Elsie Marie - 19 and 20 Months

As you can see from the title I missed Elsie's 19 month post.  I thought about taking her pictures quite a few times but never got around to doing it.  And finally, I cut myself some slack and decided to combine the two months because things got pretty blurry.  I had a lot of fun taking these pictures because we decided to go to the park.  Our yard is ugly right now due to lack of rain and I thought a change of scenery would be great.  Plus, John was able to come with us to the park this day so that was fun too!

GROWTH:  Oh boy!  I can't believe how much Elsie is growing.  She are completely out of 12-18 months, and 18-24 month clothes are getting too short for her.  I dug out all of the 2T clothes and washed them and got them into her closet.  We are ready :).  She is somewhere between 24-25 pounds on the at-home scale.  I haven't taken her height measurement lately.  I should do that to get an idea.

EATING: I am sure like most toddlers, Elsie goes through ups and downs with eating.  Some days she will eat just about everything we put on her plate and other days/meals she won't touch a thing.  We don't make special food for her but we do keep in mind things we know she doesn't like or has ever liked such as beans and potatoes.  If we give her the fruit first she will eat that otherwise most days she won't touch the fruit once the meat and veggies hit her plate.  Her favorite foods these days are peppers (she loved to pick them off the plant and eat them like an apple), grape/cherry tomatoes, cheese, cheerios, crackers, and nutrigrain bars.  She is ALWAYS asking for a bar.  Most time we distract her with something else but she just loves these things.  She really likes to eat her food like a "big kid".  Like a whole apple, a whole banana, a bigger piece of toast, instead of being cut up into little bite sized pieces.  Most of the time we oblige to her requests but keep a very close eye on her when she is eating.  

SLEEP: The past two months sleep has been pretty good (if you are close to me you will remember that Elsie had a week long stretch of terrible sleeping-this will come in the next post).  Because it is summer time and we end up playing outside later she has been going down around 7:30 PM most nights.  Some nights earlier and a few nights later but 7:30 seems to be pretty standard.  She has been waking up between 6:00-6:30 sometimes John has to wake her up in the morning so she can get ready to go to JoJo's.   She still is going down great for naps.  A big sleep change is that at JoJo's she has moved to sleeping on a cot!  Wow, she is growing up so fast.  Another little note is that we are still using sleepsacks for bedtime.  She still has made no attempt to climb out of her crib and I say it is because she can't because of the sleepsack.  I did purchase two new ones that are made for toddlers so she can stick her legs through but it seems she doesn't like the leg holes and keeps her little feet inside the whole time.  I also know by using them she is staying nice and cozy because she still moves around so much she can never keep a blanket on. 

TEETH:  That darn incisor still is trying to work its way out. 

DEVELOPMENT:
On my I feel like she is developing leaps and bounds lately.  She is really getting into singing lately.  It is so much fun to listen to her.  She sings along with me to some of her favorite songs such as "Wheels on the Bus" (she loves to do the actions), the ABC's, and "Who Built the Ark".  One day we were in the car and I started singing "Who Built the Ark" and she responded with "Noah, Noah".  I just had to laugh.  She picks up on things so quickly these days.  And I just love to here her little voice.  She is also beginning to use two sentence phrases such as "Here you go", "Mama Sit Down", and we have spent so much time working on "Thank You".  It is so rewarding to work on something with her and for her finally just to get it.  At first she would just sign it and now she says it almost all the time that it is appropriate although we do have to remind her once in awhile.  Another big thing that is new is that she is getting so good at going up and down stairs standing up using the handrail vs crawling up.  Another thing that she does all the time is whenever we are out and about and she sees a baby she says "shhh, baby" puts her finger up to her lips and then points to the baby.  She can name just about every body part (well maybe not things like shoulder, or knee or something like that but all the major ones :).

Something else that she has started the past couple months is getting shy when we go some place new or are around new people.  Up until this point she wasn't shy at all but now she will cling to us not wanting us to let her go.  Eventually she will warm up to others but it takes a little bit of time.

POTTY TRAINING: 
Although we are not officially "potty training" Elsie is using her little potty in the bathroom.  It all started about a month ago John and Elsie were eating breakfast and she told John she had to go potty.  So he swooped her up out of her chair and brought her upstairs to the potty.  And sure enough, she just didn't pee but actaully had a poopy!  We made a huge deal out of it.  Now just about everytime we change her diaper she wants to go sit on the potty.  Sometimes she goes, some times she doesn't but she tries and she gets so excited when it happens.  So for now we are just celebrating those moments with her because she is so proud.  We aren't forcing anything and there is absolutely no pressure-after all I still love our cloth diapers and I'm not ready to give those up ;).  

PLAY: 
Elsie is so much fun right now!  I know I have said it before but I just LOVE this stage.  Although she will throw a fit every now and again, generally speaking she is a pretty happy girl.  She has now discovered how to play hide and seek by shutting herself in the room and she thinks that is so funny.  The dark bathroom does not scare her at all.  She also now hides behind our new full length curtains in the dining room.  We have spend a lot of time at the park these past two months and she is getting so brave and wanting to venture from the little playground to the big one.  She also wants to swing in the regular swing vs infant one.  Her new favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  I think that she was watching in at my parents with Allie so then she started to like it.  What Allie likes, Elsie likes :).  She still loves her books and she is so particular about what books she wants to hear before bedtime.  She also likes to look at pictures and point out who everyone is.  Even my brother's dogs :).  She also loves to swim.  I ended up buying one of those "puddle jumper" life jacket things and she loves swimming using that vs. her life jacket.  We did swim lessons in June and although the water was cold she was fearless :)

The last thing I want to touch on and remember is how amazing Elsie does riding in the car.  This has become even more evident when I am by myself driving up to MN.  I normally time our long drives to correspond with nap time but there has been an occasion or two we have had to leave in the morning hours.  We still have her rear facing because the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping them rear facing until at least two years old.  I think we will try to keep her rear facing as long as she fits in her seat rear facing and as long as she stays happy.  She normally sleeps about half the time and then she will looks at books for a good chunk of the other time.  I keep a bag of toys and extra pacis next to me on the passenger seat so I can just grab something and pass back to her.  I do have a tablet with some Barney flicks on it but we have yet to use it because she does pretty good keeping herself occupied with out.  I hope this behavior keeps up because we make quite a few trip to MN solo.  

I am so looking forward to what the next month has in store for us!  I just love my little Elsie Belsie :)