Leesey Loo, this month has been so much fun. I love you more and more each month, you become more and more fun, and you and Carter have so much more fun together! You are the sweetest, little baby with such a funny personality. You make me laugh all the time.
The biggest development this month is that you are off and walking all on your own. Last month you preferred to hold someone's hand but you could walk by yourself. Right at the start of your 14th month, you took off. Now you not only walk, but almost run at times. We've noticed you have started practicing walking backward. It is so stinkin adorable to see! You love it when I play, "I'm gonna get you." I'll walk after you saying that and you'll laugh as you almost run away. You walk with your arms up in the air a bit and it's so cute! Sometimes you rest your hands on your chest as you walk. You also love to carry things around. Some favorites at home are socks (still), re-usable straws for my water bottles, remotes, and any dirty clothes you can reach out of any of the hampers. You like to smuggle socks outside and I usually don't notice until we are playing. I went around collecting socks you had taken out and ended up with 4 pairs! One day I couldn't find the remote and didn't bother looking for it because I figured you'd put it somewhere weird. The next morning I found it in the cubby I keep my water bottles in! You love the remote because you like pushing the buttons and chewing the soft plastic of the buttons. You somehow always manage to turn the DVD player on. Carter has figured out that if you turn the DVD player on, the TV comes on too. He'll pick up the remote and try to turn the DVD player on. When it doesn't work, he hands it to you because he knows you can do it. Sometimes it's the wrong remote and I laugh so hard! Something else you enjoy doing is shoving your foot down into the dog water and splashing it all over. You are a mess, little lady!
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| Carrying around your jammies after I took them off you. |
Of course with increased mobility also comes an increased risk for injuries. You got your first big knot on your forehead just a couple weeks ago. It was so sad, but you hardly cried at all. We were playing at the splash pad with friends and they were all shocked that you didn't cry very much or very loudly. I was standing right by you and immediately scooped you up, so I think that helped. Along with the knot, you received a scraped up knee. The very next day you fell again and hit the exact same spot. The only way we could tell you had a new scrape on your knee was because it was bleeding as it was in the same spot as your previous scrape! You also like to climb which I'm sure will lead to injuries in the future. You climb up in chairs, rocking chairs, on the fire place. Anything that's the right height for you to lift your knee up and muscle your way on top of, you're there! We had to move things around because daddy had a shoe holder at the end of our bed that you were using to climb onto the bed and that was terrifying for me and made it impossible for me to pee pretty much ever because you would be on the bed when I came out of the bathroom!
You know what you want and are forceful about getting it. You've decided you no longer want to be held against my chest. When I first pick you up, I usually hold you against my chest for a hug at first. You will immediately grip my arm with one hand to pull yourself around to my hip as you push off my chest with your other hand. You want to be on my hip, looking out. Man, I need those little snuggles though so I still pick you up like that even though I know you want to go to my hip, momma needs some hugs! When I rock you before your nap or bedtime you tend to want to face out so you are sitting on my lap, looking out into the room rather than snuggled against my chest. You also prefer for me to stand by your crib and sway with you before I lay you down. Often times I can skip rocking and go straight to swaying with you by your crib. For a while now you've been pulling dirty clothes out of your hamper, into your crib when you are having a hard time falling asleep. You just recently started throwing your blanket from your crib into the hamper and it cracks me up. The first time you did it I went in your room and saw your blanket was gone so I looked all over the floor and under the crib for it before discovering it in your hamper. I haven't caught you doing it on the monitor yet, but I'm hoping I do. It would be so funny to see! Some days you want me to pat your booty for a bit to help you fall asleep, usually when you are overtired or teething. If I stop patting your booty and you want me to resume, you let me know by popping your booty up in the air. One day when you didn't want to nap you went as far as to lean out of your crib and then threw yourself out when I entered the room so I had to catch you! This past week you refused to take morning naps and your afternoon naps were only 1-1.5 hours. Then this weekend you slept until 10:30 am on Sunday and still took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. It was like you powered through to catch up on all that missed sleep. Today you took a normal morning nap and afternoon nap. I think all that skipped sleep had to do with teething and being congested.
You are communicating so much more now. You are starting to say more words. I have heard you say: mama, dada, Carter, bubba, kitty, dog, Oma, Harper, bubbles, and uh oh. You also copy words you hear us say. The way you say Carter is the cutest, it sounds more like cahyah. You will follow him around yelling his name and it is the absolute cutest! If I ask you where Carter is you will point at him. If we are out
somewhere and I tell you to follow Carter you will whip around to see
where he is and then walk after him. You know Skippy's hiding spot is in the master closet. You will go into daddy and my room, walk up to the closet, swing the door open, and yell, "kitty!" It never fells to make me bust up! You also communicate with movements. You point at what you want and you also put your hands out and move your fingers in and out to signal that you want something. Usually it's food. You definitely love food and are a big eater! You can also be a bit of a mooch and anytime someone has food you start fussing and either reaching your hands out and motioning for it or stomp your feet. When you throw things on the floor, mostly out of your high chair, you say uh oh. When I ask you something you look at me and either nod your head yes or shake your head no. It seems like you are actually using them appropriately because they tend to signify the answer that later becomes apparent to me. I'm sure it's just coincidence at this point. When Carter talks to you, you'll look at him and nod. When you see people you know, you wave at them and smile. We met Oma and Opa somewhere and you started waving at them the minute you saw them. You do the same and run toward daddy when he gets home from work. You also wave at the animals at the zoo which is precious!
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| Pointing at Harper. |
I'm thinking you are going to be more of a rule follower than your brother is. If you pick something up and I tell you no, you hand it to me. Even if I just say your name, you will even walk over and hold it out for me to take. Usually it's because you already knew it was something you shouldn't have. You also freak out when Carter gets in trouble and don't like it. If I use my stern voice with Carter, you whip to attention and sometimes even pucker your lips. It's adorable and sad at the same time. As much as you listen to me and do what I ask, you still have a fascination with touching other kids' faces which doesn't go over very well most of the time. You have a few friends from our play group who are around the same age as you and it's cute to see you play together. Charlee is a little over a month younger than you and you like to walk behind her following her when she crawls. If she's walking, you'll walk with her. Her older sister, Kyra, thinks your name is Leesey Loo. I guess because I call you that all the time and it's so funny to hear her say it! Your friend, Finley, is about 6 months older than you and it's even cuter to hear her call you by name. She's a doll!
Something you love to do is go in Carter's room if he is still napping when you wake up and stand by his bed making noises to wake him up. You sure love your brother. He gets the biggest smiles and you will follow him anywhere. It's so cute to see the two of you play together. He loves you too. When I'm playing cars with him, if I try to play with the car you got in your Easter basket he'll tell me I can't play with it because it's yours. He always offers it to you when you come over to play. He likes to push on your belly while you are laying on the floor and you just laugh and laugh. You think it's hilarious when he plays doggies and kitties. You crack up when he pants and you attempt to meow like he does. You copy a lot of what he says. When he's getting dressed in the morning you like to take his clothes and run off with them, usually his socks or his shirt.
You've had a recurring diaper rash for a couple months now. Each time it would seem cleared up, we'd put you back into cloth diapers and you'd break out again. So finally this month we switched to disposables during the day and have been putting diaper cream on you every diaper change (you aren't supposed to use diaper creams with cloth diapers) and everything is looking good now. I'm going to try transitioning back to cloth diapers slowly with one diaper a day and going from there. I much prefer cloth diapers so I want to go back. I've heard coconut oil works well as a diaper rash cream and it can be used with cloth diapers, but it did nothing for Carter so I hate to try it on you. So far everything that caused him problems has also caused you problems so I'd rather stick with what is working for us.
I'm still nursing you once a day in the morning. I think you are to where we could drop it right now but I just don't feel totally ready. This could be the last time I ever nurse a baby so it's a little hard for me to let go. Plus with teething going on right now you've been waking up between 4:30 and 5 most mornings and it works best to nurse you real quick and put you back to bed. That way you can fall asleep otherwise you are hungry and I have to go feed you and once I do that, you can't fall back to sleep. You are a teething mess right now with slobber everywhere and soaking your shirt. You also have a runny nose which makes you an extra mess! I don't mind though, I'll kiss your cheeks no matter what!
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| Reaching for Carter. You LOVE him! |
Little Miss Elise you really are such a precious gift to us. We all love you so much and you bring us an infinite amount of joy. One day you were walking around eating an apple, occasionally dropping it on the floor and I'd rinse it for you. Your daddy and I just sat watching you, laughing for probably 30 minutes. You are such a funny girl and you bring joy to us daily. I love being your mom and have thoroughly enjoyed watching you grow into a toddler. I love you, precious pot pie!
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| Carter took me taking pictures of Elise as an opportunity to sneak snacks out of the diaper bag and then brought some to Elise. |
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| She wouldn't put them down for pictures. |
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| This is what happened when I tried. |
Now on to daddy:
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| Trying to feed Harper. |
A sweet beastie! That is the best way to describe you! You are a beast much like Carter was, but with a different mix of sweetness. You're always so rambunctious then ready for a snuggle. Though not always ready for a snuggle!
I cannot count how many times I have turned around to see you climbing onto a chair, fireplace, or table. You have not an ounce of fear for that kind of thing and it is fun to watch you learn and explore with that fearless nature.
Since you do have the bit of sweet, both Harper and Skippy have a much more tolerant view towards you, and you have been able to interact with them much more than Carter. It is fun seeing how excited you get when you see them! You often go to the closet saying "kitty" and throw open the door and squeal with excitement!
You are such a wonderful little girl and I cannot wait you watch you grow and change in the next month!
