{lion: jellycat via Nordstrom // tank: babyGap // overalls: Zara (old)}
{month twenty-one} so I just instagrammed this picture of Eloise today before lunch & added the usual #twentymonths hashtag, but it wasn’t until I got a reminder on my phone to do her monthly photoshoot that I even realized it was the 10th! short version of the story: where did the month go?
as we have continued to suspect for the past few months, we still think Eloise is working on those two-year molars. though her dentist told us it wasn’t really common for toddlers to get these early, she was pretty early with all of her other teeth so it wouldn’t surprise me at all. there isn’t any sign of the teeth yet in her gums, but she has been sucking & chewing on her fingers like mad recently (so much so that I am sort of amazed I got this month’s picture without her hand in her mouth!). also, the past three or four nights, Eloise has been waking up crying & just wanting to cuddle (which is really unusual), & one of my mama friends just told me her daughter did the same thing right before her molars started cutting. poor kiddo! hopefully we will get thru these molars & be done with teething for a while!
while Eloise hasn’t seemed to grow much based on her wardrobe, she is definitely getting heavier (as you can see from her weight below she is probably 2 or 3 pounds heavier this month!). I don’t notice it much during the day when I am picking her up, but I do notice it when I have to get her up from her crib! it makes me miss those days when her mattress was up high & she was so little…
we are still using cloth diapers full-time & really liking it (as much as you can like diapers). we recently added Grovia Hybrid diapers (see the links below) to our stash after a recommendation from a few friends & starting to dislike the BumGenius Freetimes (the one with the two flap liners sewn in). I was really cautious about trying other types of cloth diapers at first since it was already pretty overwhelming, but at this point, I have a really good system down & I understand so much more about cloth, so I have been happily trying other diapers. with Grovia, the shell is reusable (if it doesn’t get wet or soiled) and the liners snap in & out; plus, it works as a swim diaper without the liner! and the awesome thing about Grovia is that we added an extra booster liner the other night & there was no leaking! we usually do a disposable at night since we could never get the BumGenius to not leak, so I am pretty excited! we aren’t planning on getting any more diapers for the stash until we have another baby (and we only got two new Grovia diapers), but even a few less disposables every week makes a difference.
Eloise is still such a chatterbox and is blowing us away with how much she says. she is really mimicking these days though, so we have to be careful what we say around her! she is much more into communicating verbally than with signs these days, but gets so frustrated if she doesn’t know a word for something or we don’t understand what she is saying. sometimes she will say something to me (and I have NO idea what it is) and then she will nod like she wants me to do the same because I understand, but I really don’t… it is frustrating and endearing at the same time!
singing is still a favorite thing as well as music. after being in Maui with Grammie & having lots of singing time in the back seat of the car, Eloise often requests “No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” which she does with an “oooo” (like a monkey sound) or shaking her finger & saying “no no no” (like “no more monkeys!) or pretending to hit her head (like “one fell off and bumped his head!). so cute! but if you start to sing a song that she doesn’t like, she will totally cut you off!
the past few months we have been really working on animal sounds (like I mentioned last month) but now I am switching gears to counting & colors. Eloise’s favorite number is two & she constantly repeats it! she seems to understand numbers but I think is a ways away from being able to recite them. when we say “can you say one?” she will say “two!” and then repeat any number except for one… good thing she is turning two soon! with colors, her favorites are blue, purple, and black, and if you ask her what color something is, 99% of the time she will tell you it is blue. on the other hand, if you ask her to pick out a specific colored object, she is usually right!
since it has been so nice & sunny & dry here the past few weeks, we have started using the dog door again for Sadie, much to Eloise’s delight! I think she was too young to remember it from last spring & summer since we had it closed all winter. and even though it is in the stairwell, Eloise doesn’t try to go look at it when she isn’t supposed to. but every time we go up and down the stairs, she yells “Sadie!” because she loves to see her go in & out the door. also, Eloise is obsessed with Sadie’s leash & taking Sadie on a walk or in the car with us. she loves to look over when she’s in her carseat & see Sadie sitting in the backseat with her. and just last night we gave Eloise the leash on our family walk before bedtime. she handled the leash so well & was so proud of herself for walking Sadie! it was the sweetest thing ever.
here’s a video from last night. part-way thru I say “Sadie whoa!” in which Sadie is supposed to stop walking, but instead she keeps walking forward & Eloise just starts saying “whoa whoa whoa!”
and finally this month, I wanted to share a funny little thing that Eloise has started doing. on the weekends we usually sleep in a bit, but Aaron almost always gets up with Eloise and heads upstairs to start breakfast so that I get to stay in bed a bit longer & take my time getting up. lately though as soon as they are upstairs, Eloise will yell “Mama!” down the stairs to see if she can get me to yell something back. it is pretty funny. except when she keeps yelling “MAMA!” until I come up the stairs… oh toddlers!
{weight} 29 pounds.
{hair} dark (reddish) brown.
{teeth} 12 teeth plus four molars.
{eyes} dark brown.
{clothes} 18 month (growing out of), 18 to 24 months, 2T, and some 3T (though it’s really big still).
{diapers} full-time cloth {bum genius pocket, & elemental and most recently grovia hybrid with organic soaker pads} & honest company size 5 diapers at night with a bum genius diaper cover.
{feeding} during the day, three meals, morning snack, & afternoon snack. sippy cup of milk with every meal.
{likes} buckles, jumping, watching out the front window (dogs, kids, trucks), books, mama & papa’s cell phone, toys that squeak or rattle, singing & music, dancing, Sadie, standing, FaceTime, bathtime, her snack cup, shoes, mama’s (diaper) bag, clapping, putting things inside a bag or box, taking lids off of things, talking (Mama, Papa, quack quack), coloring, helping with anything & everything, when Papa comes home from work.
{dislikes} having something taken away from her, diaper changes, not eating when someone else is, being hungry, getting into the carseat, getting out of the carseat.
{nicknames} Bug{s}, Love Bug, Baby Bug, E, Wheezy, Kiddo, Love, Bugaboo, Ellie or Elle.
Happy twenty-one months Eloise!
M
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