50 weeks old: hiking, standing, and fathers day

Eloise went on her third hike a week ago with our play group and it was the first time she tolerated being in the backpack carrier for the whole time! I don't know what it was, maybe because she could see all her baby friends. We went to Oxbow Park and it was a really nice day.

I prefer to look at the river

Then, last Wednesday we were in the kitchen and I look over and Eloise is standing in the middle of the floor! Didn't pull herself up on anything, not holding onto anything, just stood right up. I cheered and she looked really excited and pleased with herself. She squatted back down, crawled a couple feet to the right, and stood up again. That's the one I caught in a photo:

Ahhhhhh! This is awesome!

Since last Wednesday she has stood up like this a few times every day. I'm wondering if she'll take her first steps before her first birthday! 

I'm solo standing. NBD.

Father's Day was Sunday and Evan requested we spend the first part of the day getting garden starts from Portland Nursery and planting them, and then head to Salem an hour South of Portland to have dinner with his family. Eloise liked looking at all of the plants at the garden center.

Helping Dad pick out tomatoes

In other news, Eloise continues to add more dance moves to her repertoire:

And finally, a few weeks ago I introduced a bunny "lovey" to Eloise's crib as a transitional object to help her self-soothe at night and during naps. Sometimes she lays her hand on it, she almost always plays with it when she wakes up, and when she's irritated she throws it overboard.

Mom, you didn't get in here fast enough after I woke up. Bunny overboard!

Peaceful snooze with the bunny

49 weeks old: more walking on fingers, babbling, and feeding adventures

I accidentally got a picture of those cute little bottom teeth, yippee! This was during a photo shoot for a family alphabet photo book we'll give Eloise for her first birthday. She was letter A for Apple. I can't be on the ground photographing her without her crawling over to climb on me at some point, and that's what was happening here.

Eloise is all about walking while holding onto fingers these days. She wants to do it All. The. Time. Anytime we go somewhere she has to get the wiggles out at some point by walking around a bit. Here we are having breakfast at Grand Central Bakery last weekend and Evan took her for a walk. She always smiles ear-to-ear!

Eloise has been expanding her "vocabulary" by babbling with different sounds and inflections. I heard N this week, I don't think I've heard that sound from her before. She seems to be talking in her own language. I love it! I noticed her mimic "All done" the other day so we repeated it back and forth a few times. I would never understand it if she didn't say it right after me but it's really cool to see her learning language.

As Eloise nears her first birthday, I've been thinking more about starting the weaning process just afterward. I've been experimenting a little with the don't offer/don't refuse method this week just to see how she would respond. Sometimes she asks by fussing or just pulling on my shirt, and other times we'll go a longer stretch. It's bittersweet to think about losing this special connection we have but also having more freedom. As she's gotten older she is now doing some acrobatics while nursing, which is hilarious. She also continues to expand her palate, which is fun to see her reaction to new foods.

Acrobatics

Spaghetti squash and meatballs

And a couple randoms from the week:

This is new - where did she learn it?!

Evan took these through the patio door - silly Eloise!

48 weeks old: 11 months old, words, straw drinking, spoon eating, and Jameson Square fountain

Today marks exactly 11 months out in the world for Eloise! I am amazed at how much she has blossomed just in the last couple weeks. All of a sudden she has two teeth, her eating and drinking skills have improved by leaps and bounds, she understands lots of words and phrases, even says a few, loves to walk holding fingers, and shows so much more of her happy personality.

She now says the words Dada, Mama, and Up and uses them appropriately! Just this morning she was with her dad and when I walked by she said, "Mama? Mama?" Oh man, what an incredible feeling. I couldn't even list off all of the words and phrases she understands now. She knows milk, eat, water, and when I ask for whatever piece of dirt or lint she finds on the floor she puts it in my outstretched hand! She also shakes her head yes and no. Her newest thing is when I say no, she shakes her head. It's like things just suddenly started clicking.

Since she got her two teeth it seems like she has become much more skilled - and interested - in eating solids and drinking from a straw. She is also showing definite food preferences. She especially likes Baby Puffs vegetable and rice snacks and HappyYogi yogurt and fruit snacks.

I can totally drink water from a straw

Hands off my Baby Puffs!

Over the weekend we had some nice weather and decided to take Eloise to Jameson Square fountain, a kid-friendly water feature. Evan helped her stand in the shallow water and she was taking it all in when suddenly a bigger kid splashed her in the face and she cried. I accidentally caught the moment in a sad photo. You can see the water droplets in her eye!

That was scary!

Afterward, we went to a little boutique nearby called Posh Baby and picked up her first toddler utensils and a couple plates. The first time I gave her the spoon to try to use herself, she knew what to do! I was totally impressed. The other hand still does most of the work but I'm so proud of her.

Day 1 with the spoon - peaches!

Day 2 a little messier - yogurt!

Eloise loves to put things in and take things out of containers in her play these days. Here she is eating bits of tuna and cheddar that she put in the cup holder.

And finally, Eloise still loves the water. Her latest thing is putting her face in. Sometimes she blows bubbles and often she gets a mouthful of water. Here she is in the bathtub with a bubble beard after inhaling a little bit of water. It doesn't stop her.

47 weeks old: two teeth and Chicago visit

This week Eloise took her first trip to Chicago! We skipped a week because we were busy preparing a house to sell and then traveling. While in Chicago Eloise cut another tooth, so now she has her two front bottom teeth! She has been drooling and gnawing like crazy. I haven't been able to get a photo of them because her tongue is often covering them.

New teeth photo attempt

Cold apple slices are good for teething

Looking at that apple slice photo I'm remembering that bruise on her forehead came from one of two bonks that happened in the same day, and we don't know which one caused the bruise. The first one she crawled straight into a grill without stopping and the second she pulled a chair over onto herself. I know she will have lots of bumps and bruises - and probably bigger injuries - but still it makes my heart hurt because I want to protect her from every little thing that might cause her pain.

While in Chicago, we stayed at my sister's house in Crystal Lake and Eloise got to meet her Aunt Shelly, Uncle Kevin, and cousins Ryan and Alex for the first time. She also got to meet their cat, Stormy, whom she adored right away. The site of him made her stop what she was doing, bounce with excitement, and chatter with delight. She chased him around a lot but he was a little leery of her enthusiasm and kept his distance.

I really like you, Stormy

Our second full day we spent several hours in the city down by the lake, timing the drives in and out for Eloise's morning and afternoon naps. The drive in was an hour, the drive out was 2.5 hours. That's Chicago traffic and luckily Eloise was great! We picked up pizza from my favorite spot, Pizzeria Due, and enjoyed it on a park bench by Buckingham Fountain.

Baby's first pizza face

Buckingham Fountain

Afterward we went for a nice stroll along the lakeshore and by Millennium Park. Then we split up for a while so Eloise and I could shop at Macy's on State Street while Evan enjoyed a cold beer outside on Michigan Avenue. Eloise got a new pair of size 3 Stride Rite black patent leather mary jane shoes.

We planned to visit Kate and her family but her husband and both of her kids were struck with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease so we weren't able to see them all week. Saturday morning I drove down alone and had an hour coffee with Kate. It was great to see her but sad to only have that hour and not get our families together at all.

Saturday afternoon my brother and his family drove up from the St. Louis area for the long weekend. Eloise enjoyed seeing her Uncle Jay, Aunt Leslie, and cousin Heath again, although she didn't remember them because she was only a couple weeks old the first time they met. We had a relaxing time outside lounging, grilling, and floating around the pool. We snapped some family photos but I'm realizing that Kevin was always behind the camera and Alex was at work. Boo.

Ryan, Shelly, Sarah, Eloise, Jay, Leslie, Heath

Sarah, Eloise, Evan

We had some low key days at Shelly's house and Eloise learned some new tricks while there including climbing up and down stairs and unrolling toilet paper.

I need help remembering to turn around feet first 

But once you get me started...

I can do it

This. Is. Awesome.

Chicago-style pizza #2: Giordano's

Post-Giordano's face

The day before we left we drove down to St. Charles, my hometown, another suburb about 45 minutes south of Crystal Lake. We took Eloise around and showed her the house I grew up in, my schools, the downtown area, did a little shopping, and played at the park closest to my house. 

Lunch at The Little Traveler. She can manage those pouches all by herself now!

Swinging at Kehoe Park

Rocking on a rocket at Kehoe Park

We got one more picture of Eloise with her cousin Alex on the day we left. He was the only one home when we left and held up our family tradition of standing on the porch waving as we drove away. Eloise was able to participate in that tradition with her waving skills, too.

Eloise and Alex

45 weeks old: first Mother's Day and standing

On Saturday we celebrated Mother's Day with Evan's mom and family by going to brunch. Eloise dodged her nap that morning so I drove separately so Evan could stay with his family if we needed to leave. But she ended up hanging in there pretty well! It helped that Grandma walked around with her for a while in her arms. During brunch Eloise's grandpa snapped a couple photos of her, and this is my favorite one because of the expression on her face:

I see you, Grandpa

We took a few more photos outside after brunch. Here's the best one I got of Eloise with some of the Harris clan:

The next day we celebrated Mother's Day with a picnic and a hike at Mt. Talbert Nature Park, and then after Eloise's nap we went to a neighborhood park and sat in the grass for a while. It was such a nice day!

My heart belongs to Mommy

Eloise's onesie made me think about when I was pregnant with her a year ago, and her little heart was growing inside me right next to my own. I was surprised how sentimental I got reflecting on how much joy this little lady has brought into my life. Even though she's only 10 months old it seems like she has been in my life forever. I just can't imagine life without her! 

Mother's Day 2013

Mother's Day 2014

In the last week or so, Eloise has been standing on her own for 5-10 seconds at a time fairly frequently. I never want to move far away from her to grab the camera when she does it, and when I try to get her to do it camera-in-hand she won't! So no photos yet. 

Finally, a couple randoms from the week:

Blueberry beard

Tippy toe window watching

44 weeks old: 10 months old, waving, visit to the zoo

Eloise turned 10 months old on Sunday! She smiles more than ever and wrinkles her little nose. She likes musical instruments, dancing, cruising along furniture, putting things in and out of containers (mostly out), waving, and babbling. She walks while holding our fingers but just for a few steps, all the while smiling ear-to-ear. She eats lots of finger foods, still purees too, and drinks water from a sippy cup. A little comes back out but that's to be expected from a beginning water drinker. She also seems to be getting four teeth at the same time - the two on the bottom are cutting through and are sharp, and the top two you can see white just under her gums. I think she is about to go from zero to four teeth in a matter of weeks!

10 months old

Speaking of waving, right after I posted last week's entry I got a couple videos of Eloise waving:

Eloise is learning more and more words and phrases that sometimes she seems to understand and other times it's hard to tell. I think she understands this one:

"Eloise, no."

Each morning and after naps we have a routine of opening the drapes and letting her look out the window for a while, naming some of the things she sees. She's starting to transfer this skill and is opening drapes in other rooms to see the view on the other side.

Oooooooh! I never knew that was there!

Today Eloise and I went to the zoo for the first time with some friends from our new moms group. We had a picnic lunch on the lawn of the amphitheater and then wandered around and saw some of the animals. Hands down the favorite for all the babies was the cheetah. Eloise smiled and waved at it!

Watching the elephants from our picnic spot

They were pretty noisy!

Cora, Eloise, and Viv

And finally, a little window watching at home on a sunny day.