What's she been up to?

We've been bad about keeping this thing up-to-date lately, but she's been up to a lot!

Within the last few days, she has been really working on pulling up on things -- bathtubs, coffee tables, couches, walls, etc. She then stands there indefinitely, holding on to her chosen anchor... "This is cool and all, but what do I do now?" She's still learning about sitting back down "gently" and "on purpose".

She continues to babble more and more, and really has been showing a desire to communicate. A few days ago, she had one of Julie's articles of clothing hooked around her leg and looked to Julie for assistance using her signature "Ehhh..?" Julie looked back and simply said "You want mommy's help? Oh, well just pull down your leg and around your foot, honey." So Elise looked back at her leg and proceeded to do exactly that. Of course, she gave herself a resounding round of applause for her efforts.

She has also been doing other things that lead us to believe that she really understands what we're saying to her. We were feeding her dinner last night, and one of her favorite things to do while we feed her is to bat the spoon away. So, I decided to try the obvious. "Here honey -- let daddy give you this food -- open your mouth..." And whaddya know.. it actually worked. She looked back at me for a moment, stopped trying to swat her hands in the air, and just dropped her jaw as if to say "Well, then -- let's have it!" Why didn't I think of this before?

She continues to dislike diaper changes -- she will wait until you've got the diaper off and, with little regard to whether we've finished cleaning her up, she'll take off -- "I'm free!" We have noticed that the best distraction techniques to use are post-card sized direct mail pieces and sun tan lotion bottles. She could stare at those things for hours on end!

She has recently gotten her 7th tooth in.. this 7th tooth is the tooth to the left of the bottom two middle teeth. She has the 4 middle teeth up top, and now the two middle and the one to the left of those on the bottom..

And speaking of teeth, she has become quite good at brushing them! What's a little odd is that we never really had to work with her on that. We handed her a toothbrush one day with a small amount of toothpaste on it, and she guides it all around her mouth like a pro, actually _brushing_ her teeth. I'm not sure if it just feels good on her gums or if she's seen us doing it, but it's really cute. She actually enjoys it too much sometimes and it can be difficult to get the thing away from her at bed time.

We had scheduled an appointment to have her "Yay, I'm 1 year old now!" pictures taken and had to reschedule. Julie and Elise actually went to the appointment, and Elise was in great spirits all the way in, waving to people all the way back to the JC Penney photo studio, but once Julie put her down in the studio and the photographer went to work trying to make her laugh and "smile for the birdie", Elise had anything but laughing on her mind. She has been generally going through a stranger anxiety phase lately, and her feelings seem to be exacerbated in uncertain surroundings (like the very dark and at the same time very bright, strange JC Penney photo studio). So I guess that's that. We'll try again on Sunday, and this time I'll be attending -- hopefully I'll be able to help out a little bit. I'll give an update once we get those pictures back, and hopefully we'll eventually have some of the pictures to show here.

It Finally Happened

Both my mom and Dee Dee having been saying, "Just you wait until you go into Elise's room and she's standing up in her crib, big smile, jumping up and down, and reaching up to you." Well, it happened on Saturday. I walked into her room and she said, "Ma...," and proceeded to jump up and down, smiling and reaching up. (She of course had Soft Baby clutched in the crook of her arm too. They sleep together.)

You know you’re a mom when…

You have just finished taking a bath, doing your hair and makeup and have on a clean shirt and pants - which doesn’t happen as frequently as it use to happen. Then, your little girl who has teething biscuit crumbs all over her hands, face and clothes looks up at you and stretches her arms high for you to hold her. Of course, you pick her up and she wraps her little graham cracker-smelling arms around you and right into your hair for a great big hug. And suddenly, it doesn’t matter that you have soggy cookie pieces all over you.

Again!

So Phil and I have been reading Pooh ABCs at least 5 times a day to Elise for the past couple weeks – at her request. This week, we even tried to replace it with another Pooh book, but she hemmed and hawed until we got out the ABC book. We couldn’t figure out what it was that she liked about it until this Sunday. When we get to the end, we sing, “Now I know my ABCs next time won’t you sing with me.” Well, Elise started singing (or humming) along and now if you start singing the ABCs, she’ll pick up and “sing” the remainder of the song. Sometimes, she skips a couple letters of the alphabet just to get to the last page where we sing. She’ll even sing it in the car. It’s the sweetest thing to hear.

Mommy I’m Hungry!

One of Elise’s favorite activities is to take items out of the diaper bag and put them back into the bag – well some of the items go back into the bag. This weekend, I looked over and she was taking her bottle and formula out of the bag, holding them up high and looking at me like, “Well…. Are you going to feed me?”

Elise’s First Rodeo – and mommy and daddy’s too

Over the weekend, we took Elise to the state fair and went to see the rodeo. (Yes, we live in Columbus and go to rodeos. That’s what you do.) She loved it. Her mouth dropped when she saw the rodeo queen ride her horse around the arena. She pointed out the bulls to us, and whenever we clapped, she clapped too. And when we weren’t clapping, she would grab my hands and make me clap. At one point, she was so overjoyed that her mouth dropped and she held her hands to both sides of her cheeks. Of course, everyone nearby went, “Awe.”

Here's a photo of Elise walking home from the fair.

Camera Shy?

 
Not exactly camera shy! Being the busy bee that she is, she is constantly trying to examine every detail of anything that looks shiny or interesting, and this includes (of course) the camera.

Elise and the bunny, take 2

Man, she just loves this thing! :)

Reach out and touch someone

Lately, Elise has demonstrated her ability to "Reach out and touch someone" in several ways...

1.) This weekend as we were walking out of Cracker Barrel, Elise randomly reached out and gingerly but firmly squeezed a random lady's arm, as if she really wanted to impress the importance of what she was thinking on this woman. The lady thought it was pretty funny.

2.) When I got home from work today, Elise grabbed my cell phone with a purpose. I thought she was randomly hitting buttons, but she has a plan. First, she changed my phone's wallpaper from a picture of her in an OSU rocking chair (taken while we were at Cracker Barrel) to an older picture of her feet. Once she had accomplished that, she pulled up my recent calls list, scrolled down to Ron Smith's cell phone, and gave him a call. Of course, before she called, she activated my speaker phone, so mommy, daddy, and Elise could all talk to Grandpa Ron. Coincidence or brilliance? You decide... :)

Ball Popper

Elise loves playing with her ball bopper (if you don't know what it is, here's a video that shows the toy in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lQmErTuzn8). Today she finally mastered the cause and effect of hitting the button on the ball popper and the thing turning on / playing its music. She was very proud of herself.

Bunny's the Best

You never know what your child is going to like or why. Her new thing is bunny. We've had bunny since Elise was born but she's just recently been discovered by Miss Busy. She's white and fuzzy with pink ears and Elise likes to give her hugs, throw her in the air and chew on her ears. A Velveteen Rabbit in the making.

Where's Elise?

She's a little girl on the move. Last night as I was getting her ready for her bath, I sat her down to test the bath water temperature. Next thing I know, she's gone but I hear her squealing and babbling her way down the hall. I chase her down and see her little bare bottom making its way to the stair landing. She laughs and squeals when I pick her up.

Snuggle Bug

Elise and I went to the grocery today. She loves to watch people and to wave to them as we shop. Today, she was a snuggle bug and initiated giving me hugs. She kept reaching her arms up from the shopping cart and giving me big bear hugs. What a Peanut!

Where's Da?

Elise searches the house for Da after he has left for work. She searches the bedroom and asks, "Da?" They had a great weekend together. Monday's are tough.

Elise's New Thing

Elise pets the top of her head as she is rocked to sleep. She use to grab my hair! Now, she has her own.

I'm a busy Peanut

Elise puts various items around the house into the laundry basket, from shoes and baby bottle tops to her favorite Pooh books. Then, proceeds to "explore" everything else in her reach.