Elise - 15 Months

Dear Elise,

Tomorrow you will be 15 months old. You have changed so much since you turned 1! Here is what you are up to:

•Eating: You will eat anything but a fruit or vegetable lately, you are having a little boycott! Livermush, pancakes, and eggs still remain your favorites. I really want to expand your horizons but you still have just 4 teeth which limits you. You learned to drink from a straw at 13 months when we happened to be at ChickFilA without your sippy cup. And that led to fruit pouches, which you also love!

•Sleeping: You typically take a 2 hour nap each day and sleep through the night. You are a routine girl at bedtime, needing 2 books, 1 of our choosing and one must be "Hatch" (a lift-the-flap book all about animals that are hatched from eggs). You get so excited when you see it each night!

•Wearing: You are in size 12 clothes, with a few 12-18 months mixed in, you are growing so tall! You tolerate hairbows, but don't like hoods or hats. You also staged a shoe boycott that was just lifted about 3 weeks ago. Now you will wear them everywhere, even just around the house!

•Walking: You started taking 6-10 steps at a time about 2 weeks after your birthday. It took you until about Thanksgiving to really start cruising (you've even walked Daddy around the mall!), now we are expecting running at any moment!

•Talking: You could say "Mama", "Dada", "dog", "ball", "up", "hey", "hi", "bye", and "thank you" at 1. You have added "baby", "purple", "yellow", "bath", "yogurt" (yoyo), "eye", "nose", "go", "belly", "please", "pretty", and most recently "amen" when we say the blessing. You try so hard to say "Scarlett," but it just comes out as car. You will also make noises for cow, fish, lizard, and snake. You spoke your first sentence at 13 months when your Daddy took you to the Dr. for your flu shot--a couple walked in with a newborn and you looked at them and said "Hey, Baby!"

•What You Love: Bathtime, your bellybutton, sweet treats (only occasionally), cellphones, remotes, putting things in the trash, brushing your teeth, playing in Mommy's jewelry drawer, Mr. Steve and Ms. Judy at church (you love others, but you REALLY love them!), grabbing people's nose to see if they make a noise (your Daddy always honks when you touch his so you assume everyone else's does!), playing in your new kitchen, tea parties, music and dancing, having your own snack to hold (you act like such a big girl if you get to hold a snack cup away from the high chair), and chasing Scarlett.

•What We Love: ALL OF YOU! You have been giving kisses for a while now, but have just started giving hugs. Scarlett is your favorite to hug, you look for her as soon as we come home and want to hug her. Nothing beats rocking you to sleep and having you snake that little arm around our neck for a squeeze.

You are our most favorite girl!

Mommy (and Daddy!)