Baby Steps

My aunt once said the reason cliches become cliche is because they're so often true. My aunt's a smart woman. The cliche I'm currently thinking of is, "They grow up so fast." 

Napping in her crib this afternoon



Ellie slept through the night in her crib last night, for the second time ever (the first time was three nights ago). We started putting her in her crib to sleep a little less than two weeks ago. I'm pretty sure the adjustment has been harder on me than on her; I love sleeping all snuggled up with my baby. On the other hand, it's really nice to be able to put her to bed and come downstairs and work on my novel or hang out with my BB or get things done around the house. Or even just reading... what a concept.

Last night was also the first night she didn't nurse at all during the night. She'd been nursing only at night for several months, with decreasing frequency, until finally I think it was just a comfort thing. I'm pretty sure for the last week or two she hasn't really been getting much milk. But last night she didn't even try. Mixed feelings here too; it's nice to not have to worry about getting bitten anymore, but feeding your kid with your body is one of the coolest experiences in the world. I guess 15 and a half months is as good a time to wean as any. Admittedly, I'd figured on weaning her by 18 months, and I'm glad she self-weaned so I didn't have to feel like I was depriving her of something she needed.

She's doing so many cool things these days. I mentally blog just about every day, but I so rarely have free time on the computer. She took her first tentative steps eight days after her 1st birthday, and during the next month, the fulcrum slowly swung from mostly crawling to almost entirely walking. Now she's running... and climbing... everywhere. It's a lot of fun, and I love how she keep us on our toes. She's such a little monkey.

She makes about 20 different animal sounds these days:
Cow - Mmmmu!
Sheep - Either 'bah' or 'phbtbt', depending on her mood.
Horse - Whinnying laugh
Pig - *snort*
Rooster - A rising shriek that mimics the tones of 'cock-a-doodle-doo'
Chicken - Baw!
Dog - Bow!
Cat - Ssssst! (The sound we make when we shoo the cats away.)
Kitten - Mow!
Monkey - Oo! Oo!
Rhinoceros - A funny type of breathing her babysitter taught her, which is called 'snorting and snuffing' after a Sandra Boynton book
Bear - Rarr! *waves arms*
Lion - Rarr!
Snake - Sssss
Bumblebee - Zzzz
Ghost - Boo!
Alligator - Shrieks & raises her arms above her head, I assume to imitate the alligator's jaws
Elephant - Another shriek
Ladybug - Puts her hand on her head - trying to imitate me using my index fingers as antennae
Bunny rabbit - Scrunches her mouth up and down to make her nose wiggle
Owl - Hoo!

Watching '1 2 3, Count with Me' this morning

She's also really into learning her colors, numbers and letters right now. She's obsessed with a Sesame Street video called "1 2 3, Count with Me", the Happy Baby Colors book, the Boynton A to Z book, and the Dr. Seuss' ABCs book. (Big A, little a, what begins with A? Aunt Annie's alligator, A, A, A. Fun book to have memorized.)

As far as teeth go, she's got four (three and a quarter, really) on the top and her two bottom middle teeth. Interestingly, after the two bottom middle teeth came in, her first tooth on top was the right canine. It gave her a ridiculously cute "snaggletooth" look for a while.

At her 15-month doctor's visit this past Tuesday, she weighed 20 lbs, 5.4 oz, and was 29 inches tall. It's the first time she's broken the 20-lb mark. She's moved from 10th percentile in weight to 10th to 25th percentile, and is 25th percentile in height and head size.

She is so dear to me. Even though she's getting more temperamental (the doc said early talkers also get early tempers, and she was saying about 6 words by the time she was a year old) she's still got a delightful, sunny personality. And she's so smart. The doctor said most kids start learning colors and numbers around 2-2.5 years, and letters around 3-3.5 years. Her interest in these things is all self-directed - of course we encourage it, but we're not trying to force her to learn this stuff. It's amazing to watch her mind work.

She can also understand pretty much everything we say now, which I guess means I'd better stop swearing so much. Sigh. It's pretty cool, though, to be able to say "Ellie, do you want to go into the kitchen and find your book?" or "Ellie, do you want to change your clothes?" and have her walk to the appropriate room and get her book or start pulling her clothes out of the drawer.

I have every intention of blogging more often, but who knows if it will happen. Maybe now that I've caught up a bit I can just get on here and post pictures a few times a week. They're worth a thousand words, after all, which I'm probably approaching in this blog post. :)