Elise at 1 Year!

Little Leesey is just that, small but mighty. We had her 12 month well check at the pediatrician today. She weighed in at 18 pounds, 6 ounces which put her in the 10th percentile. She was 29.5 inches tall which put her in the 64th percentile. Now get ready for her head circumference... It was 47 cm which is 93rd percentile and the nurse had it a bit below the largest part of her forehead! The girl has brains! My dad joked she's a head on a stick since she's so skinny and I thought that was quite funny. It's crazy to me that she is so thin with how much she eats. Sister eats and eats and eats. Most meals she puts down more food than Carter. While Carter isn't big on meat and wouldn't eat anything other than turkey for the longest time, Elise loves meat. If you put meat on her tray she will spit half eaten food out of her mouth to cram the meat in. It's hilarious! We've moved to basically just feeding her whatever we are eating. If we go out to eat, she splits a meal with Carter. She had lots of things for the first time this month and I haven't kept track of them all. The most memorable were her first bite of ice cream a few days before her birthday and her cake at her birthday party. I think she's going to have a sweet tooth like her momma!

 

 

Sister is so full of energy and just so funny. Some of the stuff she does makes me laugh so hard! She likes to crawl around and then stop with her head on the ground so she's looking upside down through her legs. Every time she does it I crack up so hard. I love to run over and peek back at her through her legs. Of course, she starts smiling and laughing at me. She can stand without holding onto something for a few seconds. Typically she realizes she's not holding onto anything and panics. She can also walk holding onto just one of our hands, but much prefers holding onto 2. She walks on her tippy toes a lot which is pretty adorable. Right now walking is one of her favorite things to do. If she's in my lap, she'll reach up, grab my hands, and slide off my lap. It's too cute! Pretty much anytime she sees her Radio Flyer wagon she stands up and takes off walking, holding onto the bar. It's so cute to be in the bathroom getting ready and see her walk by with her wagon. She also loves to climb up stairs. If we go to someone's house for a playdate and they have stairs, it's game over. All she wants to do is go up and down the stairs. She crawls up the stairs on her own and then reaches up for my hand and walks down them. Her favorite playground is one with stairs. I make sure if she's going up the stairs, I follow her. One day I ran to grab Elise a jacket really quickly which was not far away at all. When I looked over I saw her head pop up. She had realized I'd walked off and came crawling up the stairs to find me. Luckily, she did just fine on her own! She also likes to climb up on our small indoor trampoline. She'll sit on it and bounce once she's up there. A couple times she's gotten down on her own and I didn't see how she did it, put she didn't fall or get hurt which was impressive.

 

Peeking through her legs at the playground.

Her increased mobility is so much fun and I love watching her walk around and really take off on her own. The only downside is she is making diaper changes and getting dressed so incredibly tricky. It is easiest to change her on the changing table because it's harder for her to get away from me. She always rolls toward the wall so I've found if I hold her arm opposite me, closest to the wall while I change her diaper, she can't really roll away. Getting shoes on her is a straight mess. Often times I just skip it to save myself the frustration! So far she really hasn't minded wearing shoes at all! She can also pull her bib off. She went through a phase where she'd pull her bib off pretty much immediately and throw it to the ground. She's gotten so now she'll leave it on for a while before pulling it off and sometimes never does.

 

 

I've been so excited that she loves to read just like her brother. Her favorite toys to crawl around with either in her hands or her mouth are bath books. I find her sitting on the floor turning pages of books and reading them to herself. She also finds books on bookshelves and pulls them off to look at. She likes to sit in my lap when I read to Carter which sometimes annoys him because she likes to slap the books over and over which covers up the pictures. As much as she likes to crawl over to me, crawl in my lap, climb on me, and snuggle her head into me, she doesn't mind sharing me with Carter at all. She happily sits on part of my lap while he sits in the other and doesn't mind when I set her down so I can console him. She can hold her own with her brother though. If he takes a toy from her or pushes her out of the way, she sure lets me know! The funniest part about it is the minute I come walking over she stops crying because she knows I'm going to help her solve her problem. Due to her older brother she's pretty rough and tumble and doesn't say much when she gets hurt. She has bruises that I'm not sure where they came from. With as much as she likes to crawl under furniture and playground equipment, I just can't keep track of all the times she's bonked her head. I also don't know which times are more serious than others and could lead to bruises because sis just doesn't cry. If she gets hurt and starts crying I know it's either pretty serious or she's really tired. Even though she's super tough, she's amazingly gentle. She pets the cats really nicely and gently and they like her. At her age Carter would grab handfuls of fur and pull so I'm amazed every time she reaches over and pets with a flat hand in the direction the fur is growing. It's remarkable to me!

 

 

 

Her reactions to things that scare her or that she doesn't like are quite hysterical. She clenches her fists while shaking her arms back and forth and grimacing. When water gets on her face in the bathtub she does that along with panicking. I always have to make sure I have a hand behind her back when I wash her hair even if I'm just using a washcloth and a few drops get on her face because she thrashes around and would throw herself over in the tub. She does the same thing in swings and really just does not seem to enjoy them at all. Up until the last few days she would react that way when you slowly tilted her upside down while holding her. Carter loved that and would laugh so hard, so I was surprised she reacted so negatively. She has just now started giggling a bit when you do it but mostly just when you tickle her at the same time.

 

 

 

Sis now has 5 teeth. Her top 2 middle along with one to the left of the middle teeth and her bottom 2 middle. I can see her top tooth to the right of her middle teeth starting to pop through as well. She was having a rough time with teething when that top tooth came through. She started waking up at night right when her Motrin had worn off and crying. I'd give her another dose and I'd have to rock her until the medicine kicked in and she felt better. She's been back to sleeping through the night without Motrin for the past few days and it has been glorious! I no longer nurse her in the middle of the night when she wakes up. She is down to just nursing in the morning before breakfast and at night before bed. I dropped her nursing session before her nap and replaced it with a sippy cup of milk with lunch. She was having a hard time with the sippy cup so I asked about it at an event at the library where they had someone who specialized in child development. She suggested I get a cup that flowed a bit easier to help her realize milk was in the cup. So I got home and took the white part off the lid which keeps it from spilling and voila, Elise could drink out of the sippy all by herself! Last week I tried dropping her morning nursing session, but she followed me around all morning pulling up on my legs and clinging to me. Once I nursed her she stopped, so she wasn't quite ready to drop that one yet. I get the feeling she's ready now and I may start giving her a sippy at breakfast soon. It amazes me just how easy and natural it has been with both my kids to wean. Neither of them have had a hard time with it and just went with the flow as I phased feedings out. I am so grateful for that! I hope it continues to be that way for Elise.

 

 

 

Some other fun tidbits from this month:
Elise pooped twice in the bathtub (which had never happened before this month) and both times were when her Opa was giving her a bath!
Jeremy returned home this month and Elise is just smitten with him. I didn't think she would really remember enough to have missed him. I figured she'd remember him, but I just didn't expect the reaction she has had. Any time he's around, she's cheesing for him and staring at him as though she doesn't want to take her eyes off of him! It's the sweetest thing to see and melts my heart every time!

Elise continues to love her big brother more than anyone else. She squeals and giggles with glee anytime he is within eye sight, especially when he enters a room. She loves to play with him, mostly chase. Either they are both crawling or they are pushing their cars around the house. One day at a playdate Elise fell and was crying. I picked her up to console her and next thing I knew Carter was right at my elbow, checking on her. He had been on the other side of the room and came running over to make sure his sissy was okay. I love how much they love each other!

Carter wore his "Love my lil sis" shirt from Valentine's Day for Elise's birthday.

Elise is the sweetest, most loving little baby and I just can't get enough of her. She makes my day every day and my life is happier and brighter with her in it. Squeezing her little body to my chest can make any sadness seem to melt away. This first year of her life has been amazing and I am looking forward to this 2nd year with excitement!