Sunday, September 25, 2011

September 25- E came home this morning at 10:00, we were so glad to see her. She pointed out her tunnel to Ama and Ada, but wouldn't demonstrate how she crawled through them. Once she got a little more secure in being home, she was back using the tunnels. She also finally started understanding about rain, and the fact that she can't go outside when its raining. She pointed outside several times today and said "rain." This afternoon, she visited Grandma and Grandpa with dada and they all went for a walk, and played with balls. And, tonight, for the first time, she threw a tantrum until she got to take a bath.

September 24- This is the most peaceful that I've seen E look while sleeping since she was a newborn. Usually, she sleeps on her tummy and knees and it looks like she is ready to go at any moment. Today was a big day, E slept through the night, and was ready to play at 6:00 am. Because of the weather, we couldn't go to the park, so we played at the mall's playground. E was so tired out after the playing that she fell asleep on the 5 minute drive home. This evening, E spent the night at Ama and Ada's house. She went over for dinner, and stayed until the morning. They had fun having pizza, playing with toys, and having a bath. Her favorite game was throwing her blankie and giraffe over the edge of the bed and calling for her Ada to come help.

September 23- Today I left work early, picked E up, and took her to the homecoming parade for dada's school. She played the monkey to her dada's Henry Drummond. She was the hit of the parade, and the English Department won the award for the best dressed department! We also went to the homecoming football game, E only lasted about 10 minutes into the game. It was her first time wearing mittens, she kept staring at her hands and moving her thumbs. She didn't mind them too much, but once she wanted a snack, she refused to put them back on.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

September 22- E was a goofy girl today. This morning, she went to Ama and Ada's house, and during the car ride to drop me off at work, she told Ama that she was hungry. But, once breakfast came, she didn't want to eat anything. It was only when she was pretending to feed a stuffed monkey broccoli, that she'd eat. E's imagination has really been coming out lately. She feeds her stuffed animals, she pretends things are phones, and she cooks with her kitchen.

After breakfast out with Ama and Ada, she got to go to a park, and pick a tomato for a snack. Once we got home, the silly continued. First, she "painted" the table with yogurt, then, after dinner she ran around the house naked going back and forth between momma and dada. And, later, she took off her own diaper to keep running naked (and had a small accident on the floor).

Above, E is walking down the stairs like a big girl. She refuses to crawl down stairs. If its only one step, she won't even hold hands, she just goes on down.

September 21- This was day 4 (and the last day) of E's sleeping through the night streak. She is wearing her magic dinosaur jammies, we decided that the jammies were magic, since the first night she wore them she slept straight through. She is also holding her giraffe (which Teddy gave her for her birthday). Today she had a good day at daycare. When we got home in the evening,  we hustled out to beat the rain, and took a few turns on the jumping spot. After dinner, E asked for a snack, and practiced pouring them from container to container.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Fall days

September 20- We are taking advantage of these last fall days while we can. E has been spending lots of time outside, she comes home from daycare everyday with shoes full of sand! We've taken nice long walks, tonight the three girls and their parents all took a walk, where the girls jumped of the jumping spot, ran up to football practice, and watched a tennis match. E was so excited after all the activity that bed time was hard, but we are hoping she continues her sleeping through the night streak.

September 19- The girls had the evening together since dada had to work, we walked to the park, where E had a great time playing on the little slide. By the end of the night, she was able to walk up the little slide. She did some climbing on the big kid equipment but didn't want to go down the big slide. On our way home, E melted my heart, she picked me this bouquet of wild flowers. She had the idea herself, and picked most of the flowers without help. She picked one dandelion fluff flower, but was so excited by it, she played with the fluff until it came off. She was so excited for one of the flowers that she pulled it roots off!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

September 18- It was a rainy Sunday today, the sort of day best spent indoors. Unfortunately, E doesn't understand that you should stay inside during the rain, so we spent a lot of time explaining to her why we couldn't go for a walk. This morning, Ama and Ada picked E up for the morning. When she got home, it was just in time for a nap, and then a snack with her giraffe. The giraffe has quickly become one of her favorites, and she asked for it constantly today. She's sitting with her other favorites, Doot Doot (napping under his blanket), and her blanket (another new word and something she asks for quite often) We also went mall walking to give E a chance to get out of the house.

We also learned today that E pays attention to everything. This morning the phone rang, E promptly grabbed shovel, put it up to her ear and said "helwhoa" and we learned that she knows how to sit cross legged.



September 17- E and I went to the Big Rig Gig today, we saw lots of trucks. E had a great time touching wheels, playing in digger scoops, and seeing the inside of a bus. E wasn't even scared of the truck horns. The Gig was held at the city pool, and E also loved playing in the empty pool. After the Gig, she and I went to the Monroe Street Festival to see the petting zoo. There was a Spanish Mastiff (the biggest dog I've ever seen) and some goats. E liked looking, but wasn't interested in touching any of them.

We got to have dinner with Ama and Ada, where E showed off her love of rice, and then it was bed time. E actually slept the whole night!

September 16- When I picked E up from daycare earlier this week her hair was wild, Miss Alyssa told me that is was because she had put a pony tale in E's hair. So, since E left in the day care hairdo, I've started putting pony tales in her hair. This one got a little messy, but it was still pretty cute. E spent the evening with her friend A as part of our date exchange. The girls had so much fun that E didn't want to leave when we came to pick her up.

September 15-
Today was the first day of Grandma and Grandpa watching E. They had a busy day, they took a long walk, played outside, colored with crayons, and went to the grocery store. E even brought Doot Doot along for the day. In the evening, the neighborhood dads took the girls for a walk.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Doot Doot

September 14- E's love of Doot Doot is increasing daily. Tonight, she couldn't eat dinner without her Doot Doots watching, and couldn't go to bed without saying good night to Doot Doot. We are fairly sure we are are going to need to find a crib safe Captain America soon, things are getting a little out of hand! Tonight we got to play with the neighbors, its starting to get pretty fall like around here, so our walk was cut short, but E got to try out some of R's magic erase crayons, they were pretty cool. Day care clearly wiped E out today, she was ready for bed very early.

Day care, and then I, got E to wear her hair in a little ponytail for a little while today, I was so excited, I've been wanting E to wear a hair tie for along time now!

September 13- This is a pretty common site, this is E carrying Doot Doot under his blanket. Tonight before dinner, E and dada went for the longest walk of E's life, they went to the watch the big kids play football, baseball, and volleyball, then the went to the park, finally then walked over to the entrance to our neighborhood's conservation park. 

Tonight we had a huge milestone, E went potty on the potty! We were so impressed and had a big celebration, E even got to flush the big toilet! We are hoping this trend continues, but we know she's still pretty young, so are not pushing. Tonight, we were playing when E said "toot" so I ran her into the bathroom, after a couple false starts, she went! So, we've got to listen hard for "toot"

Monday, September 12, 2011

September 12- It has become clear to us lately that E loves her routines and habits. For example, last Thursday, dada picked up E from Ama and Ada's house, and she found it really upsetting. Tonight, she illustrated that the bed time routine has to go exactly right. We have to change a diaper, put on jammies, brush teeth, have milk, read the moon book, the hippo book, and one other book. Then, momma has to stand up and say nite nite and hold her until dada comes in to put E in her bed.

Tonight, we went out to dinner, which always seems like it will be a good idea, but we end up taking turns walking around the restaurant with E in shifts. After dinner, we gave E a second dinner, and then went for a nice walk with our neighbors.

September 11- This morning, E and I walked to the park near our house for some play time. Even though we went all the way to the park, once we were there, all E wanted to do was have a snack, drink some water, and unpack her diaper bag. She did play on the equipment a little bit and even went down the slide by herself, just holding my hand.

We had a nice day around the house,  dancing, playing with balls, and going for walks. After dinner, we got to go over to A's house and play in her pool. The girls had a great time turning the yard into mud, although E was very bothered when she got mud on her toes. We spent a lot of time cleaning off her feet and then watching her step directly back into mud.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

More words

Ever since I started listing words we've come up with more that she knows, here's the update: bubble, hedgehog, cheers, book, bottle, help, moon, Bert, Knee, tiger, lion, key, duck, hot, cold, her friend R's name, and flower,

September 10- Clowning around with dada, E was playing with herself in the mirror, making funny faces and watching the yogurt move around her chin. She had a big day today, first we ate the longest breakfast of E's life, starting with noodles and peas and moving on to pancakes, I'm not sure how she sat still that long. E's also been a big fan of coloring lately, and made a few pictures before we ate. We got out her skinny crayons, and its amazing how much better she is at using them then she was a few months ago.

After breakfast and coloring, we parked cars for the Badger game at Ama and Ada's house. She was pretty helpful, and got to visit with momma's friends Erin and Ryan from college. E, momma, and Ada walked down to the stadium for lunch, where E saw some big trucks, and people watched. E spent the afternoon with Ada, they had macaroni and cheese, napped, played with the teapot, and swam in the pool. This evening, we took a nice long walk, and explored the practice field with our neighbor R.

September 9- Today was E's best day at day care yet, she only cried a little in the morning and didn't have too many fussy spells. She ate some at each meal, and some snack. We had our neighbor A over tonight and the girls, as usual, had a great time together. Dinner wasn't too successful, neither would touch their ravioli, but both loved the yogurt, E even ate some watermelon and she won't usually touch fruit.

After dinner we walked to the football game for dada's school. Both girls were fascinated by the lion mascot and liked watching the big kids cheer.  This was E's second football game and A's first, we'll see if it becomes a regular thing.

September 8- I think E looks a little punk here, which is fitting this new activity. She dumps her snack out on the floor, says "uh oh" and "help" and then expects me to pick up all her snack, only to repeat the game a few minutes later.

E was at Ama's house today, and packed a lot into the morning. E called me at work at 9:30 and Ama reported that they had already looked for dogs, watched the kids going to school, picked (and eaten) four tomatoes, gotten so wet playing that her pants needed to go into the dryer, and had a snack. Ama wasn't sure what they were going to do with the rest of the day.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Words

Since E's doctor appointment yesterday I've been thinking about all the words she knows. The doctor asked if she knew between 15 and 20 words, and we said she knew many more. So, here are the words she has at 18 months, I'm sure I've missed some: mama, dada, Ama, Ada, up, down, more, please, milk, cheese, bean, pea, yogurt, water, hippo, roar, diaper, Ernie, Elmo, potty, toot, no, all done, done, mommy, ball, walk, out, baby, nite nite, owie, shoe, sock, toes, bye bye, hi, thank you, her name, her friend A's name, swim, pool, boat, tweet, noodle, wow, airplane, whee, uh oh, boom, bump, ride, happy, truck, Big Bird, cookie, mum mum, snack, vroom, hop, boy, and animal.

September 7- I had promised E a walk with her dada and I and she decided I was wearing the wrong shoes, she got other shoes for me, and helped my put them on. Today E did better at daycare, she had a sad drop off, but perked up for most of the morning, she ate both breakfast and lunch, and then got sad in the afternoon. After daycare, we had a playdate with the neighbors, unfortunately, E and I didn't get to stay too long. We went to play before E got her post-daycare milk, and she spent the entire playdate asking for milk, crying, and reaching in my shirt. After a total meltdown we left so she could have milk.

We had another milestone tonight, our first public tantrum. We were walking and E wanted to cross the street to play. We said no, and she threw herself on the ground and cried. We cleared it up pretty quickly, but near a driveway to our condo wasn't the best place for a tantrum.

September 6- E had her 18 month check up today and passed with flying colors. Her vocabulary and gross motor skills are off the charts. She weighed in at 19 pounds and 9 ounces (first percentile) and she's 30.5 inches tall (twentieth percentile). So, she's still a peanut, but its not holding her back.

September 5- E has been really interested in coloring lately, we've got one of her pictures hanging on the fridge, and when she wants to color, she pulls down the picture and hands it to us. When she colors, she uses both sides of the paper (and sometimes the table). Her favorites are the red and black crayons. She prefers the ones with points, but has accidentally broken two of them, she gets pretty upset when she uses them.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Animals

September 4- We took advantage of the holiday weekend and headed to the zoo this morning. We got there just as the zoo was opening, and wasn't too crowded, in fact E was the first kid on the carousal today. The second she saw the building, she knew exactly what she wanted to do. Turns out, she and her dad rode the carousal  lots over the summer! E's favorite animal today at the zoo was the tiger, she wasn't scared at all. It was funny though, she was scared of the red panda, the meerkats, and several apes.

September 3- This morning E and I were looking out the window and kept saying "hop, hop." I kept looking out and telling her there was no bunnies. Then, I turned to look over the prairie. There weren't any bunnies, but there were about 12 wild turkeys. We went out and took a look, E wasn't too impressed.

As the day went on, we took a walk in the rain where we saw a toad, E also wasn't impressed with that. This was one of the first times that E hasn't minded walking in the rain. Usually she doesn't like to get her head wet, but today it didn't bother her at all.

Friday, September 2, 2011

September 2- E is getting closer and closer to reaching door knobs. We are in trouble once she figures it out! You can see her Captain America (or Doo Doo) as she calls her in the background, and in her left hand is the Captain's blanket. We had a good evening, after day care we went swimming, and two of the neighbor's wanted to play with her. They were both second graders, and weren't too impressed with E's ability to play the way they wanted. Day care went slightly better today, she refused to eat breakfast or lunch, but she didn't cry so hard in the morning that she fell asleep a whole hour before nap time.

 September 1- Dada's first day of school and E's first day with Ama for the school year. Both events were successful, although I'm guessing E had more fun :) After a fun day with Ama and Ada which included watching kids at the park, swimming, a walk, and throwing some rocks. In the evening, she helped momma and dada park cars for the Badger game. She wasn't wearing her Badger red, but she was still a big draw.

 August 31- Another tough day at day care, they describe E has having fun at times, but as soon as the door opens, she gets upset because she remembers that her parents aren't there. After day care we had a play date with E's friend A and our new neighbor R. The girls played in the pool, with sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and sidewalk paint. They all had a blast. E loves her Captain America toy, above she is putting him to nite nite. She spent quite a bit of time doing that tonight.


August 30- E is having "noon-els" for dinner, they are her favorite. E didn't eat anything at day care, so I wanted dinner to be something that she was certain to eat. So, noon-els and yogurt were it. E feeds hereself everything now, and which makes meal time very messy. You can see the sauce on the table, on E's chest, in the top of her diaper, and on the floor (along with the towel she was using to wipe her mouth). To solve it, she usually eats naked, it works well, but I'm not sure what we'll do in the winter.