{lion: jellycat via Nordstrom // onesie: Carter’s // skirt: DIY from Amanda // bow: Hadley Girl (Liberty of London Eloise print) via Brickyard Buffalo}
{month seventeen} This past month went so quickly (I blame the holidays!) that I was genuinely surprised to see the reminder pop up on my phone to do Eloise’s monthly photo shoot & blog post! Seventeen months. How is that even possible?
Eloise is a bundle of energy these days & so, so busy. But can we first talk about those pigtails! I have been able to put her hair up in pigtails for a little while, but I feel like her hair is just now long enough that it actually helps holding her hair back. Though it doesn’t hold her bangs out of her face, which is the biggest issue with her longer hair length. Most days, Eloise will keep a bow (on a clip) in her hair to hold those bangs back.
Talking is something that we have noticed so much more in the past few weeks – Eloise is a chatterbox. She just learned how to say Papa (sounds like Baba) & is overjoyed. She has said Dada in the past, but since we call Aaron Papa instead of Dada or Daddy, it makes much more sense. In the late afternoon/early evening after we have had our afternoon snack, Eloise (& Sadie) are always waiting for Papa to come home. If I say Papa, she will run to the front door & yell Papa! Eloise also says quack quack, woof woof (but more just the F sound), Mama, and a few other simple sounds. In addition, she also learned recently to click her tongue, so she often does that during playtime. A lot of the time, Eloise will just rattle off all of the sounds that she knows, so it sounds a lot like this: Mama quack quack quack woof woof Papa Papa Papa Mama Mama Mama quack quack.
Even though Eloise is learning to vocalize more, she is still a great signer. More and please are probably her most frequently used signs. She uses more to signify more of something, but also if she wants something new (& then you have to figure out what it is that she wants!). When she wants to do something & she isn’t supposed (or has something that she isn’t suppose to have & I take it away) she will sign please, & it is heart-breaking. But, signing has helped us so much in terms of being able to communicate with Eloise & I think it really helps keep all of us from being frustrated over not knowing what Eloise does or doesn’t want.
We started really working last month on it, but Eloise is officially a one-nap-a-day gal! She still has days where she looks ready to go down for a nap in the late morning, but I usually try to do a fun activity or even offer a small snack to help her get thru to lunch. That late morning time is also one of only a few times a day where Eloise is consistently fussy (or grumpy) the other being right before dinnertime. That convergence of hunger & tiredness is brutal sometimes! But, back to my point about one nap per day, it makes it so much easier to be out of the house for an extended period of time, which is so nice most days. I have switched when we go out of the house to run errands, or meet for playdates now to the morning (just after breakfast) as opposed to in the early afternoon which worked better with two naps. Eloise’s daily schedule usually looks something like this:
8 AM – wake-up (yep, a late waker!)
8:30 – breakfast
9 – playtime or errands/playdate (I also often get ready & shower during this time & Eloise will hang out with me in the bathroom in her exersaucer)
11:45 to 12:30 – lunchtime, sometimes it is earlier, sometimes it is later
1 PM – naptime (usually 2.5 to 3.5 hours, on rare occasions 4!)
3:30 (or after naptime) – snack & playtime
5 – Papa is usually getting home
6 to 6:30 – family dinnertime (we try to eat together every night)
7 to 7:30 – bathtime & bedtime
Our schedule, for the most part, is pretty consistent. Eloise has been on a schedule since about 4 months & it really works for all of us. Having that big chunk of time in the afternoon during her naptime is glorious & I am doing my best to be as productive as I can (or on occasion letting myself relax & rest!). That is the time I do projects around the house, DIY, blog, clean the house, etc.
Eloise LOVES to dance & it is the cutest thing I have ever seen! Any time she hears music, she starts to move her body side to side, or bend her knees & bounce, or shake her head. Seriously, the best! I have been trying to get video of it, but so far I haven’t been able to catch it without her catching me with my phone out! Pictures & video of her are tough these days because as soon as she sees that phone, she wants to play with it. It stinks because I feel like I don’t get to capture as many candid moments as I would like to anymore, but it is also a great reminder that I should be present with her in the moment & not worried about my phone.
Eloise, much like her Papa, wants to be helpful & she is a great little helper. She wants to be a part of everything, which is good & bad, but I am really trying to find ways that she can contribute. Over the holiday, my dad & Aaron built Eloise a learning tower which allows her to stand on a stool (of sorts) up at kitchen counter height so she can see what is going on & help out. The stool needed to be sanded & painted, so I will share a picture once we get it back.
As most of you know, Santa brought Eloise a play kitchen for Christmas (& I plan on sharing it soon, along with all of my hacks) & it has been a hit! A lot of the reason I think Eloise likes it so much is because it gives her a play area when she is standing. But I have really noticed her pretend play in the kitchen so much & I hadn’t seen it before Christmas. She will get out a cup or bowl & a spoon & stir, & then offer samples of her dish to anyone who is willing to try. She puts on her little oven mitt before she opens the oven. She puts her cup up to the faucet to get water & then drinks out of the cup.
And finally, I have been really trying to offer Eloise utensils at every meal. She is not super coordinated with them yet, but can get them to her mouth once loaded with food. Sometimes towards the end of the meal the utensils turn into play things & we take them away, but for the most part Eloise is really eager to eat her food off of a fork. I have also been offering her meals on a small ceramic plate or in a bowl. I got little appetizer plates & bowls from Crate & Barrel for about $1 each & they are perfect. It has been great to see that Eloise (mostly) will keep the plate or bowl on her tray or table & not toss it on the floor. It is tremendously helpful to know that she won’t throw dishes on the floor when we go out to eat. We have one plastic bowl we use for snack time & two versions of the EZ-PZ mats but neither Aaron nor I want to exclusively offer Eloise food on plastic plates. Maybe we are crazy or super naïve but the less plastic plates & bowls we have in our house, the better. It is slightly different with glasses & we use almost all plastic glasses & cups for Eloise now, but we are hoping at some point to transition her to small glass cups too, at least for meal times.
{weight} I would guess 25 pounds.
{hair} dark (reddish) brown.
{teeth} 12 teeth plus four molars. Hopefully we get a break before the two-year molars start making an appearance!
{eyes} dark brown.
{clothes} 12 to 18 months (some still fit but quickly growing out of), 18 month (also growing out of), 18 to 24 months.
{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, three meals, an occasional morning snack, & one afternoon snack. sippy cup of milk with every meal.
{likes} 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).
{dislikes} having something taken away from her, diaper changes, not eating when someone else is, being hungry.
{nicknames} Bug{s}, Love Bug, Baby Bug, E, Wheezy, Kiddo, Love, Bugaboo, Ellie or Elle.
Happy seventeen months Eloise!
M
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