Miller Time: 14 Months!

Happy 14 month birthday to Miss E! The past month has been a big one for her! Her walking and talking have both progressed so much in just a few short weeks. We still don't know what she's saying a lot of the time, but she definitely has more words that we do understand. And after all my whining about her not being able to say "mama"...she now says it non-stop! Now I know how Jay felt when the only thing she could say was "dada". She also figured up how to stand up on her own, without any furniture or anything to pull herself up on! Ellison continues to be a big eater but a tiny girl. I weighed her today and she was 18.4 pounds. Guessing she won't hit 20 lbs by her 15 month appointment, but that's ok...she eats more than I do in a day!

Ellison recently decided she wants to do everything herself. She has started using a spoon and a fork to feed herself, and will rarely let us help her. It's pretty funny to watch her pick up one piece of corn or one pea at a time with her little fork!

We can easily tell when she is frustrated that she is unable to do things herself, because she has started throwing tantrums. I mean, throwing herself on the ground, flopping around, kicking her feet, screaming TANTRUMS. Definitely not my favorite developmental milestone! She had her first "punishment" last week, which was getting her little chair taken away from her because she wouldn't stop standing on it.

Most of the time, though, Miss Ells is a sweetheart. She gives us lots of kisses and hugs. She is much less scared around unfamiliar people than she used to be. We went out to breakfast with some of my coworkers last week and Ellison let everyone hold her. She loves to be around other kids, so daycare has been easier for her than it was for the first few months.

Ellison continues to surprise us with how fast she learns things. She points to her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, tummy, and feet pretty consistently. She copies a lot of the actions she sees us doing. It's so much fun watching her pick up all these new behaviors!

One of Ellison's favorite things is still books. She constantly wants to go up to her room where most of her books are. She will sit in her little chair in her room, paging through one book after another. She also brings books to us to read to her (although she doesn't always sit through them). She definitely has favorites that she will bring to us over and over again...right now Brown Bear, Brown Bear is probably her absolute favorite!

It has finally been warm enough to go outside! Ellison has been itching to get out. She will stand by the door and stare out whenever it is open. When we take her for walks she can spot a dog from all the way across the park and gets so excited to see them. Hopefully our house search (which we have kicked into high gear over the past few weeks) will turn something great up soon, because the girl clearly needs a puppy!

We are just about done with bottles around here! Finally :) This week, we have started cutting out Ellison's "before bed" milk which was the main time she still used a bottle. I think by next week we will be putting the bottles all away! Then we will start weaning her off the pacifier...which she really only uses at naps and bedtime. Unfortunately, she will usually scream until she has one in the crib with her. My goal is to get rid of it by the time she's 2, so we have time!

Ellison is still taking two naps a day most days (usually at least an hour each) and usually sleeping 11-12 hours at night. When she has teeth coming in, she has a little more trouble at night, but for the most part we have been very lucky to have such a good little sleeper. I am going to try to keep the second nap around for as long as possible, since her naptime is the only sleep I get some days after working a 12 hour shift.