Random Pics/Update

Ellie's 12 month (I can't believe it!) appointment is right around the corner, so I will do a full update then. However in the meantime, I can't resist leaking some details on our little Chatty Cathy now. Ellie is building her vocabulary it seems every week. Right now she says consistently:

• Mom or Momma


• Dada


• Ball


• Yummm


• Uh oh!


• Kee-kat (a.k.a. Cat)


• Tra la la la laaa (learned from one of her books where a little ferret named Haha sings at the end -- Ellie's version sounds more like "wa wa waa")


• Ga! (her version of "dog"...have no idea why)


• Bye bye (with a cute wave of the hand)


• Hi (ditto)

I swear the other day she tried to say "seven" when she was playing with a counting toy, but that might be a proud mother's skewed perception. :)

Oh, and here are random pics from the last month or so, in no particular order:

Ellie with her face smushed against her drum lid during music time.

This is usually the mischievous smile we get just before she does something she knows is a "No-no"...

"It is sooo fun when Dad blow dries my hair!"

Speaking of hair: The poor girl had no chance in the hair department between Jeremy's curly, 'fro-y locks, and my coarse and frizzy ones. Talk about bed head!

Blog Update

Our deepest apologies to all those Ellie-fans out there: Our laptop died a painful death, and then its shiny, new replacement died a VERY premature death (!!). I will try to take some pictures in the next few weeks in order to fully chronicle The Girl's first year as an infant -- believe it or not (we certainly don't!), Ellie's official induction as a "Toddler" is right around the corner...

Dancing with Daddy

New Wheels

[Back to our regularly scheduled program of Everything-Elinore...]

"This is so cool..."

"...and I'm so cool."

"There's even a place to put my snacks..."

CVS Pays me to shop!

It is a momentous occasion: This is an Ellie-free post. Readers beware...

After watching many of my friends show-and-tell of their amazing steals from CVS, I finally joined the "Free-V-S" system a few months ago. It takes a bit of work (i.e. clipping coupons and working out the best deal scenarios each week and month). However it is worth it, as we essentially get all of our basics (toothpaste, TP, PT, shampoo, deo, etc.) for FREE. To date, our family has saved over $400 in the last 6 months, and all it took was an initial $12 and a few dollars here and there.

Take today, for example. I bought the following:

• 1 Powerade drink
• 3 Colgate toothpastes
• 2 Infant Advil
• 1 Clean and Clear lotion
• 2 Pert Plus shampoos
• 2 Almay concealers
• 1 Ibuprofen

My total was $52.10. But after coupons, I walked out of the store only paying $2.65 out of pocket, PLUS receiving $25.58 toward my next purchase. Essentially, CVS paid me to take away the stuff! Now that is a deal.

"Yuck! Broccoli!"

"It may look like I am smiling, but I can assure you: I AM NOT."

"Why...why did you do it, Mom??"

The Muppets at the Smithsonian

Last Saturday, we headed out to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to check out the Muppets exhibit. It was fun to see all the old school muppets from our childhood (Go Fraggle Rock!), and watch excerpts from shows. Ellie cracked up watching some of the earlier commercials Jim Henson put on, and honestly so were Jeremy and I.

I wish we could have taken pictures there. At one point, Elinore was sitting on a bean bag next to a garantuan Kermit the Frog. I thought it might scare her (especially since Jeremy was putting her head in Kermit's huge mouth), but she was laughing and trying to grab onto his big, green...erm...hands?

Anyway, it was a great way to kill some time in the day, get out of the house but stay out of the dense humid heat, and have some fun family time.

Toothy Grin

I knew I would forget something in Elinore's 9 month update: She has teeth! Two little pearly whites on the bottom. We always loved her gummy smile, but her new toothy grin makes us smile every time.

Close up shot...

9 Month Update

Ellie had her 9 month appointment the other day, and here are the stats:

• 18 lbs., 12 oz. (50 percentile)
• 30.5 in. long (still off, OFF the charts!)
• head circumference 18 in. (93 percentile -- gotta love those big, Korean heads...)

Standard Milestones:

Okay, we have been really bad about posting her recent milestones. However it seems like in the last month, she has hit so many of them at rapid rate that it has been hard to keep up. Here are some of the ones that we can think of right now.

• Ellie is crawling around now...well, she is more like "horizontal rock climbing "around. But, hey, it gets her from Point A to Point B quite effectively.

• As of a few days ago, Ellie has mastered getting into the sitting position from her belly. Amazingly, she couldn't do this last week at all, and wasn't showing any signs of even trying to do so. Her PT was a little concerned about this, but randomly 5 days from her appointment, she can do it flawlessly.
• Ellie is just beginning to pull up in her crib and onto furniture. Yikes! We need to do some quick safety proofing of our apartment....
• About two weeks ago, she went on a baby food strike, and refused to open her mouth for pureed food. She was intent on living off bananas and puffs. That is, until Mom and Dad put the smack down....er, I mean...got smarter and began feeding her finger foods. She now enjoys a wide array of food from diced chicken to pasta to various fruits and veggies. However blueberries and bananas are her favorites. Also, Elinore is becoming quite proficient at drinking from her sippy cup -- I suspect soon we will be able to put more costly elixirs in her cup, such as her milk and juice, without it going to waste.
• And of course, she is still a Chatty Cathy. From the moment she wakes up in the morning, she is babbling almost non-stop. She also is saying "Dada" and "Mama," but we are not sure what her level of discrimination is at this point.

Fun Milestones:

• She now claps her hands, particularly to music. Ellie will often crawl over to her Fisher Price Music Player and push to play button, and sit and clap her hands with a huge grin on her face. It is so cute!
• Rolling a ball back and forth with someone is on her Top-10-fun-things-to-do.
• Elinore has begun to give me things, such as a ball or small toy. For instance, she was shaking a rattle today, and then looked at me, smiled and handed it to me.
• Daddy is the recipient of many kisses and snuggles -- Mommy, much to her annoyance, is not (What the heck?!).
• Last, but not least, Elinore has discovered the fun game of peek-a-boo. She will take a blanket or toy and put it over her face, then quickly jerk it down and laugh.
  

"Peek-a-boo!!"

Still a Book Junkie

Elinore's love for books has not diminished over these past months. In fact, it has grown at an exponential rate! Every day -- several times a day -- she crawls over to her personal library of beloved board and touch-and-feel books, and sits down with a look of expectation. She does this so often that Jeremy actually caught himself saying the other day, "No, Elinore, no more books," as if she was asking for something really forbidden...!



She not only loves having these books read to her over and over, she loves taking an active role in turning the pages for her storyteller. She has gotten quite good (and quick!) at doing this.

Reading her all-time favorite touch-and-feel book, I See a Monster, with Daddy (For the 4th time that day).

"I love the Sea Monster in the bathtub!"