{onesie: Carter’s // shorts: Carter’s // moccasins: Freshly Picked}
{week 40} it definitely feels like we are in the “homestretch” over her when it comes to weekly updates. I want to do some type of update (maybe monthly?) for eloise (I mean, this is her baby book after all!) but haven’t yet decided. 12 more weeks until one… I still cannot believe it!
this week eloise has been much more verbal & physically active. though having already discovered her tongue some time ago, eloise has started playing with her tongue & her bottom lip. the combination of this & her constant babbling is that she sounds like a tiny auctioneer. it is hilarious! I am trying to get a good video or recording of it to share. she has also been testing the volume (loudness) & shrillness of her voice lately. this results in her shrieking multiple times a day, usually around mealtime.
on the activity level, eloise cannot sit still for the most part. in the morning time when she plays while I make her breakfast, she can usually sit on her playmat & pull all of the toys out of her toy basket, licking each one & examining it! by the afternoon though, I have to either be in the living room with her or have her “contained” in the exersaucer. she just gets too far too quickly these days & we haven’t yet put a gate up at the top of our stairs*. eloise has mastered the army crawl & now uses both of her forearms on the ground & her toes & knees (a bit) to maneuver around (she used to use one forearm & one hand). she is up on her hands & knees more & more, rocking back & forth, & seems much more in control of that movement. I expect her army crawl to turn into a crawl any day now…
many of our friends with kiddos of similar ages “walk” with their kids. by that I mean hold them by the hands or arms & help them walk while the kids move their own feet. while I am not really crazy about holding eloise just by her arms (I had one pop out of its socket quite a bit as a kid so it makes me extra nervous) I do hold her up under her arms or around her waist while she is standing. she doesn’t really walk though (as in move her feet). usually she looks down at her feet, realizes she is standing, & then starts jumping up & down. so eloise may jump before she walks! (& I am in no hurry for her to start walking – developmental delays aside)
a lot of people asked about eloise changing time zones & what I did or didn’t do to help with the time change. honestly, I kept her on her normal routine during our travel day & then set my watch to the local time zone when we landed (either jumping forward or backwards in her day). on both ends of our trip, eloise was able to be on local time as soon as we settled in for the most part. going east eloise was tired from missing her third nap of the day, so we kept her up slightly longer in order to do dinner & bathtime before putting her down to bed (three hours before she normally would go down). then going west, we did dinner & bedtime on our final flight, but eloise only slept for a few hours before we landed & then never went back to sleep in the hustle & bustle of being at the airport, getting our bags, & catching a ride home. by the time we got home she was super tired & we put her right to bed. I can’t say it will always work out that well, but I am happy we weren’t dealing with major time issues during & after our trip!
happy 40 weeks eloise!
M
*I know it sounds crazy to most people, but I was sort of hoping not to have to put a gate at the top of our stairs & to just teach eloise, when she is physically capable, of going up & down the stairs safely. I feel like when you gate something off, you make it forbidden & therefore way more fun for kids. if the stairs are just a normal thing, then maybe she won’t want to spend so much time on them? I also realize that she is going to be more mobile at some point & that our stairs are really scary since they are wood. this is still a work in progress, obviously! any tips?