18 months old already and just one of our favoritest people on the planet! I cannot tell you how many times a day I hear Jeremy randomly say, "I just really love her! She is awesome!" And I couldn't agree more. This sweet and pretty lady MELTS our hearts and brings smiles 99% of the time. :) We are so glad to have her in our home and family. Lucky us!!!
Things to remember about Elise:
- She doesn't sleep through the night!!! She's too darn cute for us to give her "tough" love and she has been getting worse and worse at sleeping through the night. It is not abnormal for her to be up 2-3 times each night. (Of course last night she slept through the night for the first time in... I can't remember how long - but that is definitely a rarity).
- She naps well. One nap a day. 12ish to 3ish. It's a 2-3 hour nap. She is easy to put down for naps and bedtime. Bottle (YES - she is still on bottles - for milk), book, binkie, scriptures, singing a song, say prayer, lay her down. I have been known to have to simplify the routine at times - then it usually goes bottle, binkie (we can't cut those two out), book, song, bed. She does pretty well.
- Size 4 diapers.
- She will walk up to you and pat her diaper and say "poo poo" when she has pooped and needs a change. Such a genius. :)
- She LOVES peek-a-boo in any way, shape, or form.
- She loves to just toddle around, wandering, exploring, holding on to a random toy - or her favorite frog binkie.
- She climbs more than Isaac ever did (which still doesn't say much). We have to keep the stairs blocked off or she will go right up them... and she still hasn't figured out how to go DOWN stairs safely AT ALL.
- She likes to climb and explore at the playground and wants to go everywhere that the big kids are going. But at the playground her all time favorite is swinging. She could swing forever!!!
- She loves to sing. And she knows the hand motions to lots of songs. She likes Popcorn popping, The wise man built his house upon a rock, the Itsy Bitsy Spider, the ABC song, etc...
- She falls asleep in her car seat if it is close to nap time on a regular basis - even if it is just a 10 minute drive. It cracks us up and we find it so cute - because Isaac NEVER did that.
- She is the world's best eater. That's all there is too it. She is a bottomless pit and she will eat ANYTHING. (We have actually only found one thing that she doesn't like - ironically it is watermelon... we're sure that she will outgrow that though). She eats adult foods and flavors like it is no problem. She is NOT picky. She is just beginning to learn how to eat with a spoon - and she is doing pretty darn well with that.
- The funny thing about Elise... you feed her an ENTIRE meal. A huge portion of a casserole, half a can of canned fruit, veggies, bread... and she signs "all done"... you clean her off and put her down to let her go play... and she is immediately at your knee begging for bite after bite of YOUR food. Ha!
- She just this week got her 3rd tooth. Two top teeth and one bottom tooth. At this rate... she may never have enough teeth to need braces. :)
- She says a few words... her regulars: Daddy, Mommy, Baby, thank you, hi, bye, me, ball, no, poo poo, yummy, Jesus, hat, shhhh.... (with her finger to her lips), "I love you". I've heard her say "Elise" and few other things a time or two... but that is pretty much the extent of her spoken vocabulary.
- Now signing... that is a whole other story. She signs a ton of things... off the top of my head: bath, bubble, ball, car, train, phone, bus, all done, more, fruit, apple, juice, milk, eat, cracker, frog, no, yes, sleep, book, shoes, hat, again, soft, boat, clean, please, sorry, hot, thank you, baby, tree, bug, flower, dog, cat, horse, elephant, bird, giraffe, fish... I'm sure that I am forgetting a ton. Let's just say that we communicate just fine. :)
- She LOVES daddy, mommy, Isaac, and her Aunt Michelle and Uncle Brent (and fam). Other than that she is a bit reserved and hesitant with people at first. She cries when we leave her with a babysitter (but only for a minute or two and then she is fine) - and sometimes - she doesn't cry at all!
- She LOVES going places. She will grab her shoes and put them by the door or bring them to you and sit down and ask you to put them on her. Then she will point to the door and sign car. She likes to be out and about.
- She continues to be the most grateful person I know. She says her adorable "thank you" to everything!
- She prefers to walk than to ride. At the grocery store - at any store. She wants to be down exploring.
- She LOVES accessories. Shoes, hats, coats, necklaces, bracelets, you name it... she loves it and wants to wear it 24/7.
- Have I mentioned that she loves her binkie? She has one binkie attached to a stuffed frog. And that binkie is her "baby". She pretends to feed it, and cuddle it. She LOVES that thing. She also likes her other binkies.
- She is a BEAR at church. Sacrament meeting is hard. She throws LOUD fits and is uncooperative. She just wants to be walking around - outside the pew of course. She has been going to nursery for the past month (every since her daddy and Uncle Brent got called as the nursery leaders!). She is a trooper and does great with nursery.
- She is social and says hi and smiles to everyone.
- She looks adorable with her hair in pigtails... but she hates getting it done. And she often pulls it out anyway... so usually she has a messy/curly mop of hair on top of her head.
- She loves bath time.
- She can throw fits like nobody's business. (I think we've spoiled her a bit - oops). We are trying to let her just throw her fits at home. We're trying...
- She hits if she doesn't get what she wants. Oh the joys...
- She knocks on the door so cute. She runs to the front window periodically after nap time and just looks out signing and saying "daddy, daddy?"
- She obsesses over the cell phone and LOVES to talk on it.
- She watches tv like a champ. Thank goodness. She watches whatever Isaac is watching (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Imagination Movers, Sid the Science Kid) but also seems to really enjoy Baby Signing Time, Your Baby Can Read, and The Letter Factory. I try so hard to not let the kids watch too much tv. But I've been morning sick for the past 7 weeks... and they have probably watched between 1-2 hours a day. :( I know - bad mom! Some days it is less... yesterday they watched about 40 minutes. But it has been hard. As soon as I am feeling better I plan to do some serious family tv detoxing.
- She giggles and squeals. She is so much FUN!!!
- She loves to play with babies and anything that Isaac is playing with (which he is not super fond of her playing with him - we're working on that). But they still sometimes play well together.
- She has been to time out a couple of times. But not too much discipline yet.
- She likes the water table and our baby pool okay - but when we just went to a real pool she never really "warmed" up to the idea. She clung pretty tightly to me and was pretty nervous overall.
- She loves to read books and point to pictures. She does that a lot.
- She folds her arms and closes her eyes during prayers consistently. And lately she softly and reverently babbles to herself as if she is saying the prayer. So cute!!!!
Oh I wish that I could go on forever. She LOVE everything about this sweetheart. Elisey-Lou we LOVE you!!!!
We got LUCKY this summer and when on 3 separate occasions Grandma Cindy, Poppy Rod, and Granny Jo came to Liberty, Missouri to visit! It was a blast for the kids to see their grandparents and for us to get to catch up! We LOVE visitors!! :)
Poppy Rod also came for a visit from July 23 - July 31st. He had a special work training to attend here in the Kansas City area... so Monday - Friday he was working during the day and we got to hang out with him in the evenings. BUT - we also got to enjoy TWO weekends with him. The kids (of course) loved playing with him. We both loved talking the night away with him. Jeremy, Brent, and his dad went GOLFING. He babysat for us to have a date night out. AND - who doesn't love it when dad comes to town and takes you out to dinner TWICE. :)
The icing on the cake this summer was Granny Jo's weekend visit! She was in town from late July 8 - 11th. She came to celebrate Blake's baptism and birthday. :) It was SO nice to get to see her and visit. AND... did I mention that she is SUPERWOMAN and completely pampered me while she was here? She was only really here for Saturday and Sunday - and somehow she managed to go grocery shopping, make us 4 meals for the upcoming week, cook meat to freeze for future meals, tidy up my house, AND watch my kids so that I could nap. It was amazing!!!! We got to visit with her and we always love that precious time together. And Isaac and Elise latched on to her instantly. :) Now we are just wishing for another visit soon!
