Fifteen Months of Ellia

Age: 15 months

Height: 32 inches

Weight: 22 lbs 4 oz
Didn't get any percentiles since Ellie was losing her mind a little bit.

Clothing size: She'll wear anything I can fit on her/make work, but mostly 12-18 months right now.  Her fall stuff I'm buying 18-24 months or 2T, depending on brand and type of clothing.  She is still wearing a few 6 month tops, but as our seven year old neighbor pointed out to me "you can see her belly, her shirt must be getting too small".  Hasn't she ever heard of a cropped top? ;)  Ellie's wearing size five shoes, almost six!

Diaper size: 4

Eating: Still a good eater!  Her favorite food has to be cheese - plain cheese, mac + cheese, grilled cheese, cheese puffs... you get the idea.  She goes bonkers when she sees me pull out the bag of shredded cheese out of the fridge and would eat an entire bag in one sitting if I let her.  Ellie also loves fruit (watermelon, blueberries, raspberries + bananas seem to be her faves), eggs, yogurt, quesadillas, graham crackers, any kind of bread/toast, Cheerios, yogurt melts, puffs, donuts, everything. I rolled her banana in Cheerios the other day and I'm pretty sure her mind was blown.  She drinks a ton of water and one milk a day, maybe two, usually in a sippy cup.  Ellie has almost fully weaned herself off of bottles and I am not complaining.

Sleeping: What's that? ;)  Ellie is still not sleeping through the night.  Is it reasonable to think that if we pay our dues with a not-so-great sleeper with our first child, the next one will be the best sleeper in the world? :)  Bedtime is generally around 7:00/7:30, but we'll put her to bed any time after 6:00 if she needs it.  She'll wake up for the day around 6 a.m, but wakes up somewhere between one and thirty-one times a night still (usually three-ish).  She's been taking one nap most days lately around mid-day. We're supposed to be working towards putting Ellie to bed "partially awake" now - still being there in the room, but rubbing her back/comforting her to sleep instead of holding her.  The first night looked a little bit like this: I put Ellie in bed after strolling her around the house for fifteen minutes, she immediately wakes up, I hand her over to Tyler, he holds her/rocks her/strolls her some more, puts her in crib, she wakes up again, I listen to her cry while he tries to get to to lay down in her crib for ten minutes, I walk in and watch for a whole thirty seconds before I pick her up and hold her, I curse at the cat who just walked in the room, meowing like he's never been fed in his entire five year life, Ellie freaks + wants to play, I lay her down on the couch with me, we watch TV for 20 minutes and she eventually falls asleep in my arms.  I know, I have absolutely no willpower; but she will only be this small for so long!  Must get all the baby cuddles in while I can, right??  Plus, my baby wants me and I want her too.  You know?

Favorite toys: You can read about her favorites here.  Also, her slide! How did I forget to include the slide?!

Loves: The cats (and any animals).  Snacking.  Giving kisses to anyone and everyone.  Climbing.  Music + dancing.  Books.  Playing outside.  Playing tag.  Playing in the basement and the cars (??).  Swimming.  Her binkies.  Coloring.  Being naked.  Running (bonus if she's naked).

Least favorite things: Any kind of restraint, including the baby gate that blocks her from the basement. Getting her face + hands wiped after she eats.  Being told "no".  Getting her ears cleaned.  Going to bed + staying asleep.  Diaper changes.

Nicknames: Ellie (obviously), Ells, Ellsie, Ellie Summer, E. Summer, Monkey, Baby Girl, Girlfriend.
Vocabulary:  Mumma, dada/daddy, hi/hey, bye, the occasional "kitty" and "bra bra" for our cat Bradley.  She says a TON of gibberish but not a lot of actual words yet.

Ellie is most definitely in toddler territory and getting more + more of a personality by the second.  She is very strong-willed, stubborn and sweeter than sweet!  You can tell she really understands what we're saying, which is a little bit frightening but also totally awesome.  Like, when I ask her to go get her shoes or "Goodnight Moon" and she goes and gets them... such a strange feeling that we have a child who is old enough to do those things.  She also imitates everything we do and loves to call the kitties over and feed them, just like mama.  Ellie is really big on sharing and I really need to work on my fake eating skills before she notices that I'm not actually eating the half-eaten cookie she's trying to jam into my mouth repeatedly.  She loves to "help" clean the house and never turns down an opportunity to throw something in the trash for us! Last, but certainly not least, she has got the prettiest head of hair growing on! ;)  See what I did there?  Curls on curls on curls!  We are absolutely loving watching Ellie turn into a teeny tiny little girl and are the proudest parents watching her grow.  We love you SO much, baby girl! XO

 I had no idea that when I was trying to think up this little survey for month number one, these posts would end up being like a little baby book for Ellie!  A huge plus since her actual baby book still has a whopping two (pregnancy) pages complete.  Prior months' posts can be found here if you're interested: :)

one month // two months // three months // four months // five months // six months // seven months // eight months // nine months // ten months // eleven months // twelve months