A Letter to Elise at 11 Months

Jeremy Update:

It's getting difficult to do daily updates on Jeremy's progress since I don't see him daily anymore. It's also a bit harder to stay up-to-date on what's going on because Jeremy is so much busier which means my parents are also much busier. Before he had OT and PT in the morning for a bit and the rest of his day was free. Now he has 3-4 hours of therapy a day including speech. My mom said he was pretty tired today but still did well. I think it will take him a while to adjust to the rigor of the rehab facility. Plus he's still not eating much which is making him weaker. They did give him a bolus tube feeding today to help get him some extra calories. It sounds like he's trying to eat but doesn't have much of an appetite. During speech therapy they gave him some scrambled 3 letter words and he was able to figure them out. They also gave him some 4 letter words and he missed a few of those. They measured him for a wheelchair so he could get one that fits and he brushed his teeth this evening. This is what his schedule for tomorrow looks like: PT from 9-10 am, SLP (speech and language) 11-11:30, OT 1-1:30, SLP 1:30-2:00, and therapeutic evaluation 4-4:30. So that gives you an idea of how busy his days are! Before he might have OT and PT in the morning for around an hour, so this has been a huge jump in services which is good and will be the most beneficial for him! He's pretty busy from 9am to 4pm now! During PT today they asked him his favorite things to do and the first things out of his mouth were running and watching his niece and nephew! I'm glad he remembers how much he enjoyed running and I'm glad he enjoys the kids so much still! Carter had a little meltdown today because he wanted to go visit Uncie J and I told him we weren't going until Friday. We ended up facetiming Jeremy which appeased him. While we were talking Carter said, "Uncie J, remember when you were in the other place and we could drive there fast and park and use hand sanitizer and go right to your room? I wish we still did that." It made me sad and the connection broke up a bit so I don't think Jeremy quite heard which I was glad about because he really wants to come home and I think hearing Carter say that would make him even more desperate to leave. On to a post about my sweet Elise...

My sweet, Eleesers, you are almost a year old! It has been an amazing 11 months and I love you so much. I'm constantly looking at you and wondering, how can so much personality be packed into such a little body?! You are so funny and sweet and tough and busy! Busy all the time! You still shove just about everything in your mouth and have gotten so used to me swiping my finger in your mouth that when you see me coming over to you, you purse your lips closed to keep me from removing whatever object that it is! Often times you even make an unpleasant noise toward me as I do it. It cracks me up! A lot of the time if I catch you before you get it in your mouth and tell you no, you'll drop it. It's hysterical because if I am somewhere where you can't see me and you start to put something in your mouth, if I say something you will throw whatever you had and high tail it out of there crawling. There have been times I've laughed until I cried when you took off crawling in overdrive! Your favorite thing to have in your mouth is socks. You are not particular about it either. They can be clean, dirty, mine, Carter's, yours. You don't care. You will crawl around the house with a sock or pair of socks in your mouth. Your other favorite toy is bath books. You will also crawl around the house with those in your mouth.

You can't wear headbands anymore because you just rip them off and stick them in your mouth!

At the beginning of the month I was having a terrible time with you when it came to sleep. You would stand in your crib and just cry and cry and cry. If I tried to rock you, you would flail around and cry some more. We thought maybe you were teething so we tried dosing you up with Tylenol to no avail. It would happen at all naptimes as well as bedtime and was just terrible. Daddy had me convinced for a while that you were crying because you were standing and couldn't get back down. So one day I showed you a toy and then put it in your crib behind you. You almost immediately dropped down to your booty and crawled over to get it. So that theory was proved incorrect. I finally realized I needed to just put you in your crib and let you cry for a bit to wear yourself out. Then I'd go back in and rock you for a couple minutes and you'd be out right when I laid you back down. It was a rough week until I figured that out! 

You still take a morning nap usually around 9-11 or 10-12 depending on when you wake up in the morning and how active of a morning you have. That makes it tough to go on outings and playdates as they are usually scheduled for 10:00 which is right at the start or smack dab in the middle of your nap. Before you would just nap in the carrier as I wore you during our playdate but that stopped cutting it at the end of last month. You just won't sleep for a darn in the thing because you get distracted when you hear other kids. It worked for a while to cover your face, but that even stopped working. Finally I figured out that if we're home by 11 or 11:30 I can just nurse you really quickly and lay you down immediately. Then you nap for 3 hours and wake up for a late lunch. Instead of an hour or 2 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, you just take one 3 hour nap and it works out really well. I try to stay home in the morning at least twice a week so you can have a solid morning/afternoon nap schedule and that has worked out great for us. At first I felt a little guilty not staying home every day so you could have your morning nap but then I remembered Carter rarely got solid naps at your age because he was in daycare and the other kids would wake him up so I think you have the better deal there. 

At night you are in bed by 7-8 and sleep until 6:30-7:30 in the morning. You've been sleeping through the night pretty consistently again but ocassionally throw a nighttime wake up in there for the fun of it. Lately you've been waking at 5:00 am which is tough for me because I have an extremely difficult time falling back to sleep before daddy's alarm goes off at 6! I think you've been waking up at night due to teething. You would wake up just so upset and wanting to snuggle into me. Finally yesterday I checked in your mouth and you have your top, left middle tooth coming in. So now you have 3 teeth. You got your first 2 teeth earlier than Carter but then stalled out and didn't have another tooth come in until just now which was surprising for us because you showed all the symptoms of teething multiple times but it never produced anything. I told Carter you had a new tooth popping in and he was so excited to see it. You weren't too thrilled for me to hold your mouth open so he could see, but he sure was proud of you!

Your favorite soothing song is Baby's Lullaby by Jill Barber. I always call it Lay Down and am reminded of it's actual title when I read you the book. I had to look it up on youtube to figure out the tune of the song and you have loved it ever since we first read it when you were just a few months old. It's the only song you immediately get quiet for and listen to. Just recently you've started clapping for me when you hear me start to sing it which is precious! I ordered you the book right after we checked it out at the library because you loved it so much and now I just sing it based off my memory. It's sweet that you have a favorite song and it's interesting to see how your taste varies from Carter's. His favorite soothing song was, and still is, a song I made up about him. I changed the lyrics around for you, but it doesn't really do anything for you. The moment I start off with "Lay down..." you get quiet and stare up at me. It's magical!

You are becoming increasingly mobile. You can crawl so fast and love pulling up to a stand. You started cruising much more on furniture, in your crib, and around the fireplace. You also like to climb up onto things like the trampoline, step stools, stairs, whatever. We like to go to a playground that has some stairs and you really enjoy going up the stairs and then cruising along on them. You haven't quite figured out a safe way to get down as your chosen method right now is driving down face first. You are a bit of a daredevil. When you are standing often times you just let go and fall backward onto your bottom and then take off crawling. You like to sit and bounce on the trampoline and Carter taught you how to bounce in your crib which you think is hilarious. You also love to play peek-a-boo and will cover your face with a blanket until I ask where you are and then you pull it off and laugh. You also enjoy it when I put something over my face so you can rip it off.

You've also started doing lots of other funny things. You like to shake your head back and forth while making noises to entertain yourself. You put your hand in front of your mouth as you make noise so it will muffle and change the sounds. You love to clap and do it almost every time I change your diaper. You also like cell phones and will actually crawl over to me while I'm sitting on the floor and pull mine out of my pocket. You don't do much with them other than wave them around and occasionally chew on them, but man do you love to get your hands on them! You have started helping put your clothes on which is nice. You'll pull your head out of clothes and shove your arms into the arm holes which is nice because changing your diaper has become quite the challenge!

Clapping your legs.

Your brother is still your absolute favorite! Anytime you see him you smile and laugh. You love to watch him play and enjoy it when you get to be part of the fun, playing along with him. One day you woke up from your nap before him and I set you on the ground while I went potty. When I went to find you I was surprised to see you were in Carter's room, standing at his bed, staring at him. I am certain it was your plan to wake him up so you could play with him! He loves you so much too. When I go to put you down for your morning nap he always tries to bargain with me so you can stay up to play with him and he'll even tell me, "Sissy's not tired!" It's so sweet to see your relationship grow and change.

 

Some new foods you've had this month are pork (1/24), zucchini (1/26), spaghetti, sloppy joe, steak, and grapes cut into quarters. We've started feeding you more of what we eat. For the most part at dinner you eat what we eat with a fruit and vegetable as your side. You love to eat and make a giant mess in the process! When we take your high chair tray off, you enjoy a second helping by eating everything on your bib and in your lap. You will eat puffs but only in between food items if we are getting something ready and you finished the first thing we gave you. If we give you puffs to hold you over until we get you food, you scream and refuse to eat them. It's so funny because your brother always loved them and even now tries to eat them off your tray! At a Valentine's Day party we went to, you snuck a Sour Patch Kid in your mouth and were so pissed when I took it from you. They start off sour and then turn sweet so I was surprised you had liked it!

Miss Elisey Leesers, you are the sweetest little baby and we all love you with all of our hearts. It makes me so happy to see you speed crawl across the backyard and explore new items in the house. You are so inquisitive and love eating and seeing new things. If we put something new on your tray, you will spit out what you had in your mouth to eat whatever went on your tray. You definitely have a sense of adventure already and will take off crawling through the crowd of kids at storytime. You have no problem letting bigger kids pick you up, cuddle you, or try to carry you. You are so outgoing and will stare and smile at special people you pick out when we are out and about. You make the sweetest noises and are LOUD! We just love everything about you. Even your poops which have been amazing in that we can just dump them into the toilet with no diaper sprayer needed. You are definitely our easy child and we love you for that! There's nothing I love more than some sweet baby snuggles while I smell your hair and feel your soft skin. I'm not ready to have 2 toddlers in this house, but you will be there so soon! At times I want to keep you a baby forever because you are such a perfect one, but then I see you playing with your brother and I look forward to you guys growing and learning together. I love you so much, precious pot pie!

Now on to daddy:

Hard to believe how old you are, and that you will soon be 1! You are always so happy and have a smile for everyone. We have gone to Lowe's both of the past two weekends, and you just sit it the cart, people watch, and pass out smiles. You get a lot of attention whereever you go.

Still not walking, but you are cruising. Won't be long now, and I am sure you cannot wait. You have turned into such a fast crawler, walking will only make you happier getting you where you want faster! Just yesterday I set you down in the back yard and you took off like a shot!

You and you brother are so much fun to watch play together. You crack each other up, and get each other jacked up! Carter loves to run circles around you as you crawl down the hallway. He will be screaming and laughing and you will be screeching and giggling. It is a sight to see!

Love you baby girl!