Elise at 17 Months

Elise is almost 17 months old now, and she is so much fun. I am so glad I get to spend my days with her. She is smart, vivacious, and happy.

We had to do Elise's 15 month appointment late (new insurance + new doctor's office + Christmas in California = 16 month appointment instead of 15 month). For those of you who are interested, at 16 months Elise was 33.5 inches tall (97th percentile!), 22 lbs 13 oz (40th percentile), and her head measured 18 inches (40th percentile).

She is full of energy and so ready to learn, which are both things I love about her.

Speaking of Elise being full of energy, the two of us made our first trip to the Mesa public library recently. That meant that I had to spend time getting a library card, figuring out where to find the board books, etc. Needless to say, Elise was done before I was. While I was searching for a book on the shelves, a teenage library employee saw me struggling to hold Elise, who wanted to run wild. The girl smiled at us and told me, "She's funny. She's all hyper and stuff."

Yes. Yes, she is.

Elise is super vocal, and she has been erupting with so many new words and phrases lately. Today she said several things I had never heard her say before, including broken, washcloth, and all through the town (while we sang "Wheels on the Bus").

One of Elise's favorite activities right now is looking out the window in her room. If I open the blinds, she asks to be picked up so she can see birds, cats, dogs, airplanes, trees, whatever, and we have to talk about it all. Then she cries when I put her down. She could look out that window forever.

Another favorite activity of hers (but not my favorite) is constantly removing her shoes and socks. Then she'll try to put them back on, but she isn't as good at that, so I end up having to help. I probably put her shoes on more than a dozen times a day on average.

Elise also loves to write right now. Pen is a little messy, so we usually stick with a pencil. She even has her own notebook.

And last but not least, Elise loves music. And dancing. Dance is the word she uses for all things associated with music, from a song she hears, to a piano, to a hymnbook at church, to the computer (where I play music for her). Here she is playing Matt's keyboard. Elise got three Raffi CDs for Christmas, plus another African Playground CD, and now we listen to kids' songs all the time.

And she loves to sing along. Here she is singing along to "Down by the Bay," which was one of my favorite songs when I was little. She also likes to sing along with "Popcorn Popping," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," and "Wheels on the Bus."

I had iTunes Visualizer on. That's why she's staring at the computer the whole time, and why she says ball at the end on the video.

We're working on colors too, but so far all she'll do is repeat what we ask her to say.

Elise can also spell her name (with a lot of help). When she sees words, I know she recognizes that what she's seeing is letters because she will say E and S (which, apparently, are the only letters there are). She likes to try to sing along when I sing the ABC's to her.

Besides that, we spend our days dressing and undressing baby dolls, playing at the playground nearby (where Elise loves to collect acorns and swing), reading books (especially We're Going on a Bear Hunt), napping, and playing with toys. Elise is still nursing occasionally, and we're hoping to wean her soon (she's not interested in weaning). Cheese, crackers, and broccoli are a few of her favorites. Elise thinks throwing out the trash and getting the mail are fun activities. I think Elise is almost ready for potty training. And she is getting her canines. I think that just about sums it up.

This really is such a fun age. Minus the teething.