June already, not that you can tell from the weather we've been having. Miss Ellison is not appreciating the colder weather since she wants to go outside all the time! We have taken her to the zoo a couple of times over the past few weeks, but they haven't been the nicest days (including getting rained on a little this week). She learned how to say "fishies" recently so we wanted to take her to actually see the fish (a building I usually skip at the zoo). She said "fishies" all day Monday and Wednesday, the two days we took her to the zoo this week, and seemed really excited to go see them, but she was scared of the sting ray exhibit on Monday night and the big fish in the fish and reptile building on Wednesday. She did like the small neon fish in the African tank though!
Did not want to touch the sting rays!
Little neon fish were not too scary though :)
Ellison has been learning more words, but some of them are probably only understandable to us. She still says doggy (diddy), banana (nana), cheese, cheers, uh oh, mama, dada, yeah, bubble, and shoes which she has been saying for awhile. Sometimes she says kitty cat, but not as much as she used to. Cookie sounds like cookie now instead of caca. Newer words are fishies, chickies, ball, wow, Minnie, snack (gack), duck (guck), and block/sock (gock). She also will put her arms up and say "ah ba" for all done at meals. She has a please and thank you that aren't very clear, but she tries to be polite when we remind her :) She also roars like a lion and moos like a cow. Very cute and funny when she does it at the zoo by the actual animals! I was told at her 15 month appointment that they hope kids will say 3-5 words besides mama and dada at this point so we think she is doing a great job! But I think it's becoming more and more frustrating to her when we don't understand her. She will say what sounds like entire sentences to us and we have no idea what she means. There is a lot of pointing and screaming at this point to try and get her wants and needs across to us.
Ells roars at lions...
...and moos at cows
Besides the pointing and screaming, Ellison does the whole tantrum thing at times. She will throw herself on the ground or try to throw herself out of our arms if we're holding her. Very dramatic stuff! She is definitely a very independent little girl. She usually wants to walk by herself in public places, not holding our hands, and she will try to fling our hands away when we attempt to hold onto her. She knows what she wants and is not afraid to tell us that she does not approve if she doesn't get it! She knows where we keep her snacks and she goes over to that cabinet constantly and begs for them. She has opened the cabinet and brought things over to me. Same thing with the diaper bag when we are out and about. She will also start going up the stairs without us near her, or stand on them. She knows that is a major no-no. She can definitely be a sassy little girl, and she knows when she's been naughty because she won't look directly at us when we scold her. She's lucky she's so cute because she usually gets out of trouble pretty quickly...
Not a tantrum! Just trying to put toys on her feet...I think she plans to join the circus at some point!
One of the cutest things Ellison does now is fold her hands to say prayers. They don't always stay folded for the entire prayer, but we have been working on this with her for months and it was great to see her finally get it! Hopefully I'll get a picture of her doing it soon! She recently started shaking her head "yes". She has also been gesturing for us to bring things to her (like a come here hand motion)...
All ready to go say prayers at church with Daddy
15 month stats were 18 lbs, 12 oz (20%tile), 31 inches tall (70%tile) and an 80%tile head circumference. No extra weight checks at this point since she is staying right on track with previous appointments. Maybe she will make it to 20 lbs by her 18 month check up, but I won't be surprised if she doesn't. She still drinks around 20 oz of milk a day and eats well, she just has a tiny frame and skinny little legs, and is extremely active. She literally does not stay still and really hasn't since she started rolling across the room 10 months ago! Sometimes she will sit for a couple books at bedtime, but that is about it.
15 month shots :(
Most important meal of the day!
As far as what else is new with us, we are still searching for our first house. We have pretty specific criteria and a price range we can't expand any further, so it's been a frustrating process so far. The ones we have seen we haven't loved. There have been a few we've been interested in that have gotten accepted offers before we had a chance to see them. We have put an offer in on one so far, and I'm glad we didn't get it because we have expanded our price range since. I think this is going to take awhile, and I am not a patient person! We are looking all over the Milwaukee area, which is complicating things because we need to find a new daycare for Ellison in August, and we have no idea where we will be living...or if we will even be close to finding something by then.
No major plans for this summer. With our work schedules and the house search we aren't in a position to go on any vacations, other than up north to the Miller cabin a time or two. I did sign Ellison up for the summer reading program at the library, so she will get some stickers and stuff out of that. Hopefully at this time next year we will put her in a zoo class and maybe some other activity to let her release some of her energy!!! We are also hoping to get a little use out of Grandpa Jay's pool before he sells his house and moves to Florida, but that would require swimming weather (and him opening the pool)!
E's first trip to the library...just wanted to play with blocks the whole time
That'a all I've got for now...enjoy some newer pics of the sweet pea!!!
Belated Mother's Day brunch (and a shot of Mommy's new haircut)
With one of Mommy's other favorite girls, Emma (took care of her at Children's for many months!)
Mommies and our sweet girls
Ready to grill with Daddy
I love them!
More zoo pics...
New baby cow, Rocky!
Grandma and Grandpa Miller
Mommy and Daddy had a concert date with Kon and Ryan (Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, and Eli Young Band at Miller Park)
And one more pic...can't forget to show off our "pet" Hitchcock the finch, who has been pecking at our windows, watching us eat, and pooping on my car for 2 weeks now...
