Somehow our "baby" is now more of a toddler/big girl than baby. Eleanor is certainly growing into her own "little" personality lately! She is all spunk, sass, silliness, smarts, and sweetness. Where her brother is more sensitive and cautious, she is all attitude and fearless, which probably goes with the age. :) She definitely looks up to Bennett though, "Buddy" as she calls him.
I would say Eleanor's favorite thing to do is sing. She is ALWAYS singing. She can't exactly say all the words to every song, but she gets most of the beginning consonants and for sure knows most of the tunes. Her favorites to sing are "Row Your Boat," "ABC's," "Jesus Loves Me," "I Love You," and "Happy Birthday." But pretty much any nursery rhyme song she will sing along to. Her favorite places to sing are on walks and in the swing. She will request certain songs and tell you, "No!" if you try singing one she didn't want to sing. (Can you tell she's getting her own opinion and is very demanding lately?!). I tried to capture her singing for this blog post but she would NOT cooperate when she saw the camera....I'll keep trying and post something if I can get it!
Other thing she loves is riding bikes (we push her on a trike), climbing everything, swinging, being outside, playing in water and playing bubbles. She loves putting shoes on and is very specific about which ones she wants (girl already?!). She absolutely loves cats and dogs and notices every dog that walks by when we play outside. We have some really gentle and nice dogs in our neighborhood so a few usually stop to say hi which is so fun for her. Eleanor loves playing peek-a-boo and hide and go seek, she loves tickle games and tackling/jumping on Daddy. She loves running around naked and giggling while you chase her to get her dressed or change her diaper. Eleanor is obsessed with babies and her dolls - she will carry around 3-4 at a time if she can, and loves giving them bottles (Buh-buh), putting them in their bed, and pushing them in their stroller. Thankfully Eleanor also still really loves books, although like everything else she is opinionated about which ones she wants you to read. She tries to read along/say the words a little, but not as much as Bennett did at this age. But she will giggle excitedly while you read. Some books she likes are: Doggies, The Going to Bed Book, Bear Snores On, Pout Pout Fish, Just Like My Mommy (Brad has her trained to say "Daddy" instead).
Despite being a second child, Eleanor talks a lot. I think even more than Bennett at this age. She definitely says more letter sounds than he did. I would estimate she knows maybe 40 words independently. I can't always understand what she's saying so she's taken to grabbing my hand to show me things sometimes. Or Bennett helps "translate" (i.e. "She said bup, mom!" Um....ok). She can repeat most things we ask her to, and she knows some names by heart too: Mommy, Daddy, Buddy (Bennett), Gamma, Mimi (Missy), Ky-Ky (Kyle), Addie (my friends baby - she is OBSESSED with babies), Linc-y (her cousin Lincoln). She says some shorter sentences, like: thank you, help me, all done, me too, and she will say "Amen!" after we pray.
Sleeping is pretty consistent with Eleanor. Since I stopped nursing at 14 months, she almost always sleeps through the night. She sleeps from about 7:30pm-6/6:30am. She's a good napper and usually sleeps 1.5-2 hours, but will sleep up to 3 on a good day. She naps around 12:30 each day, right after lunch.
Speaking of lunch...Eleanor is a good eater at this age. She's not a big milk fan (NEVER has been), so we offer that with meals but otherwise try to give her 1-2 yogurts and cheese sticks a day to get those vitamins, which is doctor said is just fine. She will eat almost anything we have for meals, but she's not a huge veggie fan. She LOVES meat and where Bennett would eat the hamburger bun but no meat, she will skip the bun and eat the whole burger. She also likes most fruits. She really loves snacking and will ask for snacks often. "Nack!" Then she'll get really excited and giggle when you give her one. I think she takes after Brad because she doesn't mind spicy things, although she'll say, "Picy!" She especially loves having chips and dip. :) She eats fairly well in a booster seat at the table but she would prefer to just graze - walk around, come back for a bite, etc.
One really big difference between Ben and Eleanor at this age is that she gets to watch some TV. Unfortunately it's a hazard of being a #2. He watches and so she gets to as well. Probably only in the last month or so she's started to sit pretty well for a show in the morning, but often she'll just play in the background or come find me as I'm getting ready and hang out with me. She LOVES Mickey Mouse and will request "Mickey Ha-How!" (Club house).
Eleanor is also in a BIG Mommy phase again right now, which Bennett was at this age too. She's taken to following me around all day almost, and crying/whining/following if she notices me leaving the room or even walking a few steps away. She is liking to be held by me a lot lately, and wanting me to put her to bed....everything. I know it's just a phase and will pass so I'm trying to be very patient. :)
We go to the doctor in a few days so I'll update another post with her stats then. We LOVE LOVE having Eleanor Beth in our family and watching her grow and learn. We especially love watching the sibling relationship between Ben and Elle - they're close enough in age that I think they'll be really close one day. For now, they are sometimes playmates, sometimes fighting, sometimes he's protecting her or teaching her. We love them both so much!
No comments:
Post a Comment