Ellison- 11 Months

11 months!  Ellie is such a silly, happy girl!  She is happy about everything!  She is such a joy to be around with her constant smiles and playful demeanor.

both Whitney and Ellie love to look through this radom collection of small toys I keep in a basket under the coffee table.  If you don't have one for your kids, do it!

Ellie likes to play with Whitney, Whitney- not so much.  Whitney is trying to get the ball back.

I wish the picture had turned out clearer, because this it totally my silly girl!

 Milestones-  not a whole lot this month.  She is continuing to perfect her walking and balance.  She has mastered standing up unassisted.  Her vocabulary has really taken off.  Combining words and animal sounds she is at last count at about 25 words.  They are in her baby version for a majority of words.  The funniest words she says are Sponge Bob, Dora, boo, boobies, and ta da.  She loves books and will point at pictures and ask "that".    The other day she came into my room, looked at me and said "boo!"  She is SOOO silly!  She knows a few body parts like eyes and tummy.  She would probably know a lot more of anything if I took more time to teach, but she's not even one so there's plenty of time to learn :)

Eating-  still an eating machine!  Still has a bottle, about four a day averaging 4 oz a time.  I recently read that babies are down to about 12 oz forumla/bm by 9-12 months.  This may be our last container of formula, we'll see how ambitious I am to take away that morning bottle.  She's not crazy about milk so far but will drink it if she's thirsty.  She likes orange juice but not apple juice.  She will eat about anything as long as it is not slimey in texture.  She can drink through a straw and likes those yogurt smoothies.

Sleep-  doing pretty good!  She is back to averaging 10 hrs before waking.  Goes to bed between 8-9 and will wake around 6/6:30 and may or may not go back to bed.  Now, she still DOES have quite a few nights where she will wake about 3:30/4, if I give her a bottle she will sleep the rest of the night.  She is down to one nap which last 1-2.5 hrs.  She is ready for an early bedtime if she only sleeps an hour.  Her nap time is around noon.  I'm not strict with sleep, i follow her cues and accomodate based on last sleep/waking.  She just got ANOTHER cold, so we'll see what happens with that in the sleep department.

Stats- guesstimating about 20lbs.  Size 3 shoe, size 3 diaper.  12-18mo clothes, 12 mo carter's jammies.   She has 6 teeth, four on top and two on bottom

she loves playing with this doll house.  This is one thing will somewhat play with together.  Ellie so loves to play with Whitney but Whitney is in that possessive stage and doesn't want Ellie to touch anything she is playing with.  Ellie learns so much just from watching Whitney.  I try to encourage play as much as I can, I hope it is a stage that will be outgrown soon.

total paci baby!  She HAS to have one to sleep.  i keep about 4 in her crib so she can always find one at night.  She is sucking on one less during the day.  i'm just now actively trying to keep them less available as she is awake, unless we are at the store or library, then they keep other things out of her mouth!

Still not crazy about bathtime.  She prefers to stand in the tub which drives me nuts because I have to hang over the tub to hold on to her.  The more I try to get her to sit the more she just wants to be done with bath.  She does finally lay still for diaper changes and getting pj's on.  She does patty cake with her feet when I change her diaper. 

She loves to poke people and say "boop!" and back up and giggle and do it again and again.  She likes to help with laundry putting wet clothes into the dryer that I hand her.  She knows the word laundry so I can't say it unless I'm actually ready to do it.  She likes to wear necklases and anything else she can put around her neck, always has.  She laughs when she farts or burps. 

It may seem like Ellie is all rainbows and sunshine but she does have a her moments of tantrums to get what she wants.  For the most part she does really well when she's over tired, but when she's really reached her limit, watch out!  She is also possessive of me.  She gets jealous when I hold or sit with Whitney.  She tries to push Whitney away or if she thinks Whitney is coming for me she will come sit in my lap or try to get me to hold her first.

Can't believe my next post will be for ONE year!  but thank goodness.  This was the fastest and slowest year ever.    I love the toddler stage so much better and am so looking forward to it.  There's a reason parents continue to love each growing stage, it's so you're not stuck in babyhood!