17 months

This picture of Elle just cracks me up- I love everything about it:

1) the binky (if she can see it- she has to have it)

2) Pink Baby at her feet

3) favorite books to the side

4) purse around the arm

5) cowgirl hat on

6) no socks (she hates wearing any type of sock-which totally drives me crazy since our floors are so dang cold).

7) zoning (which she does anytime a Dora or Diego is turned on)

If her giraffe, blanket, and sippy cup were also present, I'd say it was a pretty perfect picture to describe Elle's favorite things at this stage of life. She's such a funny girl these days. I'm really trying to break her of needing all her comfort items with her all the time. I'll usually take out her binky when she gets up and throw it back into her crib, but for some reason she always ends up with her blankie and giraffe in tow (maybe cause she can pull those through the slats on the crib.

She's a very determined and persistent little girl and I hate to say it, but she usually gets what she wants (not always- just usually).

My favorite thing from this past month is probably Elle's desire to communicate- she tries most words we tell her to say and through signing and/or one word requests and answers, she's pretty good at communicating what she wants/needs/ etc. Her new words (or things she says a lot):

-"Uh Oh!!"

-"Up"

-"Nana" (banana)

-"Mama" (she's all of a sudden become obsessed with calling me "mama"- before it was just "mom")

-"shoes" (she loves shoes- especially trying everyone's on, getting our attention, and yelling, "SHOES!")

-"peak boo" (for peakaboo)

-"cook cook" (cookie) usually followed by "Numm Nummm!!"

Anytime I ask Elle, "what do you say?" (hoping for a thank you), she (99% of the time) always responds with, "PEAS!" I don't understand why "thank you" is such a tough one for her.

Some things I love:

* Elle's not as much drama as Madi was at this age.

* She doesn't whine or complain when she's not feeling good, throwing up, diarrhea, or has a majorly stuffed up/runny nose (all of which we dealt with this month).

* She always wakes up super happy from short naps- like in the car (cranky wake-ups drive me absolutely crazy).

* Hearing all her animal sounds (which are pretty accurate most of the time).

* Watching her play alone.

* How she loves getting into Madi's toddler bed to read stories- she always looks like such a big girl.

* Listening to Elle try to say a prayer.

Things that drive me crazy:

* Her need to hide things. I'm constantly searching for her sippy cup or a binky at nap time. Spencer and I have found her things in the weirdest places (razor cases, vases, tupperware drawer, etc).

* This one doesn't drive me as crazy as the hiding things (it's more scary than annoying), but Elle also just likes to hide herself. Sometimes we'll find her in a dark closet all alone just hanging out. Once it took me several minutes of looking, calling her name, searching every room, running up and down the stairs to find her.

* Waking up at 6:30AM no matter when I put her to bed. I try really hard to ignore her and leave her until 7am, but it's so hard when I can hear her calling, "Mama, maMA, MAMA!! "