Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Sixteen Months

I've given up on weighing and measuring Ellie every month and I'll just leave that part to the doctor whenever she has a well baby checkup.


The past month has been a busy one for this little girl.  It included Thanksgiving, moving, getting sick, and a lot of regular development stuff.

Speech:  New words happen at what seems like every day.  New words for her list are: done, full, amen (so cute!), dive, snow, watch, more, cheek, chin, hair, ear, nose, eye, bonk, and a few others that aren't coming to mind at the moment.

Teeth:  She's up to sixteen and I hope we can have a rest for a while.

Motor:  Stairs are still a source of entertainment and development.  Ellie is at the point she can hold on to the wall and go up or down stairs without sitting.  However, her favorite way of getting downstairs is diving.  One of us stands a few stairs down and holds out our arms.  She then smiles broadly, makes her arms go spread eagle and falls forward.  It's great fun but would be more appreciated by her parents if she didn't think it was a great idea to do it while standing on a chair...while our backs are turned.  Sometimes we'll get a warning when she screams "die!" (dive) a moment before leaping.

Eating is another motor improvement.  When we give her a fork or a spoon to eat with she tries to use it.  Sometimes it works, sometimes not, but that's part of the fun.

Social:  Eliana loves to play with others.  She's not nervous around most people and will readily be held by them, particularly if they have cheese.  She remains a very happy girl.

Other tidbits:  The newest fascination is with snow.  Now that we've had enough of a storm for the snow to stick all she wants to do is go outside and play in it.  We bought her some boots and mittens, but I still haven't taken her out because her pants will soak right through and I'm usually sewing something for pay.

Moving was new experience for her.  It's been difficult for her to get used to sleeping in a new room, but Ellie is working on it and her parents are praying for patience in the meantime.  The picture below while we were in the packing process and she found daddy's cup from karate.  I wasn't able to get the picture of when she had it over her nose, but the expression on her face in the one I did get is priceless.  "Mommy, what's this for?"



Sleeping positions have always been fun.  Her favorite is curled up on her tummy, but sometimes we get gems like the one below.


We spend a lot of time together in the sewing room.  Eliana's favorite activity in the sewing room is climb up on the chair by the serger and grab loose pins (she's learned how to safely handle them).  Once that's done she likes to insert said pins in the hole in the knob on top.  At least the pins can't fall through the hole.  I just love that the pictures look like she's taking after Mommy and Grandma.






Sadly, I can't review this month without mentioning Ellie's first real sickness.  She started coughing and when it didn't go away and got more wet and more persistent I took her in to see the doctor.  While there Eliana energetically explored the exam table and everything else in the room.  I was sure the doctor was going to see that and tell me my kid was fine.  First off he looked in her ears and said, "She's got red, bubbly ears."  That didn't sound good.  After listening to her lungs and saying she was wheezing (duh) he prescribed three medicines to get rid of her bronchitis.  Yuck.  She had a pill that needed to be crushed and mixed in with food, a liquid antibiotic, and an inhaler that she refused to use.  We had to get a mask and a spacer, but there was only one way to get that kid to take her inhaler (see picture below) and that only had limited success. She's fine now, but it wasn't a good time.



Lastly, Eliana has developed a habit of putting things in places they don't go.  Usually that's the bathroom and, more specifically, the bathtub.  I think the only reason the olive oil didn't make it into the tub was that it was too heavy to throw over the side.  The bathtub is not the go-to place when I can't find something.  Works like a charm.

We can't get enough of this little girl!

2 comments:

Christin said...

She is so beautiful!

Sharon said...

Oh man...what an update! Her hair is getting so long and it looks more red than I had thought before! Is that so or am I just slow to notice? She looks very cute behind the sewing machine! :)