A Letter to Elise at 20 Months

My sweet Elise, I love you so! It won't be long before you reach your 2nd birthday and that seems crazy to me. You are growing up so much! You are definitely a full-on toddler, no longer a baby. You still refer to yourself as a baby though and it makes me laugh every time. You will randomly yell out baby and you also call yourself a baby when you see yourself in the mirror. You are such a sassy pants or sassafrass, as Carter calls it, at times. You definitely know what you want and are very vocal about it. If you don't want to be held you will wiggle out of my arms. You are also the sweetest girl. You are just a bundle of love, joy, and happiness. You love to sit in my lap to play and love to snuggle up with Carter. I enjoy seeing your personality emerge more and more as you grow up. It is amazing to see how you are so different from Carter in so many ways but just alike in other ways. I used to take Carter to Museum Babies at the art museum when he was little. They would have crafts and toys set up after we went through an exhibit and discussed the artwork. Carter never once did a craft and always played with the toys instead. You sit down and do each of the crafts and hardly even play with the toys. He also never noticed they had cookies out so I never gave him one. You noticed the cookies first thing when you went the first time and now always run right over to where they serve them and fuss for one. You are my big eater for sure!

One of your favorite things to do is play with light switches. When you are in your crib you will say light because you want me to turn your light on so you can turn it off. We play that game over and over. You will also climb up onto your chair to turn the light on and off. One day you were crying a little while after I laid you down for bed. I pulled up the monitor to check on you. You had turned the light on. When I pulled you out of your crib I realized you had pooped. We joked that you turned the light on as a mayday that you needed help since you pooped. You still haven't climbed out of your crib again yet and I am hopeful that you won't. We found a few princess dresses for $4-5 at Goodwill before Halloween. For that price I had to buy them for you. There was a Snow White dress, a Cinderella dress, and a Belle dress. I wasn't sure whether you would like them yet or not but you love them. You will bring me one and bounce up and down excitedly while I help you put it on. You wore the Snow White dress for a couple Halloween events. The other two are a little bit big but you like to wear them while playing at home. Other toys you like to play with are the princess castle given to us that used to be Lauren's, the sit in car, and anything you can dump out. You want to play with pretty much anything Carter is playing with. Most of the time you guys play really well together but you still don't understand how to play with certain things which causes problems. You accidentally pull down the My Little Pony castle and tear up train tracks as well as knocking over Duplo which all irritate Carter. Your guys' favorite game to play is chase. You will run up and down the hall chasing each other, laughing the entire time. It is the cutest and my favorite to watch!

 

You've always liked to carry around socks and would pull socks out of the dirty clothes to play with. Your new thing is pulling my dirty clothes out of the hamper and trying to put them on. It never fails that you will be walking around the house with a sweaty sports bra or a dirty pair of my underwear around your neck. You always pick my clothes and I swear you pick the stinkiest, picking out my running clothes more often than not. It's strange but it's also hilarious to see you attempting to put them on. You also love carrying Carter's underwear around but thankfully pull them out of his clean undie cubby. Instead of attempting to put his underwear on by wearing them around your neck, you actually put your legs into the holes. Sometimes you get them in the leg holes and other times through the waist hole. If I try to help you get them on, you refuse. You have let Oma help you put them on and then were so proud prancing around in his undies. Oma is still a huge favorite and you take her over anyone else. You will reach for her while I'm holding you and you scream out Oma anytime you see Opa because you know she must be nearby.

 

Since you love wearing Carter's undies so much, I let you pick out some undies of your own at the store. You picked out some striped training panties. It won't be long until we are needing them. You have actually pottied in the potty chair and even did a small poop in it. One night after dinner you told me, "poop". I asked you if you needed to go poop and you said yes. I asked if you wanted to sit on the potty and you said yes so I got you out of your seat. You ran over to sit on the potty. You often times want to sit on the potty but don't do anything so I didn't think much of it and went about my business cleaning up from dinner. As I rounded the corner I heard you going potty in the chair and went running over to congratulate you. Then you tooted and when you got up there was a little poop in the chair. A few days later you wanted to sit on the potty and were tooting quite a bit. You got up to look in the potty to see if you had pooped and when you were looking down, you pooped on the floor right in front of the potty chair. I was so proud of you both times. When we are at home for long periods of time, I take your diaper off and let you run around naked from the waist down and encourage you to try to use the potty. Often times you go on the floor but not wearing a diaper helps you notice you are going and is making you more aware of what is happening. Plus you still have the worst diaper rash issues. It's been about 9 months now of terrible diaper rash off and on. We had to completely abandon cloth diapers because your whole bottom gets so red no matter how I treat the diapers when washing them. It's so sad! You aren't quite ready to potty train but you are getting close. It cracks me up that you say poop for both poop and potty.

Your motto is "Anything brother can do, I can do too. I can do anything brother can do!" I think that will come in handy as far as potty training goes although it tends to contribute to lots of falls, scrapes, and bruises at the moment. You love to jump. You will stop what you are doing and all the sudden just jump up in the air. Your vertical is about 2 inches. It's adorable to watch. You'll jump over and over and over. You also like to gallop and randomly started doing it a lot. It's something I don't think you've learned from Carter. I've noticed he's started doing it more now that you do it so I feel like it's something he saw you do and thought it looked like fun and he should start doing it. When Carter climbs chairs, you follow right behind. When he jumps off something you are next to go. You are definitely brave!

 

You are a bit of a sly little girl and prefer food when it comes off someone else's plate. Carter likes to sit next to you at meals but it never fails that you are reaching over and grabbing food off his plate. You have the exact same food on your plate but his tastes better for some reason. You do the exact same thing to me at breakfast. You want to sit on my lap while I eat and then proceed to grab handfuls of my food as I'm trying to eat. Every once in a while you outright refuse a sippy cup and insist on drinking out of a regular cup like Carter. Sometimes you do a great job. Other times, like tonight, we end up with a mess. Usually it is an accident, but tonight you actually poured your entire cup of water (thankfully it was only about a quarter of the way full) onto your plate. Then you used your cup to scoop up water mixed with food and drank it. Super gross, sister!

Toward the end of last month you got to where it was absolutely terrible to get you in your car seat. You are crazy strong and fight it with all your might when you don't want in. I've found that if I bring you a snack and tell you that you can eat it when you sit down things usually go fairly smoothly but every once in a while you decide you don't want the snack and writhe around to where I have to force you down and restrain you while I buckle you in. It is not pleasant. I wish you were a bit more easy going as far as that goes, but it's a battle that I don't mind fighting. We've gotta get out of the house and go somewhere at least once a day! Once you are in your car seat, you are fine. You love playing with Carter and making faces at him while I drive. I absolutely love getting somewhere and going to get you out only to discover the two of you making goofy faces at each other. It is the cutest thing ever! When I take Carter somewhere without you he'll tell me he misses you while we are driving because he likes the funny faces you make at him. I know you feel the same way because you are always really quiet and seem somewhat sad in the car after we drop Carter off at school. It blows my mind how silent it is in the car when Carter is at school. If he's in the car you guys are always yelling back and forth at each other. If Carter is reading a book or something you scream no over and over at him just to get a reaction out of him. And you sure know how to do that! Carter will tell you, "Quiet voice for the car, Elise!" It's funny.

 

You have really taken off with speech this month. It seems like you pick up a new word every single day! One of your favorites is again which sounds like gee. Anytime we do something you like you yell out, gee! It is so cute. I love hearing you playing with Carter and then yelling out "gee" at him when he does something you like! My favorite word you say is yellow which sounds like lellow. You use it to mean the color yellow as well as pretty much every other color. You also say lellow when you want to color a picture. Blue is the only other color you say and you say it pretty darn well. Sometimes it's boo and other times it's blue. You say blue for the color blue and probably some other colors but I've mostly only heard you use it for blue. You also say blue when you want to play with the color tablets we put in the bath. You take after me in your love of chocolate. You even say chocolate and it is hilarious. You say it cho-co. One day we were Facetiming with Uncie Taco. You looked at the screen and said, Hewo Taco! We had no idea you knew his name and could say it. Shoes are still something you talk about a lot. You also talk about socks too. When you want to go somewhere you say go. You also say it when you want someone to go away. You still love to climb and have said the word climb. You will also say "I want..." while pointing at something. When I'm carrying you, if you want down you will say down or walk. Often times you point at the ground while doing so. If we forget to give you a utensil to eat with you will say, "a spoon!" When we were at the aquarium you and Carter made hats at Aqua Tots. You pointed at Carter's hat and said, "your hat."  No is also a favorite of yours and you say it a lot. It is usually accompanied by a very severe head shake. You say mine a lot too. Anything you want, whether it actually belongs to you or not, you point at and say mine! Phone is also a new word. You'll point at my phone and yell out phone. You like to carry it around and sometimes pretend to talk in it. I have a hard time keeping track of my phone and you definitely make it worse!

 

You absolutely loves babies. Real babies, baby dolls, your reflection in the mirror which you describe as a baby. You will stop playing to go over and look at a baby. You will yell baby, get down in their face, and just stare at them. You are super gentle with babies which is pretty amazing considering your personality. It's cute to watch you play with your baby dolls. You will carefully place one in the baby stroller and stroll it around the house. Carter has always used the stroller to push around the house as a race car at break neck speed. You also like to fill the stroller with random stuff rather than a baby doll and I often times find Carter's undies in the stroller. Sister, I can't begin to describe how much I love you and how awesome you make my days. It's not just getting to spend time with you, it's getting to watch your interactions with Carter that I love so much. You are such a sweet and spirited girl. Not much brings you down and you are always quick to jump back up with a smile on your face. You may be feisty and challenging at times but I love you every moment of every day. I look forward to all of our future adventures and enjoy you so much. Although you are very independent you still like to snuggle from time to time and nothing makes me happier! I love you, Leesey Loo!

Now on to daddy,

Rolling with the bumps.

If I had to give you a motto for these last few months, this would be it. I am reminded of this because of the bruise on your forehead. You are not afraid to play hard, fall, get back up and keep going. You are one tough little girl and I am amazed at your resilience! It also probably doesn't help that your brother treats you like you're the same age as him and that is too rough, but you are quick to stand your ground or call for back up!

Every day now you are adding words, and listening to you cracks me up. Your comprehension is also very good and it amazes me how much you understand. We can get a pretty good idea of what you want by asking you yes and no questions.

The one thing that does drive me crazy is having to put your shoes on you every time we get out of the car. Sometimes you put some heat on them and it takes a minute to find them in the van! You have also started to get into the van on your own too. It cracks me up watching you shimmy up in it, then try and scurry to the front seats before someone catches you and puts you in your car seat!

Love you baby girl!

 

 

Letter to Elise at 19 Months

Another month with you, my sweet little Elise. It seems like months are flying by faster than I can keep up. I noticed I had a lot of notes about you and what you are up to now and then looked at the calendar only to realize your month birthday was 2 days away. You are not the always wanting to snuggle mommy kind of baby but you are snuggly and sweet and oh so hilarious. So many times each day I laugh so hard at something you do or say. You are goofy and already have a sense of humor. You like to make us laugh and will repeat things over and over to get us to laugh. Just they other day Carter made a comment that he wasn't a baby, that you were a baby. So you said, "I baby!" and we all laughed so you sat there all dinner long saying baby over and over to get us to laugh. You'd be eating or drinking and we'd think you were done and then you'd suddenly drop your fork or sippy and yell out, "BABY!!!!" Carter and I were just dying. It was so funny that you would do it so nonchalantly like you were finished saying it and then would all the sudden bust it out again.

 

You are becoming more and more vocal by the day. You tell us what you want, what you don't want, what you want to eat, when you want more. It's so cute to hear all the words coming out of your little mouth. You will yell, "look!" and point at something you find interesting. You will say "side" when you want to go outside. There have even been days that as I walk in your room to get you after your nap, you say "side" the minute I walk in your room because you want to go outside to play. You have also said milk, water, and drink. You've started saying "I love you" more and I love it. I've heard you say it to me, but I'm not sure if you've said it to anyone else. We'll be playing and you'll all the sudden look at me and say, "I love you." It is amazing and melts my heart. You answer our questions with "yeah" instead of yes which is hilarious. If we ask you if you want more you'll either say yeah or no. Last night daddy was giving you a bath and he'd ask you if you wanted him to pour water over your head again. You'd excitedly say "Yeah!" You love to wave at animals and anytime you see a dog or a cat you start waving and saying hello. One day we were walking away from the car to go into a museum and you said, "Bye bye car," while waving at our car. My favorite new word you've picked up is avocado which you say "ca co". When you see something you want you point at it and say "mine". You will also point at something that is yours that Carter is playing with and say mine. It amazed me the first time you said it because your brother always said "Caca's" instead of mine. When you want a spoon to eat with you'll say spoon. When I'm counting, you always yell 2 when I get to 2 and then say 2 for every number after that. You still love shoes and talk about them a lot and it's always shooooooooes never just shoes. You also talk about socks and make sure I get you socks to go with your shoes. Your comprehension is quite impressive. If I ask you to put things in a certain place, you will. You also help clean up and will go get things when asked. One day you and Carter were sitting down eating breakfast and I went into the other room to get you a sippy cup. You started saying "Mommy, mommy, mommy!" when I left the room. I told you, "I'll be right back," and you said, "Okay!" I love that we can communicate so much easier now. You are starting to pick up other people's names. Outside of calling Carter by name you also say your friend Charlee's name as well as her sister, Kyra's name and your friend Finley's name. Sometimes you combine Charlee and Kyra's names by calling Charlee, Kyee. It's so cute. You also call your friend Addison, Addy which is precious.

Telling me, "no pictures!"

The look says it all!

There have been a few times when I couldn't understand you and Carter told me what you wanted. He really is a wonderful big brother and you love him so much. He still takes toys from you at times and pushes you when you are both running around the house, but he loves you fiercely. He takes care of you and stands up for you. One of his friends butted in front of you when you were waiting your turn for a toy. Carter told her, "No, it's Elise's turn. She's been waiting. You have to wait." He loves to teach you things and gets so proud of you when he sees you do something new. Every day during naptime he requests to check on you on the monitor before he lays down for his nap. Anytime he gets himself a drink or a snack he makes sure to get one for you too. I love hearing him talk to you and teach you things. One day you wouldn't sit down in your car seat so I could strap you in and were fighting me so much that I decided to load the stroller and then go back to strap you in. I heard Carter tell you, "Elise you have to sit down to be safe. If you aren't strapped in we could have a wreck and you'd get hurt." I know you will listen to what he says and follow his directions before you will follow mine so I love that he is a good example in so many ways! He's always been good about letting me know if you have something in your mouth or if you try to eat something you shouldn't. You've gotten to where you spit things out on command and will then open your mouth wide to show there's nothing in it. You have also brought me things that you must've wanted to put in your mouth and as you hand them to me you open your mouth wide to show it is empty. If you hear Carter tell me you have something in your mouth that is food, usually that something had spilled on the floor and you picked it up to eat it, you'll quickly swallow and then open your mouth wide to show me that it is empty. It is so funny and I can't help but crack up when you do it!

You didn't smile for a single picture until Carter came in!

 

 

You are one tough little girl. You can hold your own, even with kids much bigger than you. If someone tries to squeeze up next to you and there isn't room or they aren't giving you space, you'll just push them. One day you were standing on a toy and an older girl got up next to you. I'd guess she was about 5 years old. You just turned and pushed her and she fell off. You have also gotten into tug of wars with Carter over toys and even won the toy a few times. It's impressive. For how small you are, you sure are strong! You aren't afraid of much either. Now that you have conquered swings and aren't scared of being in swings you are queen of the playground. You have no problem going up steps and riding down slides all on your own. You are careful of openings on the side of equipment where you could fall off. Now when we go to playgrounds I give you space to play and stay on the ground following along the outside of the equipment rather than walking along behind you the whole time. I've found you usually find a spot you like where you can climb a ladder, walk a little ways on the equipment, and then go down a slide. You will find a spot like that and just go up the ladder and down the slide over and over, never going to a different spot on the playground. It is so cute to watch you. Slides and climbing are definitely your favorite. Most younger kids I've seen will get toward the top of a ladder and get a little nervous about stepping off onto the equipment, you don't even hesitate.

 

 

Thankfully you haven't been falling as much this month. Last month you were very accident prone because you run pretty much anywhere you go. I joke you only have one speed and it is running because it's rare for you to ever walk. You were not quite as stable and were more likely to fall down. Now you are falling less and doing a better job of catching yourself. The main problem we face is when you are eating snacks at the playground or somewhere. You refuse to let go of the food that is in your hands so you can catch yourself. Instead you sacrifice your face when you fall. It is also difficult to convince you to sit down to eat when we are out and about. Food is a huge love for you and you are a big eater. You would snack all day if I let you. When were are with friends you mooch food from pretty much everyone even after eating all of your own snack.

The big exciting news this month was that you became a cousin! Your baby boy cousin, Wyatt, was born on October 13th. Now that you aren't the baby of family any more you have decided there need to be some changes around here. You stopped sitting in your high chair to eat. If I put you in it you throw your food on the floor and cry until I get you out so you can sit on my lap. Then you eat all the food off my plate. It got to where I would have to force you into your seat so I just put the high chair away and got out the booster seat. You love that you get to sit next to Carter and have a plate at the table just like him. Our only problem is that you like to put your feet on the table supports underneath the top and push off. One day you accidentally pushed the chair over while I was fixing my lunch. It was pretty scary for all of us. As I was running over Carter was running to me to get help for you. You also like to drink out of cups and do a really good job. One day you started to set your cup back down with part of it on your plate to where it would have tipped over. Daddy saw and said, "Watch out!" You looked down at your cup, grabbed it with both hands, and moved it over onto the table. We were all impressed! You also climbed out of your crib once this month. Carter came into your room as I was getting ready to lay you down and got you all riled up. As we were leaving your room I was thinking, I hope she doesn't decide to climb out of bed because of the way you were acting. By the time I got to my phone and pulled up the app to check on you, you were standing at your bedroom door. I think you probably climbed over and down onto your elephant chair and then down to the floor from it. I went back in, rocked you for a couple of minutes, laid you back down, and you went right to sleep. You haven't climbed out of your crib since and it has been a week since that happened. I'd like to keep you in your crib for a few more months at least, so hopefully you don't do it again.

 

One of your favorite things to do is climb into our closet to peek at Skippy who hides in there. You like to pet him and look at him. You also like to find my parents' cat, Angel, and pet her. She's really good about letting you and not running away, you love that. You also like to wear necklaces and bracelets. I put any medals I get from races that are attached to ribbons in Carter's toy box. You like to put them on and wear them around the house. You also love your baby dolls. You will carry them around saying, baby and really freak out if Carter tries to take one from you. You love to pet Harper and chase her around the house. I have to really watch you because every once in a while you'll grab a fistful of her fur and pull really hard for no reason. You love to jump on the trampoline and you like to play whatever Carter is playing. You still enjoy sitting down and looking at books but rarely sit and let me read one to you. When we visit the library you go over to the board book section and pick one book at a time, running over to the checkout counter and setting it down so I will check it out for you. I've tried to teach you to pick the books you want and put them in the stroller for me to check out but you insist on setting them on the checkout counter. You love your blankets and will wrap them around you or lay on top of them during nap time. You always point to them when I get you out of bed and want to carry them with us. You rub them on your face. When you first wake up you want to be carried so I'll carry you around as I make breakfast or as I get snacks after naps. That is the time when you are the most snuggly. You tend to get grumpy when you are really tired and if you are still awake at 1:00 have even tried to bite me. You still love your pink sparkly shoes but have gotten better about allowing me to put other shoes on you. It's hit and miss though. Some days you absolutely refuse other shoes. If I put other shoes on you, you'll tell me no, stick your foot in the air and insist I take it off. Then you'll say "shooooe," hand me your pink shoes, and put your foot in the air so I can put it on.

 

 

You had your first semi-temper tantrum last week. We were at a program called Museum Babies at our local art museum. During the program we walk around an exhibit and then go back into a large room set up with toys where they serve cookies. You remembered the cookies from the last time we were there and went right over and pointed at one saying, "mine." I gave it to you and you kept wanting to walk around with it. I took you over to a table and told you that you needed to sit to eat your cookie so you didn't make a mess. You immediately got down and tried to take off so I took your cookie and set it down on a napkin on the table. You went over and got it and tried to walk away again. I told you that you had to leave your cookie if you wanted to go play. You then started scream crying and wouldn't stop. I tried getting you to sit down to eat your cookie and you wouldn't, so I put your cookie down and tried to get you to go play but you kept running back toward your cookie. Finally I walked you over to the trash can and threw your cookie away. Then I cleaned your hands and we walked over to play together. That was when you calmed down. You wanted to hold your cookie and play and were so mad I wouldn't let you do that!

 

You have a fascination with the potty chair. You like to go sit on it and will watch to see if there's any potty when you are done, even taking the pot part out to dump it. That's not really anything new. The new aspect is that you will go sit on the potty chair after you've pooped so I know to change your diaper. I'm hopeful that you will be ready to potty train early because you have terrible issues with diaper rash. We had to switch from cloth diapers to disposables around a year old and each time we've tried to go back you have broken out terribly even after I've tried multiple things with the cloth diapers, even stripping them. Even with disposables you get pretty frequent diaper rashes. Your pediatrician said you have really sensitive skin and will just struggle with rashes until you are potty trained. Thankfully it doesn't seem to bother you too much. When you get a really bad, red rash you will scream when I lay you on the changing table because you know I am going to change your diaper. It is so sad. I am definitely ready to get you out of diapers but you just aren't quite ready yet and after the struggle we had with Carter, I've learned it's better to wait until you are ready. I'd like you to be able to pull your pants down on your own before we try to train.

Elise Kay, you are the sweetest little girl. I love you so much and enjoy spending my days with you. I absolutely love watching you play with Carter. I also enjoy playing one-on-one with you while Carter is at school. You continue to be an easy girl when it comes to naptime and bedtime, you are a big eater, and quite the cuddler when you are in the mood. You are also very independent and have quite the take care of myself attitude when you run into problems which is a good trait to have. There are so many times when you do things and I can't help but smile because it's your daddy shining through in you. You also do funny stuff like say my name over and over and when I say, "What Elise?" You very emphatically yell, "NO!" at me. You are such a treasure and I enjoy figuring out your personality, little pieces at a time.

Now on to Daddy:

You are really starting to show your personality little girl! As you are getting more talkative and expressive, you do not hesitate to let others know your wants and needs, likes and dislikes with quick, sharp little words!

You are also starting to get braver with some things, such as bath time. Just a few days ago, I was pouring water on your head to wash out the soap (something that you used to hate) and you laughed a little bit. So I asked you if you wanted me to do it again, and you said, "yeah," so I did it again and again and again because you keep saying yes when I asked. Carter even came in and ask and he did it for you. Then, when we were all done, you grabbed the bucket and did it one last time and giggled so hard!

You are still our little sleep champ! Easy down, late to get up. When I put you down you let me bounce you a few times then you lean into your bed and want to be put down. A few weeks ago I let your Oma put you down, and told her what you would do. Oma thought, sure that sounds nice but she won't do that for me. But, sure enough, a few bounces and then you wanted down and that was it!

Love you sweet little girl!

Back when they both fit in the chair together and now that they are both big kids.

A Letter to Elise at 18 Months

I had the battery to our fancy camera charging and Elise at some point ran off with the battery and charger pack without me noticing so we can't find it anywhere. Unfortunately that means all her 18 months pictures were taken with my phone. Good thing she's cute...

My sweet little Leesey, you are now a year and a half old! At your 18 month well check we scheduled your next visit for your 2 year well check. I had to stop for a moment and process the fact the my baby is now a year and a half old. In 6 months you will be 2. You are such a big girl. I swear you grow and change a little bit more each day. I try to keep up with documenting all the words you are saying but you say something new each day! Sometimes by the time I get the chance to write it down, I've forgotten what you said. By far my favorite development this month has been that you now gives kisses! Uncie J was over at our house and I was telling him how you wouldn't give kisses and it made me sad because Carter was always the sweetest little kisser. It was like you heard me and knew I really needed a kiss because the very next day you gave me my first kiss! I was helping Carter put his shoes on before we left the house and when I was done, he gave me a kiss. I heard you making a noise so I looked over and saw your lips were puckered as you leaned toward me. It was the sweetest moment! I got my first kiss on September 14th and then Daddy and Carter each got one the next day. You gave Carter kiss after kiss and he ate it up, he loves kisses! You still won't give kisses if asked, you only do it when you feel like it. Although I love getting kisses all the time, it does make it more special since you're selective about it. One day I was wearing you in the carrier and you kept making kissy sounds at me. Every time I looked down you were puckered up and wanting a kiss. You probably kissed me 10 times in a row. It was a perfect moment. Of all the milestones at the beginning of life, I'd say a baby giving their first real kiss is my favorite. It's just such a pure and sweet showing of love coming from a little one.

You have said so many new things and are the funniest, little girl. You like to say "ta da" when you show us something or when you do something special. When we cheer for you, you'll do jazz hands which makes me bust up every time. When you see Carter on the potty chair you like to run over and check to see what's in it, then you'll clap for him. If he's pooped you often times say, "ewww." You also say "ewww," when I change your poopy diaper. You've started going over and sitting on the potty. You'll stand up and look into the potty to see if there's anything if it. If there isn't, you sit back down. If I take your diaper off, you'll reach down and feel yourself to see if you are going potty. When you see animals you get very excited and wave at them. You especially love our cat, Skippy. You figured out where his hiding place is in the closet and will climb in to pet/torment him at random times throughout the day. It is a testament to his character that he has not scratched you yet. You really love Jeremy's new dog, Moneypenny, as well as Zuma, Thomas' older lab mix, and Fezzik, my parents' giant dog. You call Fezzy, Dezzy and follow him around the house when he's visiting. He is so big, it would be the equivalent to me following a horse around lovingly! You honestly have no fear, well except for swings, haha! You say thank you, sometimes without prompting. You also say "he da do" for here ya go when you hand us something. When you want to walk past you say excuse me and have also said it when you sneeze or burp. Other times when there's a kid in your way, you just shove past or push them. You are pretty rough and tumble in those regards. When you are in your high chair and you're done eating you'll say "I want down." You love to pick my phone up and say "hewo" or "bye bye." One day you were walking around the house yelling "bubby," and I thought you were yelling for Carter. Then I realized you were carrying around a bubble wand. You can very distinctly say bubble but often times just say bubby instead. When I tell you "I love you," you'll respond with "love ya," when I'm lucky. At the doctor's office you said "Bye bye doctor waywee," when the doctor walked out of the room. You've been known to tell me, "I do it," when I try to help you with something you want to do on your own. We had checked the book "1, 2, 3 Zooborns" out at the library. The cover showed baby cheetahs. You pointed at them and said, "baby grrrr," making the noise for a lion or tiger. It was so cute and I was impressed you could tell they were babies!

Your current obsession right now is your shoes. And not just any shoes, your new sparkly pink sneakers from Oma and Opa. When you wake up from a nap oftentimes the first thing you say is, shoooes! If you ever see your shoes, life can't go on until I get them for you and we put them on. You want to wear them all the time, even when you aren't wearing anything else. You've cried for them while lying in bed so one day I just gave up and let you take a nap cuddling one of them. You try to put them on yourself all the time, but are quick to let me help when I am ready. If I try to put a different pair of shoes on you, you'll slap them out of my hands and yell, "shooooe!" It's like you think the only shoes that are shoes are your pink sparkly ones. When you wake up, if you can see your shoes somewhere in your room you don't even tell me hi when I walk in to get you, you just yell shoes at me while pointing out where they are. I figured out a trick to get you to wear other shoes so you can have shoes that match your outfit. I go when you aren't looking and tuck a pair of shoes into my diaper bag that match your outfit. Then I let you walk to the car barefoot. I don't put your shoes on until we arrive at our destination and by then you are too distracted by everything going on to realize I didn't bring your sparkly pink shoes. Plus you just want to go off and play so you don't care. I think the main reason why this works is that you can't see your pink sparkly shoes. If they are there, you want them. Out of sight, out of mind. It's pretty hilarious how much you like them and I will admit I purposely dress you in outfits that will match them most days just so you can wear your beloved pink sparkly shoes.

These are the beloved pink sparkly shoes.

Little miss, you are a spitfire. You are independent and fierce and you like to do things your way. You've started not wanting to get in your car seat and will fight me like crazy some days. I've learned to just wait to give you a snack until we are getting in the car. I show you your snack and tell you if you want it, you have to sit down. You'll immediately stop making noise, drop to your bottom, and wait for me to strap you in. It works like a charm every single time! I'm impressed by how well you follow directions. I can give you a pretty specific task to do and you will do exactly what I asked. One day I found dirty clothes on the floor in the kitchen that you had obviously carried in there, you love getting into the dirty clothes hamper! I handed them to you and told you to put them back where you found them. You walked all the way to my room and dropped them in the dirty clothes. I thought you'd get distracted on your way, but you made it all the way in there. Plus you remembered where you got the clothes from! You cannot stand having dirty hands. You will actually eat foods by leaning your face into them rather than get your hands dirty by picking them up. The first time you ever did it was at Krispy Kreme when you got to make your own chocolate iced doughnut. The icing was still wet so it was getting on your hands. You decided to eat with your face on the doughnut rather than get your hands dirty. I didn't realize at the time what you were doing until you did it again. Then just this week we had corn on the cob and you ate with your face down on the corn to keep your hands from getting dirty. If I haven't gotten you a spoon or fork yet and you have food on your tray, you'll fuss for silverware. If we eat something particularly messy, you'll hold your hands up and fuss for them to be cleaned during the meal. One of your favorite snacks is Halos, Cuties, or mandarin oranges. If I have them in my diaper bag and you get to them, you'll bite into one, peel and all. One time when Oma and Opa were visiting, Opa pulled part of a peel out of your hiney when he was changing your diaper. Most of the time you spit the peel back out. You have fussing down to a science and use it to get what you want, especially with Carter. You have this adorable way of pulling your mouth to the side when you fuss that melts me because I think it's so cute. You also employ the pouty face when necessary.

Water is a favorite for you. You love to play in it, make messes with it, and drink it from inappropriate sources. While I'm washing your hands you like to suck the water off your hands so I have to make sure to keep a hold of your hand until the soap is rinsed off or you'll suck it up too. You are notorious for pulling down cups or water bottles, filling them from the dog water bowl, and drinking from them. It makes me sick. It's only happened a couple times because I normally catch you before you drink it, but man, that's gross! When Carter was your age, he loved to play in the toilet water and I was constantly having to redirect him. You don't have as much interest in playing with the water in the bowl, you prefer climbing on top of the toilet which presents itself with an entirely different set of problems.

You were getting a little big for your car seat so we bought Carter a new one and moved you into his old one. You love it because you sit a little higher so you can now see Carter who is forward facing in the row behind you. You like to play peek a boo with him and make silly faces at him. Carter fills me in on all the cute and funny things you do in your car seat. One day Carter and I went somewhere just the two of us while you were napping because he didn't take a nap. I said, "Isn't this fun? A special mommy/Carter date!" Carter told me, "Yeah, but you know what's even more fun?! A special mommy, Carter, Elise date!" Then he told me it is more fun to ride in the car with you because you are funny and make him laugh. I love that he loves you so much and you two get along so well. You've figured out how to pull your arms out of the straps of the stroller which you do every time we use it now. I have the straps as tight as they'll go so there's not much I can do about it. You like to pull your arms free, lean really far forward, and mess around in the stroller. You are a wild woman! At least you still have a lap belt on.

Something I love about you is that when you want to continue to be held you reach around my arm and grip onto it so I can't put you down. It's so sweet. I also love how much you love babies. When you see a baby you head right over to wave and say hello. When we were at Museum Babies you went over to a 3 month old baby laying on her tummy and kept giving her toys and waving at her. Even though you love babies and have good intentions, you aren't self aware enough to walk around their fingers when they're laying on the ground. You also aren't the most gentle when it comes to touches, so I always keep a close eye on you. You haven't grabbed any kid or baby faces in a while. I've noticed that if I let you do your thing, you might pat or touch a face once and then not again. If I intervene you just do it over and over. Obviously I can't let you do it to babies and have to intervene if you attempt to touch a baby's face which often times turns into you constantly attempting to do so. You are gentle when you do it to where most times the other child doesn't even notice or doesn't react. Every once in a while we run into a very sensitive child who will cry because you touched them. For the most part it isn't a problem anymore, I just worry about you doing it when we are around babies.

You now have your top molars in and your bottom molars are on their way. This round of teething has been shocking in that you have reacted totally differently. Instead of having trouble sleeping, you've been sleeping a lot more. You were sleeping until 8am most days and taking a 3 hour nap. This week you started to get back on your usual schedule. You were a bit fussier than usual, but it wasn't too bad. I was super impressed with how well you handled it this time. You are definitely one tough cookie! I love you so much, little miss Elise! You bring so much happiness into my life every day. I am so glad I get to have you as my daughter and Carter gets to have you as his sister. You are a joy to be around and we all love you so much!

On to Daddy:

1 and a half years old!

Still changing and growing every day. You are such a sweet little girl, but don’t mess with your independence because you will quickly let us know you can do it! You are also so tuff. You brush off some big hits, bumps and scrapes like they are nothing. When you fall and bump your head and we make you put ice on it, that is the worst part to you and you scream and cry until we take the ice off and turn you lose!

You are such a sweet and loving girl and you have really started to pass out kisses quite liberally and it is the sweetest thing! This month your Oma and Opa got you a new pair of shoes and you are obsessed with them, even going so far as to insist that you take a nap while holding them! You have also started wanting to carry your blanket around with you as well and that has been very cute to see!

We cannot keep you from climbing and getting into/onto things. Carter was adventurous at this age, but I feel like you are constantly going higher and farther, always pushing the envelope! You scare us half to death sometimes!

Love you sweet girl!

-Daddy

A Letter to Elise at 17 Months

Little Miss Elisey Loodle Doodle, I cannot believe you are almost a year and a half old! I still think of you as being a year old even though you can do so much more now than you could in March! I was looking back at pictures of you from your birthday and I was cracking up over how little hair you had. You still don't have a whole lot, but back then you mostly just had hair down the middle of your head. It has filled out all over your head and is growing. The hair on the back of your head is so curly and precious, I love it! At least once a day every day you make me laugh so hard. Like today during your photo shoot when you repeatedly climbed over the side of your chair and hung upside down into the seat. You are the silliest and sweetest little girl and you bring us all so much joy. It is crazy how much you are talking and how much you enjoy copying sounds or words you hear other people make. My favorite is probably still how you say "cheese" when you hear me taking a picture or if I ask you to say cheese for a picture. The best part is that you don't always look at the camera and sometimes have your face turned completely away from me as you so sweetly parrot "cheese"!

 

It seems like you pick up new words on the daily. Right now your favorite thing to say is uh uh. You say it to everything and with some serious sass! It cracks me up because you say it even when the answer is yes. I'll ask if you are ready to eat dinner and you'll say uh uh and then take off to your high chair. The new words you've said that I remember are watermelon, water, and blueberries which you say "bbees". It's adorable. You also say excuse me when you toot and up please anytime you want held or want help up onto something. You meow when we play kitties which is darn adorable. Anytime you hear someone else meow, you start meowing right back. You've also figured out how to makes noise by blowing air through your lips and you do it all the time. You find all kinds of things to blow through and make noise. Your favorites are straws. One of my favorite moments this month was at a friend's birthday party. There was a water balloon fight and you were just running around with a water balloon in your hand the whole time. Someone threw a balloon and nailed you right in the head. You just looked directly at me with water streaming down your face and said, "uh oh," before taking off again. You were hardly effected at all. Your reaction cracked me up and I couldn't stop laughing!

 

 

I'm impressed with how much you take off each month as far as movement goes. This month you've started running all the time and so fast! We were at a playground and you were playing with a couple older boys. Then all the sudden you turned and ran. One of the boys said, "Whoa, she runs so fast!!!" You are a big climber. Pretty much anything higher than you, you attempt to climb. You love to climb up onto the windowsill in the living room. Sometimes you are afraid to get down and will stand crying until someone comes to help you. Jumping on the trampoline is one of your favorite things. You climb up all by yourself and just bounce like crazy. It cracks me up that you almost always jump on your tippy toes! You also just started standing on your tippy toes to grab doorknobs in an attempt to open doors. Most of the time it is Carter's door that I have shut so you won't wake him from his nap. You absolutely love waking Carter up from his nap. If I don't catch you, you'll just stand in his room by his bed making noises until he wakes up. Recently you've started making diaper changes extremely difficult. You either want to stand up, which I can somewhat pull off as Carter did the same thing when he was little, or lay on your belly. I haven't mastered changing your diaper with you on your belly yet. It's pretty darn tricky. Sometimes you lay there just fine if I hand you something to play with. Most of the really tricky times are right after you wake up. I've found it's easier to just wait until you either eat breakfast or a snack before changing your diaper as you aren't as difficult then. One day you were throwing a fit in your car seat when we were trying to go somewhere. You would not sit down and I didn't want to get you seated forcibly. I showed you the snack I had for you and asked you if you wanted it. You shook your head yes. I told you that you had to sit down to get it and you immediately flipped around in your seat and sat down on your hiney. Food is definitely the way to your heart most of the time! You love to ride your cars around the house. You used to just sit on a car and fuss until Carter pushed you around the house. Now you just take off on your own and can even go backward. You still enjoy Carter pushing you around if he's interested.

 

 

I've been amazed by how well you eat with a spoon or a fork already. You actually prefer to eat with a utensil most of the time. If I forget to give you a spoon or fork, you will cry while showing me your dirty hands. I'm impressed that you don't like dirty hands, that's something that never phased your brother until he was much older. Your fine motor skills continue to improve. You can write and draw with a pencil or a pen as well as markers and crayons. You get mad when I try to help you by pushing down on the pen to get the tip to come out. You like to do most things by yourself. You can also put Duplo blocks together and put caps on markers. You are so good at playing independently. Obviously you love to play with Carter, but you have no problem playing alone. You happily wander around doing your own thing much of the time. We have been impressed with what a good helper you have become. You put toys away and are so good at cleaning up. Today while I was taking your pictures, you found a box of outlet covers and opened it up, pouring them all over the floor, then you spent probably 10 minutes cleaning them all up, dumping them back out, and repeating the process over and over. In the evening when we are picking up the house you are happy to pitch in. It is so nice! You also like to put your shoes away and Carter's too if you can find them. I'll find one of your shoes in Carter's shoe bin and his shoes in yours at times. We were missing your silver moccasin for the longest time and I finally found it in the bench in the entryway where I keep my shoes. I should have thought to look there!

 

 

You love copying Carter and doing everything you see him do. It works out wonderfully most of the time because you do nice and helpful things you see him do. The only downfall is that you will jocky for position with toys and push or elbow other kids which is what he sometimes does to you. My favorite one that you do is copy him in the bath. You will put your hand by the soap pump and then rub your hands together and then rub them on yourself as if you are soaping up. If I put soap on your hands you will wash your hair and rub your belly to clean it. We use that time as an opportunity to practice body parts. I'll ask you to clean a certain body part. Sometimes you get it, other times you just wash what you feel like. One of your and Carter's new favorite games is for him to climb into your crib and you climb onto the chair next to the crib. You like to look in at Carter while he lays there and you play with each other through the slats. If we are out and about and I'm letting you walk, if I say stop or come back, more often than not you don't listen. If instead I ask you where Carter is, you immediately find him and head straight to him. You don't like it when he holds your hand and tries to get you to go with him, but you love to follow him around. If he's scared to walk down the hall by himself, he'll ask you to go with him and you'll go running along. It's so cute.

 

 

You have 8 teeth now, four on top and four on bottom. You chipped one of your top middle teeth this month. One Sunday evening you were really tired and kept falling down. Then Monday morning I noticed you had chipped your tooth. I'm not sure which fall it occurred on as you didn't have any you cried more after than any of the others. The tooth hasn't changed colors or anything so the doctor said not to worry about it. I feel terrible about it and wish it hadn't happened, but there's nothing we can do about it. Your sleep is still the same. You take a 2-3 hour nap and go to bed at 7 pm most days, some days it's closer to 8. You usually sleep until 7-8 am. It's rare for you to wake before 7 am. If you don't get enough sleep you fall a lot and are fussy, pretty typical baby stuff. I'm holding out hope that you will take to potty training earlier and more naturally than your brother. I've noticed that you have started crouching to poop sometimes. What's hilarious is that if I ask you if you pooped, you'll look at the ground behind you to check for poop even though you are wearing a diaper.

 

 

You absolutely love your blanky. You carry it around right after you wake up. When I go in to get you out of your crib, you point to it and say uh oh until I hand it to you. You also love necklaces and bracelets. It's so cute to watch you put them on. You also settle for medals and hair ties. Anytime I get a medal from a race with a ribbon, I put it in Carter's toy box to play with. You love to wear them and I've often times gotten you out to the car and found you still wearing one. You still love slides and will go down on your own. One day you went down before I was ready and I didn't make it down with you. It didn't go very well for you, but you just got up and went up the stairs wanting to go down again. Today you jumped on my lap to go down with me and accidentally hit your head on the side of the slide, but you still laughed the whole way down. Swings are still a no go. You enjoyed one for about 30 seconds one day and I got really excited but then you were totally over it. You also still hate having water dumped on your head in the bath and daddy says you act like you are being water boarded. Something silly you do is throw clothes in the bathtub while I'm getting your bath ready. You'll make multiple trips into Carter's room to grab clothes out of his hamper and throw them in the tub. It drives me a bit nuts but is pretty funny. We all love you so much, little Leesey girl! Thank you for bringing so much love and laughter into our lives. We appreciate you every single day!

 

 

Now on to Daddy:

Something you did just a few days ago really cracked me up. We had given you a doughnut and you were running around eating it, happy as a clam, when you tripped. Luckily, you managed to catch yourself. As you went to get up though, you realized that you still had the doughnut in your hand, you just stayed on your belly and finished the doughnut! It was so funny to see!

 

 

Watching you learn new things and pick up new habits is so much fun. You are now wanting to take ALL of your blankets and buddies with you when you wake up. And if I don't get them all picked up and given to you at the same time you say "uh-oh" and stare at the one still in the crib. It is so cute!

Keep growing, learning and having fun baby! Love you!