[Belated] 12 Month Update

My apologies for the belated post, but without further ado, here is Ellie’s 12 month update.

Stats:

• 31.5 in.
• 20 lbs. 12 oz.

For a baby born off the charts in all regards, she is evening out in her “old” age.

Standard Physical Milestones:

• Stands on her own
• Cruises along furniture
• Climbs everything (Our barriers are now ineffective!!)

Language Milestones:

Ellie is very vocal. As I mentioned in the previous post, she has acquired quite a vocabulary for a 13 month old. Here are her spoken words, in no particular order. And for extra credit, see if you can find the pattern:

• Mama/Mum
• Dada (Yay! Jeremy is no longer the same word as “dog.”)
• Ga (“dog”)
• Ka /ke ka (“cat” or Kee-kat)
• Ball
• Bubbles
• Hi
• Bye bye
• Ba ba (“bottle” – she wakes up in the morning by standing up in her crib, taking the paci out of her mouth and clearly saying “Ba ba”…and it had better be to her pronto!)
• Baaaa (“Lamb/sheep”)
• Mmmmm (During mealtimes, especially if it is officially Mom's food)

Ellie is also taking a Sing and Sign class, and she has recently begun signing like crazy. Here are her signed words:

• Hello
• Goodbye
• Bubbles
• Ball
• More/again
• All done
• Brushing teeth
• Lights
• Phone

And now here is the “Parent’s Brag List,” which are things that she does but doesn’t really have a category other than it blows us away with pride:

• She can locate any one of her books by us only saying the opening lines.
• She loves to sing, and actually sings the chorus to one of her songs…ON PITCH (!). Granted, the chorus is not from a Verdi opera, or anything like that – just “La la laaaaa.”
• She can be “gentle” with the cats, and actually pets Thomas very nicely now. Although she had a relapse the other day and had him pinned to the ground with a fist-full of fur…but everyone backslides a little.

Ellie Interests:

The local park. Ellie loves swinging on the swings, sliding down the slides, and just getting plain ol’ dirty. She does “clean up” the leaves, though, after watching Jeremy do it several times.





Talking on the phone.

Fashion. I think we have a little Fashionista on our hands. Ellie loves trying on shoes, in particular, and holds up her little feet for me to slip different styles in the store.

Brushing her teeth. She signs this at all times of the day -- even when it is so random and out of context with anything that we are doing…

Whew! I hope this mammoth-post has satiated all those Ellie fans out there.

And now I will conclude this with an update of my own. Remember when I was concerned about becoming one of “Those Moms,” and was bemoaning the fact that we had just acquired a garish piece of furniture called an “exersaucer” for Elinore? Well. Here’s how that whole concern is shaping up: