Open, Shut

Elena is very playful and loves opening and shutting doors.  She can't quite open our doors (we have knobs) but lever doors are a piece of cake for her.  I'm sure it is only time until she figures out the door knobs.

Trying to figure out the door handle...

Done with the door, now it's time to pick out a book or two to read!  She still loves to be read to and now she is starting to flip pages (at the right time) and reading the book back to me.

Hi Dada

As you can see, Elena was able to reach my phone.  After she broke the last one, you would think I would learn.  But her reach is outstanding.  She can reach the counter as well as a good foot onto the kitchen table.  Anyway, she was being so cute I just had to take pictures.  I hope I'm not being too encouraging by taking photos.

She picked up the phone, put it to her face and said Dada.  Then after walking around the house playing keep away from me, she said Dada and started kissing the phone, as I caught in the picture above.  And below it sure looks like this little girl is trying to text.  I think this spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

Today we had Elena's 15 month check up.  Doctor says she is "growing well".  Elena weighed in at 26 pounds 4 ounces and measured 32.5 inches tall.  This puts her in the 90th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height, same as the last couple of check ups.  She did have a shot and wanted extra snuggles with Carl so they watched Elmo sing Elmo's Song.

Anticipation

I think Elena is now able to anticipate outcomes.  She was playing with her water and milk cup (I know, double fisting at an early age).  She dropped her milk cup and I just happen to be taking a picture but you can see from her scrunched face and eyes shut she thought the cup was going to hit her foot.  Don't worry, she missed those precious toes this time.

All I can say is what a silly girl!

New Potty Seat

For the past couple of weeks, I have been casually teaching Elena how to sign potty.  After this morning's nap she frantically signed potty for the first time.  I didn't think too much about it until I realized she needed to go poo.  Alas, in the diaper it went.  She's not fond of sitting on the big potty seat so this morning we went shopping for a 2 in 1 seat; the child seat folds into the seat cover when not in use.  Genius!  Ten minutes after we got home, the seat was installed and Elena was checking out.  Now, if I can only get her to sit on it...

Our Little Foodie

Elena thoroughly enjoyed her lunch today and she was being so cute (and messy) I had to snap a few pictures.  Her lunch menu consisted of avocado, black beans, broccoli, O's and milk--what an eater!  She is starting to love black beans more than O's.

After ruining a couple shirts, Elena always eat avocado in a diaper.  Much easier clean up since she pretty much fights a bib at every meal.

Oh, what is this...my belly button....but wait something is in there....

...a black bean, yumm!  She really discovered it herself and ate it!  What a silly girl!!

This week Elena continued to build her vocabulary.  She came up to me Wednesday and said "hiya Mama", her first sentence.  New words include hiya, banana (annana), my, and Papa; a new facial expression (I know, how many does she have?) she wrinkles her nose and scrunches her lips like she is saying oohhh.  Tonight she said "my Dada" when Carl walked up.  And she learned to hold her play phones to her ear and ramble.  This week Elena also figured out how to climb up on the furniture and get her diaper off.  Imagine my surprise to see a diaper on the floor and a half naked baby jumping around in her crib!  On the other hand, to our delight Elena is becoming lovey again.  Randomly through the day (not just when she is tired) she will come up to us and give hugs and head snuggles.  In the few minutes it took to type entry, Elena figured out how to click a clicker pen....she is amazing!  And also doing really well sleeping.  She has only been getting up once a night and every 3-4 nights she'll sleep all the way through.  (I hope I didn't just jinx us for tonight!)

Coloring Time

On several occasions I have pulled out crayons or finger paint to let Elena explore but it wasn't until yesterday that she was more interested in what the crayons could do than what they tasted like.  Of course she did want to put a crayon in her mouth a couple of times but she would look at me and with a nod of the head and a gentle "no" the crayon would come down to the table.  It still amazes me that she listens, understands, and responds (when she wants to).

This weekend Elena also improved her vocabulary.  

First color: "purp, purp".  Second animal noise: "bah. bah".

 

Another first: a successful climb onto the couch Saturday.  And this morning she finally got her foot onto the top of her crib railing.  Does this mean she's going to climb out of her crib soon?!

Watering Can Adventures

It seems just over night Elena has become my little helper.  She babbles on as if I know what she is saying, so in turn I started asking her questions..can you find...or can you help Momma...  And off she goes, most of the time she retrieves the item in question but sometimes she'll bring back a book or another toy.  Yesterday I took a movie of her babbling and played it back to her.  She loved watching herself and had a whole conversation with the recording.  If only I had caught that on the camera!  It is amazing to see how much she understands and can communicate to us.  Today at lunch she pointed to the banana and said "that" when I asked her what she wanted.  Amazing.   

Elena has not been fond of shoes until recently and now that she understands shoes on means she is going outside (and this girl loves to be outside) she no longer struggles to keep the shoes from going on.  Concepts are definitely there, which in my book is a great thing.  The next concept I'm going to encourage is the beginning of potty training.  From talking to friends, family, and reading, Elena could be a little young but I'm going to take it slow and with any luck by the end of summer we'll be diaper free.  Wish me luck!

Last night Elena helped me water the flowers and potted plants outside.  This morning she investigated the watering can which of course consists on climbing it, picking it up, and looking inside.

When we moved to Santee, a friend commented about a local nickname, Santucky (Santee + Kentucky)--a bit country.  Of course Santee is not country now but it was country in the 70s and maybe 80s.  I think Elena might have taken the "country" to heart as she relaxed and chewed on some grass.  Too funny to pass up!

I'm a bad action photographer, but here is Elena running in the yard.  She was running toward the bird bath, which since Cooper made a point of drinking out it this morning, it has been of great interest to Elena.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Happy 4th!

We hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July!  We started out our morning with the annual pancake breakfast at the beach.  Mornings at the beach are often cloudy and chilly with the crisp scent of sea salt.  Ahh, it relaxes me just to think about it.

After a morning on the beach, we came home and Elena took an awesome nap while I made Mock Apple Slices for our afternoon/evening BBQ with friends.  I love this recipe...zucchini that tastes like apple pie, how could you go wrong?  I used a couple zucchini from our garden and a few from the store--my first attempt at this family dessert was a success!  The party was a lot of fun; here are a couple pictures of Elena and Carl in the pool.

Climb, climb, climb!

Elena now enjoys climbing on everything.  She is quite the dare devil and will even let go while propped up on the seat.  She doesn't just climb on toys but into them too.  For the record, she does know how to sit on this toy the correct way and is learning to make it move while she is sitting on it.  Although it is cute to watch her play on her toys, my favorite play mode is "chase".  She loves when you chase her down the hall and then she'll chase you and get you.  I love listening to those giggles... 

A Little More Monkeyin' Around

Going through all the pictures I took in the last 2 weeks, I think few more should be posted...so here are a few more fun pics from our trip! 

Elena has become a pro at climbing on and into things...crazy little girl!

Smell those stinky feet!

I'm a big kid now with Cy's hat and a mini beach ball--let's go play!

Happy, happy birthday to me!

All Good Things Come to an End

Farewell humid stormy weather, mosquitoes, massive construction zones, traffic, green grass, lightening bugs and beautiful orange, pink and purple sunsets. It's time to say good-bye to the Midwest and our family and friends there. We had a wonderful trip and will miss you. Here are a few play pictures from our last day or two.

Enjoying "chip dip" as the kids call it...we made delicious fresh guacamole for lunch.

At the Park with Sam

Our morning started out great with a nap, then lunch with Sam and then a short visit to the park before Elena's afternoon nap.  Yep, today she is getting both her naps in, yay!  We had a fun visit, though too short as all seem to be when you live so far away.  Elena wasn't quite sure what to do with the hippo head, but I thought it was cute.  She had a great time with the swing, slide, and walking up and down the little hills...and then down the bigger hill with a bit of a fall though no scratches, crying or grass stains!  Now it's off for me to sneak a nap in :)

Sisters Three

One advantage to going home and having all of us under one roof is that we were able to have pictures taken of the sisters. We haven't had one of these in quite some time, thanks to my oversight at my wedding so it was time to update. While we were at it, we had pictures of the grand kids taken too. It was a two day affair, a bit tense and tested all of our patience as we tried to get a picture of the kids. At least the one happy moment of the day was captured!