Who, me?!
Hard to believe that this time last year, she was a sweet, docile little babe in arms. Just 3 months old.
Now she is an ever moving, feisty, very vocal, extremely opinionated, most busy, affectionate, funny handful of a fifteen month old toddler.
She pretty much always has a project. And she takes her projects very seriously. Most of them involve playing with inappropriate items, including but not exclusive to: empty pill bottles, baby medicine droppers (she has a great, great fondness for any type of medicine she can con us into giving her. This concerns us…not a little). When she can’t get us to actually medicate her, she finds comfort (as she did in days gone by) in clutching an empty pill bottle/container of baby ibuprofen or medicine dropper).
Exhibit A: Ibuprofen Security Bottle At the Scary Pool:
She is also (as aforementioned), quite a fan of sand. Big on her list of great loves are sticks of any kind. A stick attached to a broom or a spade, is a wonderful bonus in Ellabeth’s world.
Things she likes to say this month: (not necessarily learned this month, just common n this month’s conversation )
“ow!!!” (With GREAT indignation and emphasis, when someone picks her up to do something she does not want to do)
“Hey! Ma!/Da!/Gaycie!” (mostly used to summon us to do her will-with GREAT authority)“
“Good, good, good, good, good!” (sounds more like “gud-gud-gud” used in varying tones, usually wheedling when she is trying to persuade us to give her something. Sort of her version of you’re getting warmer…warmer..yes!!! THAT!!! GIVE ME THE MEDICINE! IN MY MOUTH! NOW!)
“Ready! set! GOOOOOOO!” or just “GOOooo!!!” Often said irritably when she wants to get the show on the road.
She continues to be OBSESSED with climbing the stairs. Which is stressful for all of us. Which is probably precisely why she is obsessed with it. The lure of the forbidden…
She likes to make very tragic sounds in her crib…loudly and when you peek through her door you see that she is quite contentedly playing with her toys, she has just turned on her tragic sounds and put them on autopilot until such a time that they will attract someone’s attention to free her from her cage. See? (tragic sound was being made in this very picture)
Speaking of her cage. This is the month, where she has suddenly made peace with it. She reaches for it with great relief at night and at naptime. We can put her in it awake and leave the room, daring even to make eye contact with her as we close the door. It’s quite surreal. Sadly, this does not mean that she is consistently sleeping through the night (although she went on a quite a great run with that) but it could be that she is teething. She seems a much greater fan of R&R than she used to be.
She also likes to lie in random places. just chilling…showing a little leg…..
She continues to enjoy praying…quietly muttering to herself with folded arms and then ending with a loud cheer of “DAH” (Amen).
She also contributes the “DAH” to any of our prayers
and often cannot quite wait for the end of the prayer to wrap it up.
She loves dogs and will furrow her brow and do a high pitched “arf? arf?” if she believes she hears one or sees one. She particularly loves Shemly and enjoys Shemly licking her hands. Shemly seems to enjoy this too. Both of them are gross in this way, and this is probably why they bond.
She HATES me to read to her. In fact if I attempt to read to her when she is not extremely tired she will slam the book shut and throw it to the ground, disdainfully. Not even watching it drop. (She on the other hand, adores reading to herself).
(Very, very late one recent night… when she was tired enough to allow it)
She is eating slightly better than she was. Especially if she is fed by or distracted by her siblings.
Happily she loves milk a lot more than she loved formula and so her bottle is no longer The Enemy.
For all her independence she still prefers me to hold her bottle for her. (Leaving her hand free for yoga)
She is thrilled to have her siblings home for the Summer, the other day they left for about an hour when she was awake and she was a miserable wreck for the entire time. When I carried her into the kitchen and she saw them, she stiffened,practically leaped out of my arms and yelped a joyful, “HIIIIIIIII!!!!! It’s going to be really fun for me when they go back to school.
She is a shameless flirt, with girls, boys, men, women and animals. If they are in the vicinity she will cock her head and smile shyly until she has their attention whereupon she may continue to smile or coyly look away. Just so long as you are her fan and paying attention, she’s cool. That’s all she needs.
Walking? Not so much. She’s loving it if you’re holding on to her arms, she can do it when you barely hold just one of her hands, and she can totally stand unassisted when she doesn’t realize she is doing it, but our dare devil has become somewhat of a wuss lately and well…the butt scootch is just more emotionally comfortable for her.
couldn’t resist putting this photo in again, sorry. I think it might be my all time fav.
And that bum scootch is FAST, man!
Here is a short video of the series of failed attempts by Gabe and me to get Ella to walk today.Enjoy! Isn’t her stained blue bedroom carpet (probably from the 60’s) glorious?!
For more evidence of developmentally appropriate wussiness check it: freaking out about the pool the first time we introduced her to it this season. (And not at all happy about the bath lately either).
Finny had to ride with her when she went in the bike trailer for the first time (yep, freaking out)
Did I mention that she has upped the drama quotient considerably this month?
Although to be fair, there is still a little dare devil in her. She likes when the kids play stroller derby with her
(See? There’s a smile in that blur)
She is an intrepid rock climber…
She has become quite the fearless entrepeneur (selling drinks at a recent fundraiser)
She is not above showing some leg or looking ridiculously cute to increase sales
And she became a moderately good driver this month (but she’s only allowed to drive in daylight hours.
And discussed here, she is still heavily into interpretive dance (especially inspired by the music of Gotye-which she can find on my iphone btw.) She is also fond of Adele. you know, for when she needs to access her soulful side…
Gosh she is a funny little thing, she makes us laugh so much and her hugs make my heart sing. We love her so much.
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2 comments:
this is a really cute collection of mini-milestones! a fun read. happy 15th month! :)
Thanks SO much for including us in her life. The pics and commentary are so cute. She is delightful! The bum scootch is EXACTLY like Sam used to do. It must be a family trait.
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