Disclaimer: This post is long. I'm making up for lost time, y'all! :)
My (occasionally not so sweet) princess is 18 months.
--as of July 25th that is--
That's a YEAR AND A HALF folks.
Seriously, how did that happen? It still seems like yesterday almost that I was holding her in my arms for the very first time. Time really does fly bye and it's such a bittersweet feeling.
I always planned on continuing with the monthly posts after Ellie turned a year, but each month kept on escaping by at lightning speed. I regret not putting more effort into those updates now though. Perhaps I'll try to do one every 2-3 months from here on out.
So, what has Miss Eliana Grace been up to?
Stats
At her 18 month appointment this week she weighed in at 27 pounds (93%) and is 34.5 inches long (98%) and she's wearing 18mo-24mo clothing depending on the brand or clothing item. She has 11 teeth, I think, as it's very difficult to look in her mouth.
Sleep
Ellie typically wakes up between 7-8am, though sometimes we're lucky enough to see her beautiful face at 6am on the dot. :) She's definitely down to one nap a day, usually going down around 1 and sleeping for 2-3 hours. Then she's back up until about 8/8:30.
Communication
We've been using baby sign language since Ellie was around 8 or 9 months. We don't use it for everything, but she pretty much signs all the things we've taught her -- please, more, water, thank you, milk, all done, eat. Some she willingly does on her own all the time, others only after we've done it. Water is the big one. She points to her water when she wants it. We ask her if she wants water while simultaneously signing water, please. Then she'll do it too. Homegirl has a mind of her own!
Ellie pretty much understands almost everything we say to her. She'll follow most things we tell her to do (or not to do), knows where all her body parts are, etc. She says a bunch of words, but goes through phases of when she wants to say them. She says mama, dada, da (dog), tanks (thank you), nie-nie (night-night), cheeeeese (cheese), skees (keys), soos (shoes), fissss (fish), no (NO!), hiiiii (hi), ha/huh (hat) and I think she might be saying mus (mouse, as in Mickey Mouse; fantastic). She makes tons of animal sounds too -- grrr (for a bear AND lion), neiiiigh that sounds more like a chuckle (horse), mooo (cow), ufff (dog), sssss (snake), aoooo (elephant). She's obsessed with cats and birds, but can't quite get either sound down just yet.
Personality
Little miss thing loves to be the center.of.attention. She loves when all eyes are on her all the time. She also tends to think the world revolves around her. She's officially in the terrible two tantrum phase which has been fun, of course. I just started reading Love and Logic and we're working on implementing these strategies in terms of discipline.
When she's not being her feisty little self, she's such a sweetheart. Total cuddle bug and loves to offer kisses. Says hi to everyone and everything when we're out in public, but is still shy when people come up to her. While she loves to be the center of attention, she's a total observer. She's really funny and laughs at herself all the time. She's in a teasing phase where she acts like she's going to give you (or the dogs) something, then takes it back last second and hysterically laughs at herself like it's the funniest thing in the world.
Food
It is no secret that Ellie is a picky baby. When we started BLW her around 6-8 months, things were great! She'd eat almost everything we gave her. Then, ironically, the more things we introduced to her, the more she started realizing how much better food there was other than fruits and veggies. The result? The pickiest baby EVER. Fortunately, she's slowly coming out of that phase and has started eating more things. There use to be a list of no more than 10 things she'd eat. We're making progress though!
Breakfast usually consists of waffles, toast, pancakes, eggs, oatmeal, or cereal with some sort of fruit and cottage cheese or yogurt. Her fruit diet use to only consist of bananas, but now she'll eat strawberries, grapes, peaches, and blueberries as well.
Lunch is often leftovers from the night before, grilled cheese, ham/cheese or PB&J sandwich, mac & cheese, chicken quesadilla, chicken nuggets, hot/corn dogs, fish sticks, you know, real healthy stuff. I always include a fruit or veggie - a fruit listed above or sweet potatoes and occasionally another veggie hidden in something else (broccoli bites, spinach hidden in whatever else I made her). Veggies are still a HUGE struggle.
For dinner we usually try to give her whatever we're eating. If we know it's something she won't eat, then we'll give her something listed in the lunch section. She pretty much loves all chicken/fish dishes I make, but things like salad or things with too much sauce, she's not a fan. She doesn't like sauces or any conidments other than ketchup, whose kid is this? Not mine.
As for snacks, anything cracker like, fruit, yogurt or cottage cheese, nutrigrain bars, string cheese, apple sauce pouches, peanut butter filled pretzels, raisins, goldfish, veggie sticks, etc.
She refuses to drink milk ever since we cut bottles at 17 months, though our pedi isn't at all worried with the other dairy she eats. Not to mention, she's clearly not underfed. We also dropped the pacifiers around 15-16 months.
Favorites
playing hide and seek
reading books
pushing her babies around in her stroller (and usually into the dogs)
chasing the dogs and playing tug-o-war with Lily
feeding the dogs
going through the cabinets and lining up all the cans or Tupperware bowls
baths
walking up and down the stairs
going for walks
playing outside, especially in water or with the hose
Mickey Mouse and Little Einsteins
coloring and painting, though neither lasts more than 5 minutes
sitting on the potty and making the ssss sound, but not actually going
helping with things - watering the pants, carrying bags, "fixing" things, putting things away, putting clothes in washer/dryer, taking things in and out of the dishwasher, etc.
Dislikes
getting her diaper changed
unfamiliar people trying to hold her
guys with lots of facial hair
being told no and not getting her way
I really tried to narrow the pictures down here and technically, I did.
Though I still know it's a ton.
Vacations excluded; I'll make separate posts on those. :)
| teaching Ellie 'bout the Mullan car business |
| cuuuuute |
| Valentine's Day 2014 |
| sisterly love - plus a double chin shot :)) |
| ready to play with the big kids already |
| Phoenix Zoo - February 2014 |
| JP's best Ellie chipmunk expression |
| Ellie's first spring training game - March 2014 |
| St. Patrick's Day 2014 - Daddy's lucky charm |
| the park next door is clearly a big hit in this family |
| the REAL Ellie |
| Daddy rides! |
| the bed head this girl gets is unreal, y'all! |
| Easter 2014 |
| Railroad Park |
| Mother's Day 2014 |
| Nana's Surprise 50th |
| she loves Oreos; definitely daddy's girl |
| Fourth of July 2014 |
| this girl -- 18 months going on 18 |
My love for my sweet girl is never ending and just when I think I couldn't possibly love her more, I fall more in love with her the next day. She truly is my little mini best friend and I'm SO incredibly thankful that she is ours. While she has a mind of her own that drives me crazy from time to time, she truly is the most precious gift full of love and sweetness. I look forward to many more milestones with my beautiful Eliana Grace.
I will never take so long to post pictures again.
Going through 6 months of pictures is not a walk in the park, people.
