Real Pigtails

My mom was inspired by the ponytail Jessi put in my hair at daycare this week. This is what she did to me today. It was a somewhat painful process.

Attempt #1

Attempt #2

Snow

I got to go outside today. I didn't really know what to do with snow, but it was fun to wear my boots. I was really sad our neighbor dog didn't come out to play. I even had the green ball we play with ready. Sometimes I hear him barking when I'm inside. Then I get the ball and run to the door to go outside. Usually my parents say it's dark or too cold and we can't go out. Dogs are just much more fun to play with than Mom and Dad.

Football Vocabulary and Dancing

My overly exuberant parents got some footage of me saying "Touchdown!" and "Oh no!" when football was on this Sunday. Then I agreed to dance for them after that. Notice how well I sway my bottom. Sometimes I really get my arms into the sway too, but they didn't catch that on video.

Holidays

I've been really busy lately. These things called holidays have us all over the place. It started with Thanksgiving at Pops and Grandma's house. I practiced climbing up and down their stairs holding onto the railing more times than anyone could count. We also watched a lot of football there. I'm really good at saying "Touchdown!" with great enthusiasm and "Oh no!" at any given time that football is on. I also had a great time playing with their toy barn. My mom and dad gave me a little one just like it. It even makes noise when I open the door. They gave it to me when I woke up this morning and after I saw this tree in our house with lights on it. Wow!

The other thing this holiday season brought was going to get pictures taken. I just don't like that place. I've been a crab the last two times we've been there. If you want to see some of the pictures you'll have to check out my mom's blog. If you don't know the address, just ask her for it.

I've really been playing with my doll a lot lately. I tried to feed her grapes yesterday morning.

Current Specifications

I had my 15 month well check today even though I'm almost 16 months. The doctor was really surprised when I actually answered her when she asked me what a puppy said. Then she asked me some more animal sounds and I told her those too. Here are my current measurements:

Height: 31 1/8" -75th percentile
Weight: 19 pounds 13.5 ounces -10th percentile
Head: 18 1/4" - 50-75th percentile

My sibling had a check up today too. It's heart was beating 162 beats a minute.

Animal Sounds

Check Out My New Shirt

Traveling Along

Here are a few pictures from my travels the last two weekends. The first weekend we went to a wedding on the other side of Nebraska. Then a few days after we got back we left for Branson. I saw all of my cousins in one week.

-Checking out the wedding decorations with my cousin Ashley.


-Snacking with the cousins at a look out sight.
-Getting pushed by Sydney in my stroller. It's more exciting when she pushes me.

-Trying to touch the butterflies even though they wouldn't ever let me.

My Little Book Nook

Enjoying October

I did a lot of fun things this weekend and today. Friday we went to the park, which we do a lot, but this time we brought the camera along. I like to climb up the stairs using the railing, get on the bridge and then put my face between the bars so I can get or give a kiss.

Then I played with my ball outside. I do this a lot too, but this time it when under the car. I didn't know how I was going to get it out.
Saturday I went to the farmer's market with my cousins and aunt and uncle. I get so excited every time I see them. Today I went swimming with them and wasn't scared the whole time. I accidentally went under a couple times and recovered quite quickly. Before we went swimming I got a haircut. See I now have "tapered side bangs" that don't go in to my eyes anymore.

Another thing we worked on this weekend was learning a few body parts. I'm pretty consistent with finding my belly button although it's hard to see over my big tummy sometimes.

I'm a little less consistent with knowing where my nose is.

No More Tears!

7:55 am I was actually trying to sleep in past 8 for once, and Dad comes and gets me up and puts me in my car seat without any breakfast! How rude is that? This is how I woke up on the day I went to go get my tear duct probed. How fitting.



8:20 I'm signed in and the long wait began. I made myself at home and checked things out. I said "Where is?" when Daddy went into this room to sign some papers.


Then we went to a different part of the hospital and the nurse tried to get my blood pressure and oxygen saturation levels. She couldn't get either because I didn't hold still. They put this tiger dress on me so they could get to my toes. I ran around the hallway in it for at least an hour. My mom put a silly blue hat on me and then I couldn't find it when she took it off.


10:25 The nurse came and walked me back into another big room and I didn't cry about leaving Mom and Dad at all.

10:40 The doctor came and told my parents he cleaned a lot of gunk out of my tear duct.

10:55 I didn't fuss at all about having to wake up from the anesthesia. I guess the boy that had his tear duct probed before me cried a lot about it, and my parents had to listen to it. I just cuddled with Daddy and went to sleep after he finally let me have a big glass of apple juice. Ahhh!


12:00 With just a little bloody nose and groggy eyes to show for my surgery, I'm on my way home. I'm ready for a good snack and a good nap!


Thanks to you who prayed for me. Everything went well.

Hairstyles

Here is a look at some of my current hairstyles. My mom hasn't put me in those knobby pigtails since that football game, thankfully, so I don't have a picture of that.

Here is a common style - one clip pulled to the side - but I take this out all the time, so we haven't been doing it this way often. You can also see in the picture that I help my mom unload the dishwasher. I really don't like it when she tells me they're dirty, and I can't take them out!


Here you see another common style - 2 clips pulled straight back - I'm getting better about taking this out, but mom still mainly picks this style for me for most days. You can also see from this picture that I'm learning to play the guitar.

Here is the hair in the eyes look. I don't mind it at all, but they don't let me keep it this way.

Here is what happens when Dad does my hair. Thankfully it doesn't stay this way when it dries.

Football!

My dad, mom and I went to a high school football game last night. I sat on my mom or dad's lap the whole time and didn't fuss about it much because it was all so very interesting. My favorite part were the little girl cheerleaders! I stared at them most of the first part of the game and tried to clap along. They didn't cheer the second half so I just clapped when everyone else clapped. The band, balloons and fun grandma lady behind me were quite entertaining too. My dad even shared some of his popcorn with me. That was much better than my snack.

I'll post a picture of the cute pigtails I wore to the game soon. I finally figured out that I can take the clips out of my hiar that mom puts in, so now she puts in ponytails. I get mad at her when she's putting them in! She really needs to be more gentle. Doesn't she remember what it was like to be a little girl getting her hair done?

I'm Not a Baby Anymore

I came down with a fever this week from my shots last week. I got to stay home with mom an extra day and one day dad stayed home with me. I don't have a fever anymore, but I'm still kind of a crab. I want to show you some pictures of how I'm a little girl now.

In this picture, you see me drinking my favorite thing, milk, and wearing my brand new tennis shoes! Here I am climbing up on my Dora car. I stood right after this but my parents didn't take a picture because they were putting me back on the ground. See how long my hair is too. My dad likes it when it's all messy like this.
Here I am demonstrating how I like to eat plums just like big people do.

Notice my cute cherry outfit and one of my favorite toys, my puppy. I give him hugs just like I give my babies hugs.

Another thing I am doing now that big girls do is climbing the stairs at the park by putting both of my hands on the railing. I figured this out all by myself too. I don't crawl up them anymore!

That's all for now!

- Elliana -

12 Month Well Check

I just went to the doctor this morning for my 12 month well check. I was really happy there until they started taking blood from my finger. The silly nurse didn’t understand why I didn’t want to hold my hand still for her. Duh! Then she gave me 3 shots in my legs. All the poking really hurt my feelings and took me a little while to recover. It actually wore me out so bad I fell asleep on the short walk home. I go back in 3 months for another check up, and in 2 weeks I go to another doctor for my plugged tear duct. Here are my latest specs if you’re interested.

Height: 29 ¼ inches - 50-75 percentile
Weight: 18 pounds 7.7 ounces – 10-25 percentile
Head: 18 ¼ inches – 75-90 percentile

Peanut Butter

This is what I look like after I lick peanut butter off of a few crackers. YUM! YUM!

Animals

Animals are one of my favorite things right now. I love to look at books with animals, see animals outside, and pull my toy puppy around on his leash. The other day I tried to take my neighbor dog on a walk with his leash, but he didn't want to go. A couple weeks ago Grandma Carol took me to a real big zoo. Once again my favorite animals were the penguins. They had some really neat little birds that were fun to watch too.This weekend I went to the county fair twice. I loved the little piglets the best and saw a lot of farm animals I'd never seen before. Did you know I can say 'horse'?

We went to the library for the first time today and checked out some new books about animals. I think I'll learn the names of some new ones this week.

What Does a Puppy Say?

What sounds like static is actually me saying 'f' 'f.' I say what a puppy says before you hear my mom asking me and then I say it again. The other new things my mom thinks I've said this week are my name and Sydney. I say more things but she doesn't know what they are. She's supposed to be good at making kids talk well. I think I'll be good practice for her.

1st Birthday Highlights

I had a very busy first birthday weekend. I got to go to a wedding on my birthday and had a fun party the next day. One of the really special things about my birthday party was that all my grandpa's and grandma's, all but one of my aunt's and uncle's (We missed you Aunt 'Nae) and all of my cousins were there. Some of them had to drive a long way to be at my party. On top of that, my second cousin Erik came from so far away that he had to fly in an airplane to be here. It was sure nice of everyone to come, especially since they had to be outside on a hot July day.

Here are some picture highlights from my birthday and my birthday party.

Opening the first card I got in the mail.

Aunt Jill entertaining me at the wedding reception.
The cupcake before -
...and after - It was a yummy cupcake! I especially liked the frosting.
Opening some of my great presents with some help. (a.k.a very uncontrolled chaos!)
Thanks to everyone who made my first birthday special!

A Few of My Current Favorite Things

Playing in the sprinklers

Pointing to puppies where ever I see them. My mom used to ask me where the puppy was in my Bear Hunt book but I point to them before she asks me now.

Doing my bend the legs and noodle arm dance whenever I hear music.

Getting tickled by daddy.

Walking - I've really improved from that video in my last post.

Unrolling toilet paper and shredding it.

Look What I Can Do

Big News

I’ve been kind of busy this week. Here are the highlights.

-My friend Savannah came over to swim. Swimming in my little pool is so much more fun if there’s someone my age around.

-I ate with Logan again. This time we sat in our high chairs next to each other for supper. He had the same thing I did but I wanted to eat off of his tray. My mom gave me my first set of pig tails for the occasion, and we played until way passed by bed time. He had the same thing I did but I wanted to eat off of his tray.

-I’ve gotten to play with Miles twice this week. He has a cat that is really fun to pet.

-I played with my neighbor’s dog for a little bit and fed him some of my goldfish crackers. He really liked them, and I liked sharing.

-I found my mom’s Tupperware cabinet. She’s been trying to get me to clean this out for a while.

Now you’re wondering what the big news is, aren’t you? Well, part of my big news is that I am learning to go down the stairs. I’m really quick at going up, but now I can go down too. I practice by taking a ball up a few stairs, throwing it down and then working to go get it. I’ve learned that if I sit sideways on the step I’m on, put the leg down that’s closest to the next step and then pull the other one down, I can safely get down the stairs. It’s a slow process and I’m not too confident yet, but it’s fun to practice.

My really big news though is that I took what my parents are calling MY FIRST STEPS yesterday! I did it in two different places. The first time was at my Aunt Jill’s house. She was building me a tower of blocks to knock over, and I took steps over to it. The other place I took steps was when I was trying to walk towards my daddy after his softball game. I stand a lot now and think about doing it again, but it's still easier to just sit down and crawl to where I need to go. I'm sure my parents will try to tempt me often this weekend to take more steps so I can be practiced up to show off my new skill! I can't wait to show you.

My Neighbor Friend

I’ve been spending a lot of time with my neighbor friend Logan lately. We live two doors away from each other and are only 13 days apart in age. I’m the older one, but you wouldn’t know it by our sizes. We like to play together, go on walks, and swim together. He has two dogs I used to be scared of, but now I get real excited when I see them. Logan and I like to play with the dogs' food and water bowls. They make lots of good noise! I would like to try their dog food but my mom won’t let me. The other night Logan and I had a little date with some yummy snacks.

We were really messy after that so we got cleaned up and ready for bed. Then our parents thought it would be fun to put us on these animals and take our picture. I didn’t think it was a very good idea, but Logan thought it was just fine. He's braver than me.

The sad thing is that Logan is moving away this week. When he moves I won’t get to look and see if he’s outside when I go outside, and I won’t have a neighbor to swim and go on walks with me. I’m really going to miss my friend Logan!