Eloise - 18 months

My baby is growing up so fast!  It's truly amazing that a year and a half has gone by already.  

Stats from her 18 month check-up:

Weight: 23.10  40th percentile

Length: 33 in  85 percentile

Head Circumference: 47.2  69 percentile

Eloise still loves to dance.  When she hears music she goes to bobbing, starts swaying those hips and her arms go to swinging.  It's so cute!  I love to just make up songs for her to dance to throughout the day.  Sometimes she even dances when there's no music.  Just today she was just a bobbing to the treadmill in the gym.

I've been worried about her speech.  When they asked if she can use 7-20 words at her check-up I wasn't sure I could say yes.  When I really think about it she does say more than I give her credit for.  Some of the things she can say are mom, dad, hi, bye, baby, ball, dog, "there you are", no, shoes, cheese, bubbles.  She babbles ALL day long.  Clearly she's trying to tell us something but it just comes out in a cute baby jumble.  She's getting there!

Eloise biggest comfort is her belly button.  She has to touch it while she falls asleep, when she's drinking or just watching tv.  She lets me know she's not happy when I put her in a onsie or romper.  The car seat is another place it's hard for her to find it too.  She lets us know when she needs help getting to it.  She loves to get our belly buttons too.  She lets out at silly giggle as she attacks out bellies!

She LOVES babies.  She is such a sweet mommy to her babies.  She rocks them, kisses them, wraps them in blankets and pushes them around in their stroller.  She's just started to pull out her diaper and wipes to give her babies a "dia cha" (diaper change).  It's really cute aside from the mess she makes.  Her wipes now have to be stored on top of her changing table. 

She also loves clothes.  Most babies want to take their clothes off but this girl is always trying to put more on.  Last night she struggled to put on two pair of pants and a shirt over her pj's.  The clothes she wants on but the diaper she wants off.  If she doesn't have pants on she's ripping the diaper off!  

I'm not saying she's ready for potty training or that I am either but she has been very interested in the toilet lately.  When in the bathroom she wants to sit on the toilet like we do, she has to get toilet paper and flush the toilet.  She even tells me when she needs her diaper changed.  She'll point to her diaper and say "dia cha".  Maybe we should get her a potty chair and see where it goes.

This girl is a picky eater.  She loves just about any pasta dish.  She wont even try veggies.  There are a few Gerber meals with veggies in them that she'll eat thank goodness.  This makes me worry so much! She loves popcorn, cheese, Pringles, and the filling of Oreos. 

Now that it's getting warmer we've been spending more time at the pool.  We go nearly everyday.  She loves it.  During the week it's less crowded which is nice since she likes to run around from chair to chair.  She'll get on a lounger and lay on it for a while then turn over to her back for a while.  There's a little splash area at the pool.  She has to turn it on when it turns off but then she runs away as fast as she can!  She's much braver when there are other kids playing in the sprinklers.  Maybe by the end of summer she'll be running in and out of them too.  She's discovered the ice machine in the cabana so she has to run back and forth to munch on ice while we're there.

Eloise loves to play peek-a-boo, chase and ring around the rosies.  We've recently started playing the game where you hide something in one hand and you guess which hand it's in.  She LOVES it.  She laughs and laughs.  She tries to pick both hands at once most of the time. 

Her favorite pajamas are her blue zebra ones.  When I let her choose which she wants to wear she ALWAYS picks them. 

Eloise loves shoes.  She is always pulling my shoes out and either wearing them her self or putting them on me.  She loves her pink saddles.  For a while there she refused to wear anything else.  

She is a girly girl.  She loves pinks, purses, lotions and make-up.  When I get ready for the day she has to sit on the sink by me.  She plays in my make-up bag, mousse in her hair, she has to put lotion on too.  She loves to carry purses - or anything she thinks is a purse.   

She is my big helper.  She likes to help clean, cook, put groceries away.  She still hates the vacuum.

 When I pull it out she still gets a little panicky and has to be held the whole time.  She does like to try and push it once I'm done.  A little progress is better than none!

She runs more than she walks.  She's getting pretty fast now too.  When we go up or down stairs she has to try doing them on her own.  She's slow but usually gets there in the end.  She has been trying to jump.  It's so cute seeing that one foot come off the ground.  There have been a couple times they've both come off the ground.  It usually happens when daddy comes home.  You've never seen a happier girl than when daddy comes home.  She hears the keys in the door and she darts to him.  It's so sweet.

Oh we love this little girl.  She makes us laugh everyday.  She melts my heart with just a look.  We feel so very blessed to have her little personality in our family!