This afternoon we had her portraits done. They turned out great (which makes it SO hard to choose only the poses our budget will allow)! As per the photographer's suggestion, we took some of her favorite toys: her white bear and her basket of veggies. This helped SO much. It kept her busy and the lady was able to capture some real "Ellie" poses. (The picture below is not one of them, but she is cuddling her white bear.)
I feel like Ellie is doing so much now and gaining so much independence so quickly that I hardly know where to begin! Of course, if I had blogged even once in the last 5 months I wouldn't be in such a pickle. So, settle in for a loooong post, people, in the format of random items that I love about my Little Honey, or just things I don't want to forget. Don't worry though, if you stick with me 'til the end of the post, I'll reward you with an adorable video. :)
*She loves to hold my hand when we pray for our food, and always says mee-maw for amen. Lately she uses the other hand to cover her eye when I say Close your eyes.
*She loves to put on her winter hat! Who cares that there's a heat advisory going on and that it makes her little head sweat while she's playing inside, but she loves the darn thing. Typical Ellie is her with this little hat on, her purse slung over her shoulder, and her white bear stuffed under her armpit. :)
*She LOVES for us to sing The Itsy-Bitsy Spider and tries wholeheartedly to do the hand motions. She's also started singing herself recently and is experimenting with getting louder.
*She points to anything and everything and says Eh! at least six thousand times a day. I have to constantly remind her to say it, or sign it, or I play the guessing game as to what she wants. I think she will be SOOO happy to be able to talk, because she obviously has a lot to say.
*I've been using the family calendar that I made to teach her everyone's names. So far she can say Dee Dee, Papa, Will (W-uhl), Nene, Dan, Addie (Ah-duh), and, by far her favorite one to say of all, Eli (E-ya!!). I have caught her several times leaning on the coffee table, studying it herself. Other new words include water (wah-wer) and apple (ah-pul).
*She's becoming more and more independent in the eating department. We've been reluctant to let her "have at it" because neither of us likes to be messy. But now she can successfully use her little fork to eat sausage & scrambled eggs, she likes to have crackers and cheese in her little compartmentalized tray, and tonight she was delighted to discover that she could dip her fries in ketchup!
*We're in the beginning phases of potty training. We bought Ellie a potty chair and a doll that wets and has her own potty chair, we've been reading books from the library about going potty, we let her run around w/o a diaper so that I can monitor her patterns and so she can figure out what's happening, etc. The first time she peed on the floor she looked down like What just happened?! Why would she know? It always happens in her diaper... She does point to her diaper now immediately when she wants it changed. All good signs!!
*As of today, my baby is completely weaned. I think I would be much sadder if I didn't know that she was completely ready (we were down to just the morning feeding and she's been more and more distracted and ready to play). Also, I know that in 6 months I'll have another little mouth to feed, which makes the weaning a bit easier. Still, I had to really force myself to make the break today and her 18-month milestone was a tangible goal in my mind. (Though writing this is now bringing the tears as I process the finality of the whole thing). Truth be told, I am really going to miss those precious times of holding and cuddling.
*She still takes two naps: 1-2 hours in the morning and about 1 hour in the afternoon (on a good day...sometimes she just likes to skip a nap altogether to keep us guessing). She's still a solid 11 hour sleeper at night, going to bed at 8 and getting up at 7. (This may be changing...this past week she's let us sleep in 'til about 8:15 one morning!!)
And, now, because you've earned it: An Adorable Video:
2 comments:
she is such a doll. so pretty! cant believe you are potty training that is awesome! do you think the cloth diapers are helping with the process? love her little singing at the end too. thanks for sharing.
She's adorable!! I think I recognized a dress she had on in one of the pictures :) Thanks, I love to see li'l chicks wearing them.
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