Eleanor at age 1

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My little daughter is keeping her momma so busy that it is very hard to write more than a sentence at a time. I want to jot down some things she's doing to keep as a memory for her later. I tried shooting a little video of her yesterday, but as you can see, after just a month of walking the girl is fast! Here is a little bit of what else she likes to do.

Talking: she says mama (directed to me), dada (directed to Doug), nana, baba (I am working on directing this to balls), ahdee (possibly directed to Aidan) and shu (directed to shoes.)

Gross Motor skills: walking, climbing, going up and down stairs, dancing, pushing toys, and riding on scooters.

Fine motor skills: clapping, high fives/high tens, putting objects in & out, pointing, marking on paper (and herself), pushing buttons, occasionally waving. We are hoping she is interested in signing, but so far she just smiles back at us.

Eating: still nurses frequently, also drinks from a straw and sippy cups, she likes and tolerates a little cow's milk and has sips of juice. Recently I asked Aidan, "What's Ella's favorite food?" He replied, "Everything!" Very true! She is especially fond of meats, beans, pasta, yogurt, and a variety of fruits and veggies. Some of her favorite snacks are cucumber slices and black olives. She is very interested in food, which makes it hard to sit on the couch and have a snack while watching tv. Ha ha ha!

Sleeping: She usually goes to sleep around 9 or 9:30 and sleeps till 7ish. Unfortunately, she is very particular about where and how she falls asleep initially (must be in the family room with me nursing her on the computer chair.) So I put her to sleep downstairs every night while Doug gets the boys to sleep upstairs. Then she and I make our way to bed. She sleeps with me in the "girls room" and wakes a couple times thru the night, but quickly nurses back to sleep.

Naps are a bit of an unreliable challenge still. With the boys n school, she is starting to take a morning nap again. So she doesn't take an early afternoon nap and thus Sean doesn't nap. Plus then she takes a short, late nap and stays up later at bedtime. When Sean doesn't nap, it makes it easier for him to go sleep early at night. It's working for us, I suppose.

Playing: She loves following her brothers around and trying to do what they do. She plays cars with Sean or anything else he tries to play with. She chases and rolls around on the floor with Aidan. She loves to carry things around- usually one object in each hand or a little bag on her elbow like a lady. She is starting to be interested in carrying dolls around, but not as much as Sean is. She loves emptying out the pantry cupboard and hiding things like remotes and phones. Oh, and she pretends to talk on the phone, too.

All in all, Eleanor is at a very adorable and fun age, but one that keeps me very busy!