{lion: jellycat via nordstrom
// sweatshirt: Target // bloomers: Carter’s
// moccasins: Freshly Picked}
{month thirteen} it is hard to believe it has already been a month since eloise turned one, but it has. not having a weekly update has been really strange & it feels like there is SO much to share in this monthly post! eloise is becoming a toddler right before our eyes, & it is fun & terrifying at the same time. part of me wants her to stay little forever but everyone used to tell me “it gets so much more fun as kids get older” & we are finding that to be true.
if I could describe eloise this last month (other than her normal happy & joyful self) in just one word it would be BUSY. when she is awake, she is all over the place. she still likes to play independently, but quickly moves from one toy to another, one book to another, & all over the living room (which is where we spend most of our day during awake time if we are home). we have been able to “eloise-proof” the living room pretty well which is great since she can wander a bit without getting into too much trouble & I feel like I don’t have to say “no thank you” all day long. while I don’t always love having her play space in the middle of our living room, I do like that she has a big place to play & explore (because it is her house too, right?).
last month I talked about eloise’s torticollis & how we were going to have a collar fitted for her to help her over the last little bit of her head tilt. well, a few things changed & the short story is that we decided against it (the collar, that is). the long story is that eloise’s pediatrician was pretty hesitant to have her in a collar & suggested perhaps an orthopedic consult before going ahead with anything other than PT. then eloise’s pediatrician & her PT (Susie & Suzy, respectively) discussed & decided together that a collar wasn’t necessary, but they would support us if we wanted to go in that direction. we didn’t. so we had another PT appointment with Suzy last week & she was really impressed with eloise’s progress. enough that she discharged eloise from PT! there is still some head tilt present, but it comes & goes without being an issue. as eloise has become more upright & is standing more, it helps straighten her out. hopefully we are in the clear & won’t need any more PT in the future.
for the past few months eloise has been helpful in getting herself dressed, though it has become more helpful recently. she helps pull shirts off & on (over her large noggin’!), knows she has to switch whatever she is currently holding into the other hand for the sleeve, & even will stand up & move her weight from side-to-side to help with pant legs. while she really prefers to be in just a diaper (well, naked if she really had her way!) she does well with getting dressed. I have been loving having her big enough to be in separates – a top & bottoms – rather than a onesie. while onesies are nice & I just picked up a few for cooler weather, it is so nice for diaper changes to have to just take off her bottoms.
eloise has discovered her finger, specifically her pointer finger. she points & babbles at everything; sometimes she is very specific in what she is pointing at (like when she wants water at mealtime) & sometimes she just points at everything & anything (like when she is just up from a nap). it is really fun to have her so engaged in her environment & she is showing me what she is seeing. if anything is different, she will notice! eloise also has discovered, with pointing, that her pointer finger is a perfect fit in her nostril! she doesn’t do it a lot, but she does like to stick her finger up her nose… I don’t see that going away any time soon.
standing is the most fun thing for eloise these days & she likes to spend most of her time vertically. she cruises along everything until she runs out of support & then drops down to her knees & starts to crawl. she has been able to stand by herself for a few seconds, but by the time she realizes she is standing, she is down on her bottom. the times that she is most successful in standing on her own, she is also holding onto something. I heard recently from a mama friend that kids are able to stand on their own while holding something long before they can stand on their own (hands empty); I am not sure whether it is a balance thing or a mental thing, but I find it is definitely true with eloise! she loves to walk while holding onto your hands, though we really try not to do that with her too often. she did take a single step towards aaron the other day (twice in a row!) which she was pretty proud of. she doesn’t seem too motivated to walk yet since she knows she can crawl so much faster, but I suspect she will start taking solo steps any day now! plus, she can walk & push her little IKEA cart {as seen on instagram here}.
in the past few weeks I have noticed that eloise has started offering me (or Aaron or grammie) the food, book, or toy she has in her hand. with food, she often will pick up a piece of food, offer it to someone, but then not give away that piece of food, opting instead to eat it! with books I find that she is happy if I sit her in my lap & read her that book. it is a fun stage that really makes her seem like a toddler!
as I shared in the past, we decided not to completely child-proof our house, meaning that not every door & cabinet has a lock. because of this, we have to be more mindful of eloise when she is in the kitchen, but it also meant that we stocked a lower cabinet (the one by the fridge) to be completely eloise-safe. it houses (cloth) napkins, placemats, plastic straws (use a paper straw if you are at our house, trust me!), & all of eloise’s food stuff (cups, bottles, plastic containers, bibs, etc.). she knows exactly which cabinet it is & will often head straight for it when making her way into the kitchen. she knows that the other cabinets are off-limits, but still tries to go for them anyways (which we tell her “no thank you” or “stop”). it is nice to have a place where I know she won’t destroy anything if I need a few minutes to get a meal prepped or dishes cleaned up.
eloise has learned “hello” & “good-bye,” & will wave accordingly if she hears those words. she used to do a big arm wave, but now folds her fingers down in a small little hand wave. it is the cutest thing ever. she waves to people, dogs, & inanimate objects. the funniest thing about it is that she waves backwards (towards herself)! someday she will figure out to flip that hand around, but for now it is pretty sweet!
the DVD collection we have in the bottom two bookshelves in our living room is a constant source of fascination & activity for eloise. she spends a lot of time pulling the DVDs off of the shelves onto the floor & sadie’s dog bed below, & then will sit down & examine some of the DVDs. she has learned which ones she can open which she really enjoys, almost like reading a book. we haven’t watched any of the DVDs in years (seriously) & have talked about getting rid of them, but I think eloise would be disappointed. & as much of a pain as it is to clean them up a few times a day, the DVDs have become a good object for independent play that I think they will be around for some time (probably until I completely redo that bookshelf!).
from the time eloise started becoming mobile, the remote control to the Xbox (& tv) has been a fun toy. she quickly learned that the remote would come apart into two pieces if she dropped it hard enough, so every time she has it, she is trying to throw it on the ground. this was inadvertent on our part that she learned this fun little trick which she also tests with other electronics (like cell phones…); had we realized earlier what kind of habit we were creating (& teaching her) we would have stopped her immediately. oh well. live & learn, right? & in her attempt to break apart the remote (which isn’t actually harmful to the remote itself) she sometimes also turns on the tv which to a child who has zero amount of screen time (with the exception of FaceTime with family) is the best thing ever!
eloise is still eating really well, though she is starting to show more phases of eating more & eating less, whereas before she was just eating so much! she has a great appetite & we mostly stick to three meals a day, with an occasional snack after her afternoon nap to help get her to dinner. we (eloise & I) tend to eat a pretty early lunch (11:30 am) each day so that we have lots of time for an activity or an errand in the early afternoon before we have to be home for bedtime. she seems to do well with the schedule that we are currently on with two naps a day – the morning nap is generally 45 to 60 minutes & the afternoon nap is generally 45 to 120 minutes – & as much as I would love to only have one nap to schedule around, I really think she still needs two. lately we have pretty much been doing a family meal at dinner meaning eloise eats what we eat, the exception being that I always roast extra veggies for her. this is great because it means that we don’t have to cook two meals & we can all eat dinner together as a family of three. family meals have always been really important to aaron & me, even when life is really crazy (like during law school or a new job). this also limits eloise in her newest need of having to eat whatever mama is eating. generally we have different food for breakfast & lunch, & if she sees me eating something that is really different from what she is eating, she has to get in on it too! sometimes it is a good thing because eloise is broadening her palette, but other times it means she wants something that she shouldn’t be eating (& I probably shouldn’t be either!) that has added salt or sugar, etc.
another really fun thing that eloise has learned this past month is to shake her head (like she’s saying “no”). while she doesn’t know that a head shake is the same thing as “no,” she sometimes shakes in a conversationally appropriate way which is really funny! often I find that she shakes her head when she hears music & is “dancing” (meaning she is bouncing up & down while standing – the cutest) like she is moving to the beat. I am just waiting for the day that she learns how to say “no” & that shaking her head means the same thing. oh toddlerhood!
& the last update (I told you, there was so much happening this past month!) is that eloise learned how to kiss. she opens her mouth & comes right at your face (usually your mouth or nose) with a big slobbery kiss. it is pretty sweet & I don’t even really know where she learned it, other than the fact that she gets approximately 500 kisses each day on her face from her mama! she doesn’t know the word “kiss” yet like she knows “clap” and “wave,” but it won’t be long before she can kiss on command!
{weight} I am guessing 22 pounds.
{hair} dark (reddish) brown. it is starting to get long & is layered in the back with side-swept bangs in the front.
{teeth} four bottom teeth & four-and-a-half top teeth (one top molar is half-in & her bottom gums look swollen).
{eyes} dark brown.
{clothes} 6 to 12 month, 9 month (in pants), 12 month, & some 12 to 18 month (18 is super long!).
{diapers} full-time cloth {bum genius freetime, pocket, & elemental} & honest company size 4 diapers at night with a bum genius diaper cover.
{feeding} during the day, 4 hour cycles. nursing twice a day (after she wakes up in the AM & after her second nap). 2 to 4 oz of milk in a sippy cup at mealtime & a few oz in a sippy cup at bedtime.
{likes} books, mama & papa’s cell phone, toys that squeak or rattle, singing & music, Sadie, standing, FaceTime, bathtime, standing, her snack cup, shoes, mama’s (diaper) bag.
{dislikes} having something taken away from her that she really wants to have, diaper changes, (sometimes) her carseat.
{nicknames} Bug{s}, Love Bug, Baby Bug, E, Wheezy, Kiddo, Love, Bugaboo, Ellie or Elle.
happy thirteen months eloise!
M
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