12 Months

I've been meaning to start a list of all the new skills Eleanor has acquired over the last few weeks that haven't quite made it here to the blog... but sickness has overtaken my brain, organization and energy. So, instead of a well constructed post on Ellie's latest development, we'll have to settle for some scattered thoughts.

At her 12 Month Well Check, Eleanor weighed in at 21 lbs. This seems so small to me, but she is very healthy and eats well. She lost some weight during her recent illness, too, but has gained it back quickly. The last few days I've hardly been able to feed her enough. :) Anyway, this weight puts her in the 49th percentile.

In contrast, Ellie is 31 inches tall. This puts her in the 95th percentile. I'm not sure where she got her tall genes, but she continues to shoot up. She can now reach things off the table and at the edge of the counter. She loves to stand at the top of the stairs and hang her little head over the top of the baby gate to peer down at mom, dad or Pekoe. She also can now open all the drawers in the kitchen and bathroom. What fun!

Our babe's head is 17.9 inches, which puts her in the 60th percentile. We knew her head's been growing because many of her shirts suddenly got really difficult to pull over her ears. We've had to bump her up in size simply because the 18 month tops have more snaps and buttons down the back and they make it much easier to get them on. New clothes are really fun, but I have to chuckle most mornings because these bigger shirts hang so big around her middle!

I think the most marked change in Eleanor's development has come with her walking and maneuvering abilities. She's learned to walk forward with speed, figured out how to walk backwards a few steps (especially important when backing out of a corner, for instance), loves to turn in circles (think dog chasing his tail) and occasionally scoots along sideways. She loves to walk up and down steps, holding on to railings and hands. She's also gotten very secure walking on all sorts of different surfaces and can recover well from stumbles without always falling down. She still loves to put her shoes on and go outside.

Ellie's language abilities are also growing and changing every day. She synthesizes things well and follows many directions. I'm always amazed when I ask her to bring me a new item and she just walks over and picks it up. She will bring us shoes that are in another room, books, balls, socks, jackets, her blanket... She's also trying out saying new words. She doesn't have a lot of words yet that she uses really frequently (except for dada and up!), but she says things here and there very clearly. My favorite is kitty-cat which comes out either "dit dit dat" or "ditty."

Her vocabulary includes:
"up" - up
"ba" - banana
"ba ba" - bye bye
"hi low" - hello
"app...le" - apple
"aaan" - on
"aaa" - off
"haa" - hot
"no" - no

Eleanor has also started kissing. The other day she was asking for a drink of Seth's water and he let her drink out of a big girl glass. She would take a sip of water and then lean into Seth's face for a kiss. Over and over and over again. She often wants to give me kisses after she gets her diaper changed.

The other terrifying skill Ellie is learning is how to climb. She climbs on everything she can and tries on everything else. I know it's an important phase of development, but many attempts end in falling and tears. She loves her little red rocking chair from Auntie Dianne. Over and over again she will climb up into it, turn herself around and rock a few times. Then she scoots off and starts again. She often takes "special" objects with her. This morning she was trying to climb on it with an open container of Joe's Os. It made quite a mess, but she was very proud of herself when she finally was sitting and rocking and still had a few Os to eat while she did so.

We continue to feel extremely blessed by our little girl. She is so joyful, so curious and in general very calm. She is happy to entertain herself and loves socializing. Lately I've had several other people watch her in small chunks and everyone says, "I'd be happy to watch her anytime. Seriously, she's so easy!" Thank you, Eleanor, for being such a sweet little bug!