Eleanor

Well, I didn't hardly take any pictures from mid-July to August, which is really too bad, seeing as my big sister was here from Texas and my little brother got married. So until I can beg, borrow, or steal some pictures that other people took, I'll skip ahead to the end of August.


Eleanor turned one. It's nuts.

She had a good  birthday; I'm pretty sure.

Mim was a good helper and opened all her presents for her.

She likes cake.

Some other milestones that I've been terrible about recording:

*She started walking around 10.5 months- earlier than I was ready for, that's for sure.

*She's taken off verbally. She started with "dada" and "mama" and "kitty" at around 9 months or so and is adding a new word almost every day, it seems. Today she apparently said "dance" (or whatever her version of it is)several times to my sister while she was doing her little stomp dance. Yesterday she started saying quack for her ducky. It's just amazing how fast she's learning.

*She throws tantrums. She's no longer at that passive age where Mim could take stuff from her without her caring, and has even moved past when Mim could take something from her and give her something else to play with to appease her. Now she wants THAT TOY and keeping the peace has become a big part of the full time job around here.

*Tantrums usually involve her stomping her little feet and flapping her arms, so it's hard to be too frustrated by them. She has occasionally thrown herself to the floor.

*She might have tantrums, but she's also extremely happy and contented the other 95% of the time. She's been a champ at new situations and meeting new people, which definitely has made my life easier.

*She's taken a real shine to her Grandpa. She runs to him to give him hugs every time we see him and says "Ga-pa." Today while I was changing her diaper I told her we were going to see Grandpa and she immediately started craning her neck around to try to see him, yelling, "Ga-pa! Ga-pa!" It's the sweetest thing.

*Her love for her Grandpa just might be overshadowed by her love for her daddy, though. Usually  some time after her afternoon nap she'll start looking for him, wandering through the house yelling "Dada! Dada!" and knocking on our bedroom door, the bathroom door, and the basement door. Sometimes she checks the back door, too.

*She's not as scrawny as I thought! After spending time with her brawny (husky, chubby, fat, roly-poly) cousin Asher that's 5 months old and definitely outweighed her, I was sure she must be the tiniest little tiny thing. Not so. She weighed 19.75lbs at her one year checkup, which is almost exactly average. She is a shorty- I can't remember exactly, but it was around the 10%tile. And of course, she has a giant head (94%tile).

*We're transitioning from two naps to one. Not my favorite thing.

*She's my little baby tornado right now. Picking up things, toddling to the next room, dropping them, picking up different things, and repeat. All day.

*She goes to bed about 6:30 every night, which is lovely. She sleeps until about 7:30-8:00, too. Of course, that kind of depends on if Mim wakes her up or not. (I'm very anxious for the basement to be finished so they can have separate rooms.)

*She gives loves and kisses. Big, wet, open baby mouth kisses.

*Probably her favorite phrases are "uh-oh," "yay!" (while clapping), and "q-q," which is how she says thank you. She says it when she gives me things as well as when I give her something. Heartwarming for sure.

So that's Eleanor. She's wonderful.