Three-year well baby visit, check! (It was combined with Wesley's one-month visit, which allowed both Tim and I to be there with both kids.) Here are the stats:
Weight: 36.6 pounds (92 percentile)
Height: 39 inches (88 percentile)
And here is what Elle is up to in general these days:
Sleep: Sleeps 9 p.m. to 8:30 or 9 a.m., takes a nap almost every day unless we're doing something crazy exciting and/or fun - usually lasts 1.5-2.5 hours, although she definitely seems to nap more at home than at daycare. She definitely hasn't dropped her daily nap, but there are some days when she skips it ... and I can definitely tell, eek. She has this habit of covering her head at bed and naptime, with her blankie, with a sheet, with a quilt, which results in a super sweaty head, tangled hair and smelly sheets. She sucks her thumb when she has her blankie/when she's tired.
Sweaty thumbsucker.
Eats: Well - not a big fan of veggies, a lover of almost all fruits, hit or miss on almost everything else. Doesn't drink milk but loves cheese and yogurt and pudding. Drinks water and some juice. Meals can be a battle of bargaining with her, but overall, she's not the pickiest eater, and we can usually get her to eat a fairly balanced and healthy meal.
Eating out with her? Not as easy as it used to be. I feel like I have to steal the kid's menu from her quickly and return it for coloring, which lasts only a few minutes. Then the dropping of crayons starts. Sometimes the whining starts now, too. Then I just hope she'll actually eat whatever we decided to order. All of this is usually interrupted several times by requests to go to the bathroom. (Sometimes Tim just suggests that she goes to the bathroom, which is awesome because then she's like "Yes! I do have to go potty! Mommy, will you take me?"). This is a meal-ruiner for me. Random: Potty trained, hates to poop, loves Halloween and anything spooky/scary, big fan of sea creatures, books and pop music. Wearing mostly 4T clothes (some 3T depending on the brand) and size 8.5 or 9 shoes (depending on the brand/shoe). Loves Octonauts, Doc McStuffins, Sesame Street and Caillou. Master of the iPad. Hates swimming in the pool, loves bath time. Attends daycare four days a week for a total of approximately 20 hours (aside from only going two days a week during my maternity leave) - has been going to the same licensed, in-home daycare since December .
I don't know how to fully capture her likes/dislikes, habits, personality, etc. at this age. She's extremely smart and extremely maddening. I think we missed the Terrible Twos and she just stockpiled it for her third year. We're all learning how to deal with the mood swings and learning curve of a strong-willed, emotional toddler. I don't think she could have handled Wesley's arrival better than she has, and I am extremely grateful that she's old enough that she can play independently, be trusted and understands (keeping in mind that all of these things are relative to the fact she is only three - I don't leave her alone with a pair of scissors or anything). I'm in awe at how much she's grown and changed even since Christmas, and when I look at Wesley or look back at Elle's first few months, I just can't get over how fast time has gone.
Anyway, enough babbling before I start bawling. Here's something fun: We decided to start a tradition this year of "interviewing" Elle - asking her the same questions each year. This year's video is an extremely good representation of what she's like, and I love it. I've included a rough transcript of the video, too:
1. What is your favorite color? Pink
2. What is your favorite toy? Fire truck
3. What is your favorite fruit? Juice
4. What is your favorite TV show? Caillou
5. What is your favorite thing to eat? Oranges
6. What is your favorite shirt? Cupcake
7. What is your favorite game? Balling
8. What is your favorite snack? Daniel (the kid from her daycare - um?). Apples.
9. What is your favorite animal? "Yion."
10. What is your favorite song? "E.T." and "Trouble" (by Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, respectively)
11. What is your favorite book? "Halloween Sky Ride" by Elizabeth Spurr and "The Donut Chef" by Bob Staake.
12. Who is your best friend? Mommy, and Wesley, and Daddy, and Mario and Sidney (pauses for cute loving on Wesley)
13. What is your favorite dinner? "Lots of tings!" - Scribble scrabbles, birthday cakes, blow out candles, sing guitars, and no going in fire, and coloring.
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play chalk. And climb up the stairs.
15. What is your favorite drink? "Yemonade."
16. What is your favourite place to go? In the airport.
17. What do you like to sleep with at night? "You!" (to Mommy)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Ride a scooter, and ride a bicycle. (Obviously losing focus ...) Crackers. And take a picture with cameras.
19. What is your favorite sports team?Random babbling, including "baseball, and tennis ... and play with Daddy." End answer: "Go winners!"
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? (She didn't really understand what this meant, but I gave her some options ...) "A chef. And a worker."
Two years old means two-year well baby visit, yay?
Since I try to blog about Elle's personality and development on a regular basis, I thought I'd just do a quick breakdown of her stats and habits now, so that when she's 15 and mouthy I can remind her that she used to be nice and thank me for simple things like getting her something to drink. Or when she goes through a picky eating stage and demands peanut butter and jelly for every meal I can remind myself that she's been picky before and ended up eating and thriving and life will go on.
Can we talk about my super tall toddler? OK. Here are Elle's stats:
Weight: 30 pounds (76 percentile)
Height: 37.25 inches (off the charts, apparently, at more than the 95 percentile -
this is also a FOUR INCH increase from her 19-month stats)
Head: 50 cm (95 percentile)
Giving a post-church concert with a lint roller and hanger.
Sleep: Sleeps 9 p.m. to 8 or 9 a.m., takes a nap every day unless we're doing something crazy exciting and/or fun - usually lasts 1.5-2.5 hours, although she definitely seems to nap more at home than at daycare
Eats: Well - not a big fan of veggies, a lover of almost all fruits, getting much better with chicken (I think it was a texture thing), loves sausage. Doesn't drink milk but loves cheese and yogurt and pudding. Drinks water - some juice, but mostly water. Does well with utensils but often prefers to eat yogurt or pudding with her fingers. She asked to try cucumber the other day, and after starting to take a bite of it, she took it out of her mouth, handed it to me and said, "Don't like it. Here you go." At least she tried, right? Random: Cloth diapered for the most part at home - disposables at daycare. Wearing mostly 2T and 3T clothes and size 6 or 7 shoes (depending on the brand/shoe). Still waiting on the last of the molars. Hates pooping. Loves Teletubbies, Sesame Street and Caillou. Can float like a champ but doesn't like to actually swim. Loves to play outside and sweats A LOT (she got her mother's perspiration genes).
A sweaty mess.
Counts to 20, knows pretty much every animal (how many two year olds know what a boar is? Elle does!), knows her colors (we thought she might have a red/green color blindness, but lately she's been doing much better), can identify various letters and numbers, sings a ton of songs, super polite (lots of 'pleases' and 'tank ous'), very opinionated and strong (nicewayofsayingtantrumssuck), in to everything. Also, might be writing?
.
She got this cool bath tub coloring set for her birthday, and it has two sides - a blank one and one with an octopus/ocean scene. Last night I had the blank side up, and she started to draw ... then she said: "I made an E. I made a L. I made another L, Mommy." After I took the photo, she made a better "E" - for a girl who could take the easy way out and claim that she wrote her name with a simple "L," I was shocked and impressed.
These are supposed to be her 18-month stats but the ped's office
scheduled her appointment at 19 months, four days:
Weight: 27 pounds, 7 ounces (88 percentile)
Height: 33.25 inches (88 percentile)
Head: 49.5 cm (90 percentile)
Elle is at such an amazingly fun age right now.
The conversations we have with her are definitely more "real" now. I went to change her diaper, and I asked her if she had pooped. She said "Nooooo." Then I said "You did it, didn't you?" She looked somber and said "I did it." She waved at a little girl at dinner the other night, turned to Tim and I and said "I said hi." She was scared of a toy train that we bought at a consignment sale, and she didn't want to turn it on. She dove in to my chest, saying "No! I'm scared." She'll hold out her hand to me and say "Come on!" so we can walk somewhere together. She took the remote from my Mac - when I asked her to give it back because it was Mommy's, she ran and hid behind Tim, yelling "Share!" at me. I die a little inside every time she calls me "Mom" instead of Mommy.
Speaking of Mommy, Elle started singing this song a week or so ago and I. Love. It.
She's an amazing parrot. She went to Pirate City earlier in the month to watch some early spring training workouts with Tim, and she came back able to say "Pittsburgh Pirates." She's sweet and compassionate, often trying to "tuck in" her bath toys under her washcloth, saying "Night night." She's extremely smart - she sings her ABCs extremely well now and can count to 15 (she could probably count higher but always stops to clap at 15, haha).
Who would have known that toddler sleep would be as screwy as infant sleep? Apparently there is an 18-month sleep regression, and after three weeks of awful sleep for all three of us, I think we've conquered it. After a nasty bout with teething, we seem to have headed right in to a period where waking up 2+ hours early than usual and napping for sporadic periods of time is the temporary norm. It. Was. Maddening. Almost every night, I felt the anxiety in the pit of my stomach - the kind of anxiety where I can't sleep well because I have no idea when Elle will wake up for the day. One day it was 5:45. Another day it was 6:15. We'd only gone so late as about 7:30 once in a span of two weeks, and she *had* been sleeping until 8 or 8:30 before that. Her naps went from a solid 1.5-2 hours to a sketchy 1-1.5 hours, and they were sometimes broken depending on the day's wake up time and the childcare arrangement for the day. I finally hit a point where I decided, with nothing else to lose, that I would just try to get her to go back down instead of giving in to the "I'm a toddler and I'm wide awake" vibes she was giving off, and within two days (and two or three re-wakeups both days), she was back to sleeping past 7:30 consistently.
In the week before the time change, I moved her bedtime up 10 minutes a night, and through the week and after the change, things were virtually seamless. So thankful that she transitioned well, especially since her naps have been suffering a bit since her childcare changed to outside the home.
Ah, yes - childcare arrangements. Many of you who know us IRL know how rocky our childcare experiences were for the nine months or so of needing care.We had three sitters who all watched Elle for a few months and left on bad terms, and at the time, we needed care for some pretty crappy times - nights and weekends, wheeeee. When I got the new job and went to days, our situation changed, and seemingly, so did our luck with babysitters. We only needed four hours of care, 3-4 days a week, and I guess I hadn't blogged about it because things were going well and I didn't want to rock the boat. Buuuutttttt ... I knew it was going too well. Situations changed, and I was once again thrown in to the pit-in-my-stomach stress ball that only childcare issues can create. I honestly think finding care for Elle - from caring, flexible, dependable and affordable sitters - has been the most stressful part of motherhood, outside of what you'd expect to be stressful. (Like unexplainable sleep regressions.) And our arrangement - with various sitters who are in class (high school and college) and/or working other jobs - was understood to be precarious. I can't expect people to stop their worlds because I need them to watch my daughter for four hours in the middle of the day on any given weekday afternoon. But we didn't really need, nor can we afford, care from a daycare center or most in-home providers, because they (understandably) charge based on part- or full-time care needs that we just don't have, with our opposite-shifts-Tim-has-some-weekdays-off schedules.
We're three weeks in to the latest childcare change, which has been good for Elle. I knew that it could be good for her, in that she's outside the home for a few hours four days a week with other children, but knew that it could be bad for her, in that she'll be outside the home for a few hours four days a week with other children. She had been watched at our house two days a week, which means that she was well taken care of, entertained and stimulated, with one-on-one from other adults. But she didn't really have to worry about sharing or the whims of other toddlers in those situations. I've watched with great interest as she's been exposed to more kids her age on a regular basis - from church to the other two days a week when she's watched by a friend who has a daughter Elle's age. And even in these last three weeks I've seen Elle's social side really emerging - she's excited to be around other kids, and she's excited to show me all of the things she does and plays with while I'm away. We're lucky that we found a good fit and that Elle has been comfortable from the beginning.
One thing I've noticed since she started the new childcare arrangement is that she grunts a lot more - instead of "using her words," she grunts and points. Her verbal skills are more advanced than the other kids at her daycare (there is a 21 month old and a 2.5 year old), and I think she's picking up from the way they communicate.
Cute things that Elle has been up to in the last few weeks:
* She loves to color, and points out, matter-of-factly, every wooden puzzle piece or book page that she has colored on. Her father gives her a lot more artistic license than I do (read: I often find crayon on toys, books, furniture and walls), but she really does like artsy stuff like coloring and playing with stickers.
* She watched Teletubbies for the first time last week - the show brings back a lot of memories for me of when my youngest brother, Doug, was obsessed with the show. Elle initially called it "Telebabies." She loves the "sunshine baby," too, and is still in love with Sesame Street characters.
* Elle still loves books. One night it was getting late, so when I read to her before bed, I said "One book." Elle immediately responded with "Two books?"
* We were driving home from having dinner with some friends two weeks ago (before the time change), and Elle kept saying "It's dark." It was really sweet to hear her discover and experience that, and since then, she whispers it any time we walk in to a dark room or if it is close to sunset outside.
* Elle has been telling Tim "Good girl, Daddy."
* She loves being outside. Elle and Tim will go for walks around the lake in our complex and do "Bubbleducks," which basically means blowing bubbles and looking for ducks.
* If you mention to Elle that we're leaving to go somewhere, you have approximately 2.7 seconds to actually get out the door before she freaks out, standing at the door, yelling "Go! We go!" until you actually let her outside.
* Because of the lunch meat we buy at the grocery store, she may be one of the only toddlers in the United States to be able to recognize and name a boar when she sees one.
* Shoes are no longer safe around Elle. She likes to put her own shoes on, Mommy shoes, Daddy shoes - it really doesn't matter unless they are on her feet.
* Possibly due to a small incident involving the preparation of dinner by her father, Elle also can recognize smoke. She points to the "steam" from her cool mist humidifier and says "It's smoke."
* Her utensil-using skills are fantastic. At times, she needs me to help her load her fork up with food, and she graciously says "Good job, Mommy." If she does it by herself, she cheers "Yourself!" (albeit with food in her mouth).
* Elle likes to talk on her fake phones, always starting the "conversation" with a very solemn, low "Hedo." I think she might be imitating Tim's opening "Hello," but I'm not sure.
* She points out colors all the time now, saying "Dat's blue!" or "Dat's purple." She'll ask me, too: "What's dat?" and "Dat is?"
* Her interest in going to the bathroom on the potty has definitely plummeted. We're not pushing it. I have to admit it's funny and cute to hear her say "Bye bye, pee pees" whenever she hears a toilet flush.
* She thinks all candles mean that it is someone's birthday. I lit a candle from Yankee Candle and had it on the kitchen counter. Elle was OBSESSED with it, saying "Birthday? Birthday candle? Happy birthday to you?" She's smart, but boy can she fixate :)
* She chases me around with a "I'm gonna getchou!" followed by a squeal. (Which is pretty much exactly what I say and do to her, haha.)
* She has a rubber ducky that is dressed like a pirate. Elle always talks to "Pirate Duck" during her bath, and calls her bath toy octopus a name that sounds like "applesauce."
* I called her Booger Brain last weekend, and she repeated it. Several times. Hi-lar-ious.
* I think I've blogged before about how she would shake her bottle of teething tablet pills and sing "Shake shake shake, shake your booty." In the last week or so, I've given her a bottle of pain reliever, and she sings "Shake your bottle." Then I taught her "Shake your bottle, yeah." It's quite amusing, but I realized she had taken it to a higher, cognitive level when she changed her tune while holding a toy truck - she paused for a minute and then sang "Shake your car, yeah."
* She was looking at herself after her bath the other night and said "See you later, Baby."
* She used to call my mom (aka "Grams") "Me." Not sure why, but then almost overnight, she started saying "Gams".
* Something cute that she has always mispronounced is "ninonaur" for "dinosaur."
* She's big on the temperature of everything. She always assumes her food is hot, but will eventually believe that it is just warm. The oven is always hot to Elle. And she'll point out that your water is cold until she's nearly blue in the face.
* She's aware of textures and other sensory factors in regard to things like her blankie, which she will tell you is soft and warm.
* She loves, loves, loves to sing. "Wheels on the bus," "Itsy bitsy spider," "Row, row, row your boat," the birthday song from the Sunny Side Up show on Sprout ... there is very little she won't pick up on.
* She tries to say her first and last names now - you'll often find her repeating "Elle Belle Lastname" with a cute little smile.
First of all, when did I become the mother of a 15-month-old?! (And how do you like that she's almost 16 months old by the time I'm publishing this? Sigh.)
Secondly, I'm pretty sure this is the first well-baby visit I've missed :( Elle's appointment was at the beginning of the month. Tim seemed to think I was coming, even though I couldn't take the time off work and he was already going to be home with Elle. Alas, he reported back from the appointment with the following info:
Weight: 24 pounds, 6 ounces (72 percentile)
Height: 32.5 inches (92 percentile)
Head: 48.5 cm (92 percentile)
Current developments include walking (?!?!), which just happened around her 15.5 month mark, sporting eight teeth (four top, four bottom) and accepting the molars as they slowly arrived (in the last three weeks, I think, all quadrants of her mouth have been invaded by the molars breaking through - bottom gums were swollen with what felt like pebbles, poor baby).
Elle knows when she's in trouble and tries to cute her way out of it. She'll look down and then pop up with a big "HI!" and her smile is so big her eyes will twinkle. If she's in trouble, nervous, super excited or scared, she'll say "Hug?" and reach up to you. (Perhaps the cutest thing ever, yes.) The UPS guy delivered a package the other day with a loud knock, and Elle scampered under Tim's chair and said "Hug? Hug?" Tim told me it took eight hugs to get her shirt on one day (she seriously asks for one when you get the clothes out, when you put it over her head, when you put each sleeve on, etc.) She says "mommy!" any time Tim's phone rings and I'm not there. She likes to try to sing "Twinkle Twinkle" and the ABC song (she chimes in with the "W" and "Now you know your ABCs" parts). She says "hereyougo" like it's all one word. Any time you sing Old McDonald and ask her what is on his farm, she'll tell you "kitties." (Poor farmer dude has a farm full of cats.) She'll bid you farewell with a "Buh bye, see you!"
Little girl is so stinking smart. We haven't pushed potty training, but we've worked on getting her familiar with the potty and trying to establish a connection between peeing and pooping and what the potty is for ... the other night I had her on the potty as I ran her bath. I took her off and was inspecting what looked like a dry patch of skin behind her ear as we headed for the tub. Elle said "potty" and suddenly I felt a warm patch on my shirt ... where she had peed on me. Not cool, but the bright side? She obviously knows pee AND poop go in the potty, we just have to work on her alerting us a bit sooner.
When we run her bath water, she yells "Yay, bath!" and claps as soon as she hears the faucets turn on. She can be in the other room, and she acts like it's Christmas each time.
She can identify the letter O and circle and heart shapes. She's pretty good at figuring out when something is "yay-yow" (yellow), too.
She says "Dokey dokey" if you ask her "Okey dokey?" She'll sing "booty" and "shake your booty" if you start to sing it to her. She'll often say "bless you" when you sneeze. She says "tawwy" (sorry). She likes to dance. She loves puzzles. And still loves books (although she shows no remorse when she rips them, grrr). Loves fruit. Loves pizza (like, LOVES). Likes black beans. Likes breakfast for dinner.
Still hates milk.
She loves to watch "ideos" on the computer - we watch videos of her, other baby friends, music videos on YouTube and the Wiggles/Elmo/Sprout/etc.
The three of us often call back and forth (Daddddddy. Mommmmmy. Babbbbby. Or Ellllleeee-Bellllleee) - it's so, so cute to hear Elle do the calls. She's adorable when she says goodbye, too - we go grocery shopping on Saturday mornings so Tim can sleep in, and Elle calls out "Byeeeee, Dadddyyyyyy."
She's getting so much more interactive (read: exhausting) at church, too - she plays with a little girl who is 2 and then two little girls who are in elementary school. She giggles at them, chases them, "shares" toys with them and basically keeps us on our toes the entire time. (And this has all been while she was only crawling, so I'm sure it's just going to get more interesting.)
Current nicknames include Belle, Belle Belle, Elle Belle, Ellie Bean, Baby Boo, Boo Boo, Mimi and Baby Bear.
Current habits remain pretty much the same - three square meals, one or two snacks (we often do a snack about an hour before bedtime now) a day and sleeping 10-12 hours a night. She naps after lunch for about 2 hours.
Right now, my heart is about to burst out of my chest with love. This hasn't been an extraordinary day, but perhaps it's the sheer normal of it all that makes me want to freeze time and just hug the moment to death.
I just put Elle to bed, and I'm listening to her call out "Elle Belle! Elle Belle? Elle Belle!" like I do when I place peek-a-boo with her. This comes after a giggle fit that necessitated me calling Tim at work so he could hear the pure belly laughs of a silly baby who finds the act of her mother poking at her through crib slats in the near-dark to be better than anything Comedy Central will show, EVER. Elle was nearly falling down laughing as I blew her kisses through the crib.
I am so thankful that I'm able to be with her every night now - that I eat dinner with her, play with her for a few hours and give her a bath before our nightly routine of books and staring at the "stars" (projected by our dear friend, Twilight "Durdle"). As I rocked her for a few minutes, we looked at the stars and I pointed out the crescent moon. Elle pointed up at it and said "Moo." (Who can be bothered with an extra consonant when you're 14.5 months old? Not my daughter!) A minute later, she pointed to the moon again and said, "Manana?" It took me a second, but I realized that she'd processed the crescent moon as a banana shape. I then told her she's so smart it's scary.
She's talking so much now that I can't keep up with a list of words. And her pronunciation and diction is getting better every day. Just three weeks ago, she said "Melmo." Now, she says "Elmo." She says "dank du" for "thank you." Every fish is called "gookie." Some puzzling - but consistent - "words": Grams is called "mee." Muffins are "mommy." (Thanks, Elle.) Elle's versions of "flower" and "water" are pretty much the same - gotta look for context clues with this one :) And she's slowly figuring out that not all trees and bushes are flowers.
She copies my exclamations, with an "oh my" or an "uh ...... oh" or an "oh no!" thrown in every now and then. Proof that she's Tim's daughter: She says baseball ("bayball") and "touchdown!" (complete with hand motion).
"Touchdown!"
Proof that she's my daughter: Tonight her eyes lit up and she made a beeline for my "copy" (coffee) cup.
I told her the kitty, Sidney, was a good boy, and she said "Girl." (That's gonna be a fun one to explain.) Mario is now called Mar Mar. Sidney is "Tidnee."
"Mar Mar!" (Mario isn't as excited about Elle.)
Elle can say the names of her babysitters, although poor Jessica is relegated to "Essica," and Ashley is "Astley." She loves shoes and "dopping" (shopping) with Mommy.
Elle likes to tell you when she's pooping. But to her, farting equals pooping, too. So you'll hear "Poopy" or "Pooping?" a lot from her. Usually if there's a red face and a grunt along with her proclamation, you'll know there is something in the diaper for you.
The girl who once dropped to her knees and took off in a crawl if you tried to get her to put weight on her feet is now asking constantly to "alk?" So we walk. Up the hall. Down the hall. In to the kitchen. Back out. She'll sometimes walk by holding on to one of our hands, but usually, she doesn't feel confident unless she's holding a hand in each of hers. She'll stand on her own briefly - something she didn't do even four days ago. Baby Girl is going to be walking, and soon.
Loving her walker.
She's climbing on everything, too. Yay.
For Elle, if happiness came in TV form, it would be the Sprout network. Specifically, the Sunny Side Up show with Chica and Nina (or "Mina" as Elle says). She likes to sing Wiggles' songs - if you sing "Fruit Salad" to her, you'll get "Yummy yummy" back. She still loves her books, too - right now she is loving the Llama llama books (she calls them "ama ama"), Susan Boynton books and any "first words," "first colors" and counting books. If the book has animals, she'll read it over and over. She'll bring a book to us now, say "book," then "rea" and follow it up with a spoken and/or signed "please."
She loves spicy food. She loves fruit. She's eating three meals a day and 1-2 snacks. She hardly throws any food on the floor anymore during meals (I never thought I'd see the day that happened). She drinks water like she's been in a desert for the last 10 years, gasping to catch her breath after gulping, gulping, gulping.
The molars are s-l-o-w-l-y (and painfully) moving in, and she's sporting eight other teeth (four top, four bottom.)
She loves having her blankie - it's magic. She will lay down and/or start sucking her thumb the minute she touches it. When she was struggling with molars last week, she was constantly cuddling up with me and the blankie and sucking her thumb, which would have been absolutely precious except I knew she was miserable.
Molargate.
She goes to sleep easily - she'll sleep from 9 p.m. until 7:30-8:30 a.m. and then nap for about two hours after lunch. She LOVES taking a bath. If you so much as mention "bath," you darn well better have the water ready and the toys in the tub or you're going to hear about it.
She goes by Elle Belle, Belle Belle, Belle, EB, Baby Boo, Boo Boo and Mimi. There are also several "Elizabeths" and "Elizabeth Irenes" thrown in nowadays. My favorite thing in the world, aside from her giggles and belly laughs, is hearing her identify herself in pictures or the mirror as "Elle Belle." I also enjoy her mocking me - when I'm making her meals, I'll often tell her "Hang on, Elle. I'll be right there." So now when she's frustrated that I'm not getting her something fast enough, she starts furiously chanting "Ang on. Ang on." She'll gleefully yell "gooooo!" when you set her up with a "Ready ... set ..." And if she knows we're going to the park, she'll say "wheee" repeatedly when we're near the swings.
She's stubborn and sweet - testing her limits one minute and then giving a hug the next. She squeals with joy when she's near the cats. She could help load and unload the dishwasher for hours at a time and be happy (she LOVES spoons). She's constantly keeping me on my toes and cracking me up.
She's amazing.
P.S. This serves as Elle's 14-month update. No stats from the pediatrician this month, anyway, and I broke format because I got carried away with wanting to remember exactly how she is, right now.
The title of this post is misleading, because a) I don't have stats and b) I don't really care because c) she's almost 13.5 months old and d) I'm wayyyy behind in posting and e) the last six weeks have been full of Elle-is-changing-and-learning-new-things-every-five-minutes-so-this-post-can-just-preserve-what-she-is-up-to-at-13-months-instead-of-that-she-grew-a-sixteenth-of-an-inch.
So. There's that.
I have about a half dozen half-finished blog posts in draft status, twice as many floating around in my head and a to-do list that refuses to shrink. And also, since this is a few weeks late and I've been working on it in my spare time, it's extra, super-dee-duper long. You're welcome.
On with the show!
Current developments include pulling up to standing and having improved balance and leg strength, talking more and more (I'm losing track of the new words!), blowing kisses, lots of waving hi and bye, signing (milk, more, done, please - she won't sign eat any more for some reason), pushing up on all fours, rockin' six teeth, growing more hair.
The helium-filled primates.
Elle is totally a lover of animal noises - the newest ones she's learned are owl, bird, lion and monkey noises. The monkey one cracks me up - we were at the grocery store and there were helium balloons of cartoonish monkeys in the produce section. Elle started to say "Ooo! Eee!" at the balloons, which is her version of my "Ooo, ooo, eee, eee!" monkey noise. Then at the park the other night, a woman called Elle a chunky monkey (not accurate, but whatever), and Elle made the monkey noise again. Tim and Elle watch Sprout in the morning, and the "co-host" is a little bird named Chica. Elle LOVES to talk about Chica, saying it over and over excitedly as he takes her in to the living room in the mornings. Or randomly while we're driving somewhere in the car.
Elle now requests us to read particular books - "bown burr, bown burr" is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?"
She also helps read it (two must-see minutes of video):
"Go, go go" is "Go, Dog! Go!" Several of her favorite books have cows on the cover, so she'll point and say "moo." (Including "Mr. Brown can moo, can you?") She likes to repeat all of the animal noises in "Moo, Baa, La la la," including the "la la la" part. When Tim reads the last page ("It's quiet now - what do YOU say?"), Elle says moo :) She shakes her hand like she's scolding the monkeys in "Eight Silly Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." She likes "Bubbles, Bubbles" and pats her head when the bubbles land on the Sesame Street character's head.
I often count to three to her, like when I'm going to blow on her hair or faux drop her from my arms, and she now repeats "two" (sounds like "do") and braces for the action coming after three. She seems pictures on our fridge and says "Abby" for my niece/her cousin and "Ahmee" for Aunt "Marti." We tried to get her to say "Ashlee" (which is my sister-in-law's name and one of Elle's sitter's name), but Elle says "Abidee."
And, always Mommy's girl, Elle says "cracker" and "cookie." :) She also says "bottle."
When she hears my keys jingle, she says "Bye bye!" She crawls down the hall, and we'll call "Elle!" - she responds with an "Elle!" back. She plays well by herself, especially with the books, but also has times (i.e. at church) when she wants to be constantly on the move and entertained.
Play date cuteness at a local children's museum.
Little Girl has also developed a lot emotionally. She's compassionate - she rocks and hugs a little teddy bear that I'd pulled out to sell at a yard sale (guess that won't be happening). She kisses her toys. She has been gentle with the kitties, petting them and saying "awwwwww." She gets extremely upset if she can't have something she wants or if she can't have something as fast as she wants. She often wants "dow" (down) and will let you know quite loudly if she doesn't want to be carried, picked up, put in the high chair, etc. She's got this "defiance warning" - she's smacks her thighs, the high chair tray, anything close by - to let you know she's not backing down from whatever she wants. If I use a stern tone of voice and a steady look, the little lip pops out and the tears and cries follow. It's a constant cycle - we're trying to teach her boundaries while remaining understanding and supportive as she explores things, including her emotions. Even though she communicates pretty well, between her words and signs, she still gets so frustrated about things, and I can totally understand that. She makes a growly "bahhhhhh" noise when she's emphatic about something.
And walking? Not doing it. She's cruising all over the place - along the inside of her crib, around living room furniture, etc. The exciting news is that last night she used her walker and took several steps for the first time. Like, plowed right across the living room like she'd been doing it for weeks. It was pretty awesome :)
Current loves include "helping" Mommy empty the dishwasher, eating, baths, throwing food on the floor, grilled cheese, spinach balls, books, repeating almost everything, grapes, playing in the crib and talking to herself when she wakes up, toy fruits and vegetables, books, books, books, keys.
Current nicknames include Elle Belle, Belle Belle, Ellie Bean, Sweet Pea, Cupcake, Boo Boo and Mimi.
Current habits include taking a bottle of pumped breast milk once a day (after a little more than 13 months, Elle is no longer nursing - more on that in a later post), drinking water from a sippy cup throughout the day, eating three meals of solids a day with 1-2 snacks, sleeping 11-14 hours at night and making a rocky transition to one nap a day (usually around 2ish hours long). If she naps too early, not long enough or refuses a second nap, we end up with Elle Monster by the end of the day and bed time comes a bit early. She's definitely been fighting the second nap, and while I think she's ready for one and I think we could push her nap back a little bit to avoid the end-of-the-day crankies, we've got a trip and some other big transitions coming up that leave us just riding it out for a bit. We had been in a definite groove for about 5-6 months of knowing approximately when she'd be napping each day, which made it easy to plan our day. Now it's hard to know when she'll wake up for the day, when she'll nap, how many time she'll nap and when bed time will be. But we're rolling with it :)
She's kind of hit-and-miss on the solid foods - some days she'll eat everything, other days she'll eat the same stuff, but only if it's on a fork. Other days she'll just play with everything. On Monday she might love one thing and if I offer it again on Thursday she refuses it. We just keep trying. It's frustrating, and I try not to take it personally when she won't eat food that I've made for all three of us with the hopes that she'd absolutely adore it. She seems to eat a lot more earlier in the day - she'll often have her bottle, her breakfast, part of my breakfast and part of Tim's breakfast. Then she'll chow down at lunch, too. And merely pick at her dinner.
In summary, I can't believe anyone except me is still reading this, and Elle is super fun.
We had Elle's 12 month well-baby appointment yesterday. Here are her updated stats:
Weight: 22 pounds, 6 ounces (60 percentile)
Height: 30 inches (75 percentile)
Head: 47 cm (90 percentile)
And now, some random photos of Elle eating - action shots of how she has earned those stats :)
Mini cupcakes: Not a great source of iron.
Mmmm, applesauce!
Popsicles with Daddy:
A staple in a Florida summer
Brief, general Elle update: Elle needs to eat more of her leafy greens (translation: she's slightly anemic). She did great during the appointment, right up until the actual vaccinations, and really I can't blame her for yelling and crying at that point. Her sixth tooth is preparing to break through. She has added several words since my last update, including oops (from "Blue Hat, Green Hat," haha), neigh (like a horse), baaa (like a sheep), down ("dow"), potty (sounds like "boddy"), "dis" and "dees" (for "this" and "these") and "mo" for "more," which she also signs. She's been signing "please" and tries to say it, too, but it comes out as "geese," which is pretty much the most adorable thing ever. She's starting to move around the furniture a bit more while standing and continues to work on her strength and balance every day.
And now, a video of more and please:
And since this isn't really a "monthly update" post - just one that is supposed to update her stats after her well-baby visit - that's where I'll stop :)
My dear sweet baby is 12 months old. (Well, 12 months and five days old.) HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?! Her well-baby visit has been rescheduled twice now, and the newest appointment is not for another 2.5 weeks, so I'll have to update the length and big ol' head size then. We stopped by the pediatrician's office today for a weight check, though, so that's at least current.
Weight (at 12 months): 21 pounds, 6 ounces
(showing that my estimate last month was probably total crap)
As of 12 months and three weeks old:
Weight: 22 pounds, 6 ounces (60 percentile)
Height: 30 inches (75 percentile)
Head: 47 cm (90 percentile)
Current developments include pulling up to standing and having improved balance and leg strength, talking (Mama, Dada, Baby, no, hi, bye bye, kee kee (kitty), giggle, ta-da, eye, hey, yeah, go, doggie, woof, meow, quack, hello, good girl, pretty, done, love you, bath), blowing kisses, lots of waving hi and bye, signing (milk, eat, more, done), pushing up on all fours, rockin' FIVE teeth, growing almost enough hair that I might be able to actually give her a little Pebbles Flintstone-like ponytail sometime in a month or two.
I am absolutely shocked at how fast her verbal skills are developing. Many of the words she says can probably only be understood by Tim and I, and they're often just parroted versions of what we just said. But doggie, baby, yeah, hi, go, giggle, eye ... words like those come out crystal clear. "Pretty" sounds a little bit more like "Bissy." "Good girl" is a bit hard to understand, too, unless you know what you're listening for. "Bath" is "baff." "Love you" is "wuv wu." "No" is finally sounding more like "no" and less like "naw." "Ta-da!" is "Da-da!" - she uses the right inflection, though, so we roll with it. (I've got a ton of videos of her talking, too, that I'll share in a future post.)
I've heard and read countless times that babies usually surge on their verbal OR motor skills at one time, and not usually both at the same time. I've seen this demonstrated by numerous kids Elle's age in our playgroups over the last few months and find it absolutely fascinating. Most of the kids we know that are 11-13 months old aren't talking all that much but are walking like they've been doing it for years. Elle, on the other hand, has no interest in walking yet but seems to pick up a new word or three every day.
At first, every animal Elle saw was a "kee kee." Every animal went "woof!" or "eow." But now, she almost always knows what a puppy looks like. She's such a little sponge, and although I know I might not be the most impartial person on the subject, I think she's a total genius. She's picking stuff out of books - pointing to certain animals, requesting that certain books be read again ... and again ... and again.
These teeth have been anything but fun. Elle (and therefore, Tim and I) had a few nights of rough sleep - crying out, waking up, etc. One night, she woke up and decided she missed us. (It was soon after our return from Ohio.) So she stayed up from 12:30 a.m. until about 5 a.m. She was playful and happy, but if you so much as looked at her with the possibility of sleep in your eyes, she screamed bloody murder. For a few nights last week, it was obvious that she was having a hard time sleeping because of the pain. The drool from the teething also brought MASSIVE AMOUNTS of poo. One day, she pooped seven times. For about five days in a row, she woke up with a poopy diaper. This was not a fun time in our household. Fortunately, things seem to have (temporarily, at least) returned to normal.
The crib mattress was lowered to it's lowest setting on the day before her birthday. Coincidentally, that was also the day I kind of taught her how to pull up completely on the crib rail, so if I hadn't been planning on lowering it, I had to after that stunt. Oopsie. I actually moved all of the nursery furniture around on that day (it's like baby feng shui!) and made a new craft - I'll share the new set up in a post in the next few days.
Current loves include "patting" the cats, "motoring" around the condo (this involves having an object under one or both hands and pushing them around while crawling), having "conversations" with her toys, pressing buttons to make the toys sing, getting in to the pantry and kitchen cabinets, playing with magnets.
Current nicknames include Elle Belle, Ellie Bean, Baby Boo, Boo Boo, Mimi and Baby Bear.
Current habits include nursing/taking a bottle three to four times a day, sleeping 11-13 hours a night, napping two times a day for a total of 1.5-3 hours, eating solids three times a day with an occasional snack.
No well-baby appointment this month, although we were at the pediatrician's office on Monday to have Elle's head measured because my baybee's head is hugenormous. Elle's head grew one centimeter, but that keeps her on the growth charts, so the doctor isn't worried about it. We'll go back in about five weeks for Elle's one-year (!) appointment, but there's no immediate concern that her head will have a huge growth spurt between now and then.
Too busy for block photos.
"Mom, you do realize I'm almost ONE YEAR old, right?"
Latest weight estimate: 21.5 pounds
Head: 47 cm
Current developments include pulling up to standing, talking (Mama, Dada, Baby, No, Hi, Bye bye, Kee kee (kitty), eye), blowing kisses, lots of waving hi and bye, signing (milk, eat, more), pushing up on all fours, rockin' three teeth and dealing with a fourth's pending arrival, growing almost enough hair that I might be able to actually give her a little Pebbles Flintstone-like ponytail sometime in a month or two.
In this video, Elle is plain silly and also signs "eat":
This child is a lot more go-go-go and yap-yap-yap than before, which makes church, restaurants, etc. a bit more fun ... and a bit more challenging. She needs her time to roam each day, or you'll hear about it. She chases after the cats, after Tim and I, etc. - up and down the hallway, across each room, in to and out of every doorway. I'm exhausted just watching her. We're traveling this month, so I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for having an almost-toddler on the plane and having her explore new spaces. We're fortunate in that she's a pretty flexible baby and adapts well to new situations and slight disruptions in schedule, and I've flown with her three times now, so I've got a decent idea of what to expect when traveling with (FOR ANOTHER MONTH SHE'S STILL) an infant.
She's quite an imitator, too - if I'm on the phone, she chatters along. If I say hi, she says hi. When I say "no" to the kitties, she starts a string of "no, no." A lot of the time, when I pick up the phone to make a call, she says "Dada." Or if I mention "Dada" and he's not home, she looks toward the door, expecting him to walk in any minute.
Current loves include travel-sized toiletries in the bathroom, flinging clothes every where, playing with junk mail, pulling up on everything, chasing down the cats, scaring the crap out of me, exploring every inch of the kitchen, "reading" to herself, trying to fling herself off the changing table, exploring the fridge.
Current nicknames include ... well, the most frequent ones now are Elle Belle, Belle Belle, Ellie Bean, Baby Boo, Boo Boo, Mimi and Baby Bear.
Current habits include nursing/taking a bottle four times a day (she usually reverse cycles so that she nurses three times between waking and when I leave for work, then has one bottle several hours later, before bed), sleeping 11-13 hours a night, napping two times a day for a total of 1.5-3 hours, eating solids three times a day with an occasional snack.
No well-baby visit this month, but I wanted to post about Elle's growth and development. She turned 10 months old (!) on Tuesday.
Unofficial weight estimate: 20ish pounds (we actually were at the pediatrician two weeks ago and she was 20 pounds, but she was also clothed and wearing a cloth diaper).
Current developments include pulling up on everything, talking ("baby, "dada," "mama," "hi," "hiya" and "kee kee," which is what we usually call the kitties), working on a third tooth, not freaking out every time she touches grass, waving more, although often backward (at herself).
Current loves include getting in to EVERYTHING, this activity table, books of all kinds, drinking water out of her sippy cups, blueberries, grilled cheese, blueberry banana bread, playing in the kitchen (aka "Let's open this cabinet! Let's grab this pantry item!") and playing peek-a-boo.
Current nicknames include ... hmmm. Looks like we've finally slowed down on the new nickname front. The most commons ones are Baby, Ellie Bean, Boo Boo, Baby Bear, Baby Girl.
Recent conversations of note: None that come to mind right now.
Current habits include nursing/taking a bottle three to five times a day, sleeping 11-13 hours a night, napping 2 times a day for a total of 1.5-3 hours, eating solids three times a day. She's a little more sensitive to loud, sudden noises - if someone sneezes near her or if something drops or falls, she jumps and looked scared. She's cuddling up in to our chests and sucking her thumb (always when her head is turned to her right - she won't suck her thumb when it's turned to the left) when tired or a little clingy.
She's had a few nights and a few naps of not wanting to go to sleep or waking up and not easily going back to sleep. I think it's a sleep regression/dealing with the developments she's going through, but we're just trying to maintain consistency and ride it out.
It seems like this update is a lot shorter than her usual monthly ones ... I think since I posted her nine-month update almost halfway through the month, it just doesn't seem like she's changed in any crazy ways in the last 2-3 weeks :) And really, once I say "getting in to EVERYTHING," that just doesn't leave much to be said, right? Also, I think I have other stuff to add to this post but every time something hits me I'm not near the computer and I think "Oh, I'll remember that later." And uh, I didn't. Sorry!
Elle turned nine months old while we were in Colorado, but she had her well-baby appointment on Monday, so I waited to post this until I had her stats. And then, in a matter of 48 hours, she started pulling up and clapping, so then I had to update this (super long) post :) (And now I'm having to re-post this because the Great Blogger Crash of 2011 ate it.)
Weight: 19 pounds (50 percentile)
Height: 28.5 inches (75 percentile)
Head: 46 cm (90 percentile)
And this is where our routine well-baby check history takes a slight detour. Elle's head has always been big. But while the rest of her body's growth has slowed a bit and stayed fairly proportional, her head has been full steam ahead. So because her head is still measuring large, the doctor wants us to come back in about a month and a half for a recheck. If it's still uber large (I imagine Pinky and the Brain proportions when I think about it), Elle will have a head ultrasound just to make sure there's no extra fluid in there.
The plus side is that Elle is on track or ahead on everything developmentally. The doctor said that if she was behind, there would be reason for immediate concern, but since Elle is a freaking genius doing well then we can wait a few weeks. The doctor also noted that Elle's got a very defined bone structure in her skull - Tim has an odd-shaped noggin, so I'm leaning toward the fact that Elle probably just inherited her daddy's big head :) I also contend that if our kids are going to inherit Tim's big head, then HE should be the one going through labor, delivery and recovery from here on out.
Action shot:
This was before she remembered where she was
and she started the frantic hysteria - poor baby!
Current developments include standing more, trying to pull up, clapping, going from tummy to sitting. Elle's doing more "real" crawling - mostly forward, but some backward. She's making new noises and almost sounds like she's carrying on conversations now, with inflections and pauses like the babbles are real words (which to her, they probably are). I think we're *thisclose* to having an actual first word. Of course, on my birthday I kept trying to get her to say "Happy birthday, Mama!" or "Mama." Each time, I got a sly "Dada" or "Da ... da." Little twerp.
The doctor went through a short checklist of things, asking if Elle was crawling, babbling, pooping regularly, etc. She asked if Elle was clapping yet. We told her that she wasn't, but she did a kind of excited hand motion that we figured was her version of clapping. The next morning, though? I was changing Elle after she woke up, and she started to clap. She did it several times during that wakeup time. I excitedly told a sleepy Tim, and although Elle wasn't quite as coordinated in her efforts to replicate the earlier clap, he saw that she *was* clapping. She's been clapping a lot the last three days, and it. is. awesome. Every time we say "Yay" and clap, or clap and say "Yay," Elle claps. Sometimes we clap and say "Yay" because she's clapping. (I told Tim it reminds me of our play group - there are little ripples of clapping and cheering as the kids learn how to clap - and do so for a response. It's really cute to see the kids' milestones recognized by other moms in such an enthusiastic way.)
Elle does this really cute, funny sway that I call her "happy dance." Whenever she eats or hears music, she sways back and forth and just seems so happy. She also likes to pound her palms on tables or trays while she's waiting for food or when she's bored with her food. Not so cool thing she does when she's bored with her food? Deliberately dropping it on the floor. She just stares at me, almost daring me to stop her, and she'll just let it slip from her fingers. Seriously. Don't know where this girl gets her attitude :)
Elle holds court.
Elle likes to make sweeping arm gestures and babble - I call it "holding court." She really seems to "speak" with authority, and it cracks me up when she does it around her toys or toward the cats.
We're dealing with some separation anxiety. She's still pretty easy going and is totally fine if she's a) well-rested, b) not hungry, c) not teething and d) somewhat familiar with you. But if any of these factors are off, there's fussy and crying and frantic "WHERE DID YOU GO COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW" antics. It's hard when she can see Tim or I and still has a meltdown because we're not right. there. with. her. or holding her, and even though she has the ability to travel to us, she refuses.
Current loves include reading, her "Cat" book, trying to roll off the changing table, trying to wiggle out of my arms, playing Peek-a-boo (especially on the bed or while on the changing table), bananas (scarfs them down like they're an endangered species), anything with cheese (tortellini, broccoli in cheese, etc.), pears, sippy cups with straws, shoes, chasing painted toenails, crawling under coffee tables, getting in to anything and everything.
Reading her "Cat" book - a gift from Aunt Marti
Current nicknames include Baby Boo, Boo Boo, Baby Bear and all of the ones from the last eight months.
Recent conversations of note: When I asked Tim if we've had any funny conversations with or about the baby lately, he said, "Yeah, like every day." (Think "Napoleon Dynamite.") Soooo apparently the baby is funny.
Here's a funny story, though - as we got ready to leave for Elle's appointment, Tim strapped Elle in her car seat and she stared at us expectantly. Tim walked down the hall, asking me why the baby could clap her feet but hadn't clapped her hands yet. I adjusted the straps and called to Tim: "You want to know why she's not clapping her hands yet? Come see your daughter." He came to look at her and quickly saw what I had spotted - he'd buckled one of her hands in to the car seat straps. I don't know if Houdini could clap like that.
Current habits include nursing/taking a bottle four or five times a day, sleeping 11-13 hours a night, napping 2-3 times a day for a total of 1.5-3 hours, eating solids twice a day (although since the appointment we've started introducing a third meal of solids - Elle hasn't fought it).
No well-baby visit until next month, but I wanted to post about Elle's growth and development. We weighed her last week - I'm just behind in writing (and quite scattered, so this will be shorter than usual) and posting the rest!
I laugh at you, blocks!
Unofficial weight estimate: 18ish pounds.
Current developments include new sounds, like clucking, singing, raspberries, gargling-type noises. She is really exploring her vocal skills, and it's super cute. (Well, the yelling-for-the-sake-of-yelling-while-we're-grocery-shopping isn't super cute, but hey, we'll live with it.) TEETH! Still army crawling, although definitely push up on her hands and knees more, and sometimes even rocking back and forth, but then collapsing. After a weekend with her cousin Abby, she's testing the waters more on supporting herself to stand, too - Abby is a month older than Elle and HATES tummy time, so she's quite proficient at walking when someone holds her hands. Elle would motor over to her on her tummy, and Abby would stand, towering over Elle. Kinda funny to watch. Elle waves sometimes now, too :)
She "gives kisses" if she's in the right mood. Her motor skills are excellent, and she loves toys like this that she can empty out, piece by piece. She's not so interested in putting them away, which is not particularly helpful awesome, but she likes the taking apart/exploring part. She's very talkative after baths and during diaper changes ... weirdo. In short, she's hilarious, good-natured, social and generally awesome.
Current loves include the cats, eating, anything she can put in her mouth, yelling (not crying or screaming, just making her presence known), moving, moving, moving.
Current nicknames include Suisham, Huggie Bear, Snuggle Bear and all of the ones from the last eight months.
Recent conversations of note: Kind of random, but if I say anything to Tim along the lines of "If you give the baby a bath/pear/nap/diaper change ..." he responds with "she's going to want a glass of milk." (Anyone? Anyone?)
Current habits include nursing/taking a bottle four or five times a day, sleeping 11-13 hours a night, napping 2-3 times a day for a total of 1.5-3 hours, eating solids twice a day.
In mommy life, yeah, not much has changed since my last update, and that's fine by me!
Elle turned seven months old two weeks ago! No well-baby visit this month.
Unofficial weight estimate: 17 pounds, 4 ounces
Current developments: Sitting unassisted! Army crawling! Lots of babbling of the "mama," "dada," "nana" and "baba" varieties. She blows raspberries and does these cute little vocal exercises, working on her volume. She whispers and "sings" and it is pretty much the cutest thing ever. She's hilarious around people - she smiles at almost every one and totally plays in to comments like "Aren't you the cutest thing ever?!" She's recently added a coy little "bury-the-head-in-mommy's-shoulder" move to her repertoire, too. Seriously, this kid could make the grumpiest person grin.
We've been able to go back to our mommy/baby group a few times in the last month, and it has been really cool to see Elle interact with the "older" kids in the 6-12 month group. We've always talked about how being around other kids kind of rubs off on the others, so babies who had no signs of crawling might suddenly take off after seeing their peers crawl. Same with walking and other developmental milestones. The coolest part about group lately is watching the way the babies interact. All bets are off as toys are up for grabs, moms are forgotten and they all end up in a crowd in one area. Then they see something else that catches their attention ... and they're off! The babies are of varying degrees of mobility, so one might toddle over one that is crawling while another rolls in to another that is standing. It is really neat to watch (provided everyone stays safe, of course!)
Current nicknames: Baby Tim, Fussy Face, Cranky Pants and most of the same, really. Tim has a new song for Elle - a variation of one of his early songs with her, but it goes "Baby's getting bigger - watch out!" and it makes her smile.
Current habits: Sleeping much better at night - usually about 11-12 hours at a time and going down and staying down with little fuss. Elle graduated from the Kristin Sleep Academy this month, which is my way of saying we did sleep training. I could write multiple blog posts about what I've read, what I think, what we did, etc. about sleep training, but I'll spare you. Elle is napping twice a day, usually for 45-90 minutes at a time for a total of 13-14ish hours of sleep each day. There have been a few days where she's still needed her third nap, but most days she's down to two.
She's nursing 4-5 times a day and eating solids once or twice a day. (I'm working on an update on baby-led weaning, but it is going well!)
In general, she is awesome. Happy, adorable, smart and perfect in every way.
We had two sudden and nasty encounters with diaper rash, and I think the culprit was solid food. Since we're not going to stop solid food, and I'm not sure how long it will take Elle's body to adjust to things, I investigated diaper rash creams that are safe for cloth diapers (most of the ones we have on hand, like Desitin and Boudreaux's Butt Paste, can cause build up and absorbency issues for cloth diapers). To treat those two rashes, we switched to disposables for a day or two and slathered on the Desitin, but I don't want to do that long-term.
The solution is possibly weird, possibly genius. There's a line of diaper rash cream called CJ's BUTTer that is cloth diaper safe. And it comes in some a-maz-ing scents like Blueberry Crumble, Coconut Lime Dream, Lavender Essential Oil and Pink Sugar. Elle's new diaper rash cream is the "Vanilla Cake" scent. I wasn't sure I wanted to know how it will smell when mixed with "Craptastic Poo," but thankfully, it seems the smell goes away when she poops, so I'm not dealing with a baker's nightmare :)
Mommy life: Linea negra continues to fade. I'm not positive, but I think my pregnancy mask has returned, too, which is not cool. The strands of hair that fell out with gusto around postpartum months 4-6 are now being replaced with little annoying wisps of hair. Bleh. I'm officially down 10 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, although my shape is not what my pre-pregnancy shape was :) I'm about the same weight I was when I was first pregnant and thought I'd shed pounds from working two jobs and being too busy to eat like normal ... but I'm still about 5 pounds from my goal weight and would like to continue toning up.
Elle had her six-month well-baby visit today. (It was largely the motivation for me to catch up months 3-6 in Elle's baby book last night, haha.)
Weight: 15 pounds, 8 ounces ( 45 percentile)
Height: 27 inches (85 percentile)
Head: I swear they said 17 inches again.
The visit went much better than last time - she got a little pouty and teary when the doctor was poking around and checking her ears, hips and mouth, but there were no full-blown tears until about a second after her first shot. I think those were largely because she was startled and upset that she was pinned down. About 45 seconds later, she stopped crying, and about two minutes later, she was smiling again. This was the first time she got shots and Tim wasn't there, so I'm glad she handled it fairly well. Made it easier on me!
The doctor said she's doing great developmentally, and we discussed sleep training, feeding her solid foods and a lot of other random topics. It appears that Elle has no teeth on the immediate horizon - I'm OK with that!
She has officially grown out of her Size 1 diaper covers. It doesn't even seem to be such an issue with the weight limit for the diapers (typically up to 18 pounds), but she's soooo long (it appears she might have her mother's long torso) that we were having problems getting the covers to, well, cover the prefolds. And because of her height, we'll likely be getting a new car seat in March - I'll miss the convenience of our infant seat!
I don't recall Elle's three-month growth spurt being extremely noticeable. Perhaps it was because I was transitioning back to work, or maybe she just had her growth spurt on the sly. Whatever the case was, the six-month growth spurt was extremely evident. For a few days, she woke about two hours earlier and was ravenous. She ate every 1-2.5 hours. She was fussy. She took mammoth naps - one day I put her down for her afternoon nap and then left for work. Elle woke up 3.5 hours later - 15 minutes before the sitter was leaving. (I told Katie that was the easiest money she's ever made). Many of her naps during those few days lasted two or more hours, which is not common. Tim kept asking if I was drugging her. And at the end of that growth spurt?
Elle has started busting out of her 3-6 month sleepers. And her "small" size sleep sacks are also being retired to make way for "medium" ones, including this adorable "elle-phant" one.
Current nicknames include the old ones and Belle Belle (Elle Belle kinda morphed in to that), Sleepsacker, Booger Brain and Roller Girl.
Her nap schedule has gotten more predictable, and if I catch her at the right time, she'll go to sleep on her own, without any tears. If I don't, however, it isn't pretty.
She's sleeping well at night again, usually going for 8-11 hour stretches. She's quite mobile with her rolling and changes position within seconds - we have to keep a close eye on her! She sticks her butt in the air like she's thinking about going somewhere but has no idea what to do with her upper body. Her hand-eye coordination is improving every day, and she's making all sorts of fun sounds - raspberries and babbling "mamamama" and "babababa," sometimes sounding like "Obama," haha. She's been making excited shriek noises in the last few days.
Elle finally pooped last night (hooray!), too, almost a week to the minute since her last bowel movement. The girl has timing skill.
