Eleanor at 17 months

Eleanor, you are a little fireball in EVERY sense of the word... you absolutely keep us on our toes and brighten each day with your spunk. It is hard to believe what a little lady you are becoming..... sure you still wear size 6-12 month clothes, still love to drink your milk out of a bottle, still take 2 awesome naps a day... but it is unbelievable how much you are growing, changing and LEARNING - you are a sponge. A few things we want to remember:

*You sleep from 8:30pm - 8:15am, nap from 10:30 - 12:15 and nap again from about 3:30 - 5:30... in the last couple of days you have started singing and playing throughout the entire first nap, although you don't cry for us to come get you, we fear that the days of nap #1 are numbered.

*Every morning when you wake up you go through a roll-call of sorts to whomever is getting you out of bed. For example, if I am getting you out of bed a typical roll-call would go: "Daddy, Tripp, Dot-Dot, Paw-Paw, Katie??" Pretty much every morning and after every nap... I am sure this just melts the heart of Dot-Dot, Paw-Paw and Aunt Katie... but it leaves the rest of the gang out, so we need to work on that :).

*You still only have your two bottom teeth, but as of this week you are officially cutting SIX teeth... yikes. The top four and two more on the bottom are about to poke through. Needless to say, you have loved yourself some paci and some tylenol lately.

*You weigh 18lbs even. Little thing.

 *Without a doubt, you are a Daddy's girl.

*You have started to say "Cheese" and close your eyes when we try to take your picture... makes it quite difficult to get a few good ones every now and again :).

*You LOVE Tripp and just think you are the world's biggest helper... you aren't. All day every day you are constantly looking for his blankets, pacis, diapers, etc (even if he is using them) to bring them to me. Thank you, sweet girl.... but stop. You constantly are kissing on him and ask to hold him ALL the time.... you are so concerned when he cries, try to help momma change his diaper and help burp him after every feeding. Hilarious.

*Holy junk you are smart.... for all I know you are right on pace, but you blow us away every day with the vocabulary you have, the reasoning in your little brain and how you put the two together. I have listed most of the words you know before, but here are some new ones that just are nuts: Tipp, Ganpa (Grandpa), Mini (Mindy), Hosh (Josh), Maeme (Maebe), meelk (milk), bankie (blankie), hosee (horsey), bike, keys, noogie (nugget), cookie, o-fish (goldfish), batub (bathub), car, poputer (computer), yucky, nakey (naked), diapa (diaper), dirty, tash (trash), watch, gasses (glasses), barn, cib (crib), shirt, shoes, bow, socks, boots, boogies (boogers, lovely!), tynol (tylenol, yikes!), buppace (butt paste, you have had lots of diaper rash!), backet (basket), potty, fooball (football), memo (remote), carseat, wackup (wake up), back up, bless you (especially when Tripp sneezes), hot coffee (seriously?!), bye-bye, nope, no way, oopie dadie (oopsie daisy),and I am sure there are tons more... literally we freak out all the time at the words you know. You are also starting to put thoughts together, for example: Momma's wawa, Daddy's poputer, Dot-Dot's keys, Lucy's paci.

*You know where all your body parts are and you know them by name.

 *You know the sounds to make for a puppy, cow, duck, monkey, cat, pig and horse.

*You are very mischievous. If we tell you NO to something, you immediately decide that this will be your new favorite game. So with a sneaky grin and slow motion, you stare us down while you continue to do the very thing that we have asked you not to... can we say, make us laugh and freak us out all at the same time. We are working on this with you.... in fact, you have REALLY learned what time-out is lately and you are NOT a fan.

*You eat your weight in goldfish and often ask for them for breakfast.

 *You got a baby doll for Christmas and it has been so funny to watch you copy what momma and Tripp do with your baby.... your baby (named Katie) has enjoyed many times in the bassinet, the swing and on the boppy... you like to burp her too.

*You sing all day long... to yourself or to us, doesn't matter... your favorite is "La, La, La" from Kindermusik, but you also sing Happy Birthday (tune only) and sometimes parts of "Boom Pa Pa" from Kindermusik. You also love to dance and have just started swaying your hips when you hear music.

*You can sing A-D (sometimes G) of the ABC's (you hum the whole song) and count to 3. 

*You LOVE boys.... specifically older ones that are friends of mommy and daddy's... when they come over or we see them in public, you tend to get really shy and smile while staring at them regardless of what you do. After you warm up a bit, you typically lean against wherever they are sitting and smile until they pick you up. You little FLIRT.

*We are NOT going to start potty training yet, but you have started to let us know when you have gone potty in your diaper... you don't like to be wet or dirty, so you tell us pretty much as soon as you go. (and yes, those are momma's panties on your head. awesome.)

 *You love to repeat... like we hear "paci, paci, paci, paci....." or "uh oh, uh oh, uh oh..." or "milk, milk, milk...." until we give you what you are asking for or you get our attention. You are still polite and use your sign language, but you make sure to get our attention first.

There are so many more things to love and appreciate about you, sweet girl. For now we just can't forget these... you are awesome, we love you and we have come to thoroughly enjoy the little lady that God has created you to be. You keep us on our toes, that is for sure. We love you punkin bottom!