryin' ... Daddy coffee?" Daddy doesn't cry or drink coffee, so I dunno ...

* When I got home from work the other night, Elle looked at me and said "Happy birthday to you." Over the next few hours, she wished me happy birthday another half dozen times.

* That same night, I gave Elle some cranberries for her snack before bed. She's had them before and excitedly says "Berries!" when she sees the package. But that night, she picked up a cranberry, examined it and said "Chicken." I told her it wasn't chicken, it was a cranberry. She continued to look at it, continued to tell me it was chicken, and then said "Chicken. Meow." THEN we had to have a talk about how chickens don't go meow, they go "bock bock."

* We've continued to casually potty train, and if she says "Poopy?" or makes a tell-tale grunt or face, I always try to ask Elle if she needs to go potty. She's in a big "no" stage right now, so she'll usually respond with an automatic "No." I realized that my questions have gotten a little predictable when she said "No" and followed it up right away with an "Are you sure?"

* I nearly melted in to a puddle every night last week when Elle said "I love you" when I said "Good night, I love you" to her. I cracked up, though, when she responded the other night with a very nonchalant "Love you, buh-bye."

* We were Skype-ing with my sister a few weeks ago when my mom and brother were visiting. Elle was wandering around (it is quite a challenge to get her to sit still for video chats these days). She suddenly took an interest in the convo with Aunt Marti, though, and got close to the computer and said "What are you doin'?" to my sister, with a funny little emphasis on "doing." She also chased a neighborhood cat this weekend with similar queries of "What are you doing?" and "Where are you going, kitty?"