Namaste, Out the Road Blog

I've been wanting to make a written record of some of the funny, cute, or non-cute things that Ellie's doing at this age (just turned 18 months about 10 days ago), so here goes:

1. She has recently (in the past week or so) learned to jump off the little bathroom stool I bought for her. (It's actually of no use to her in the bathroom yet, as she still can't reach the sink even when she's standing on the stool.) She loves to grab the little lime green and yellow stool out of the bathroom and bring it into the kitchen when I'm in there getting dinner ready or doing some dishes. She sometimes asks to hold my hand to get up on the stool, or if I put it next to the small table that's in the kitchen, she can get on the stool easily by placing one hand on the table to balance herself. She repeatedly jumps off the stool and I cheer, "Hooray!" A new addition to this activity is that, just this week she has started to accompany each jump by saying, "Ready, Set, Go!", except that instead of Ready she actually says "Beddy" and she tends to skip the Set, and then we both say "Ohhhh!" as she jumps the 6 inches or so off the stool. I have to say, my Ellie is really coordinated and athletic for her age, and she is so passionate about ever expanding and testing her physical skills. I think I have a gymnast in the making!

2. Apart from Ready, Set, Go, she is saying a few English words now. I have to say, I'm proud of her for choosing a few initial words that are particularly relevant to her: diaper (which sounds like "bye-pah") and bottle (which sounds pretty much like bottle, though sometimes it comes out also sounding like "bah-pah"). She is also now saying "bye bye" and it sounds like "bah bah". I was almost teary tonight when for the first time, when I was putting her down to sleep and about to leave the room, she said "bah bah" to me instead of her never-failing "tah tah" that she brought with her from Nepal. She repeated the "bah bah" a few times and then just as I was closing the door I heard her revert back to "tah tah". I was so happy to hear it! I love her little "tah tah" and hope she doesn't lose it, as it will always remind me of the start of our relationship and my visits to CH.

3. She had her first big girl haircut today at a nearby salon called Little Scissors that specializes in cutting kids hair. A few reviews I read online said that they work quickly so they can get through a hair cut even with a screaming, fussy child. Well, Ellie didn't fuss one bit! She sat in my lap let the stylist give her a very cute hair cut, chin length with a shallow taper in the back. It looks very cute, I must say, and hopefully will just fall into place each morning with a bit of combing. We have a few showers/welcome party's for Ellie in the next couple of weekends, so I'm glad my girl will look her best!

4. My friends Peg and Phil brought over their hand-me-down booster seat on Monday and I think it came just in the nick of time, as Little Missy is showing signs of wanting to sit at the dining room table like a big girl. She sat in the booster this evening, after dinner, to eat some Specially for Friday Ice-Cream. (She's funny when she eats ice-cream, scrunching her face up in what appears to be pain or distaste initially, but then wanting more. I think it's the cold that she objects to, but she likes the taste.)

5. I've mentioned in other posts how active she is. The truth is, she does not slow down. Not for a minute. I think when we sit together to read books before she goes to sleep is about the only time she voluntarily sits still. (Dinner time, too, though I hesitate to describe her mealtime conduct as sitting "still" -- she swishes her food with the spoon, making a mess, bangs her spoon loudly on the tray, throws the spoon and occasionally food onto the table, and generally makes as much of a mess as I'll let her get away with, along with eating a few bites.) I was observing her activity level tonight as she drank her evening bottle. It was the same as ever, but I just was taking more note of it tonight. She literally does not stop moving, even when she finds her little rocker to sit for a second, she's squirming and trying to find the right position, and then immediately back up. In the length of time it takes to consume an 8 oz. bottle, she gets on and off the loveseat one or more time, gets on and off the sofa one or more times (both with my help), takes all the coasters in my little basket on the coffee table and dumps them on the ground, takes the stacking rings and puts them on her arm, then throws them into the next room, gets into and out of her rocking chair one or more times, etc., etc., etc. I see now why she sleeps so well -- she must be exhausted! (Smile)

6. She can be a rude girl at times and I'm having to really strategize on how to teach her better manners. One thing that I let her get away with because she's still pretty little is that she doesn't often ask nicely for things, but rather demands them. Where I do try to draw the line is when she uses tantrums as a means to really demand something. The last couple of nights she's been very prone to this, which has been challenging. Another rude behavior is that she sticks her tongue between her lips and blows (some people call this "making a raspberry"). She doesn't do it just as an experiment or to be funny. She does it when she's pissed off about something. It's hard not to laugh sometimes, but I try not to, as I think that will just encourage the behavior. Also, she's just in the past week or so started getting the brilliant idea to wiggle all around and try to turn over and kneel or even stand when I'm changing her diaper on the changing table. Often she pulls this when she has a poopy diaper and is likely to make a big ol' mess with all that squirming and movement. It's tough to know how to squelch this behavior, as she tends to find it funny and laugh when I try to restrain her movement. She thinks it's a game. And tonight for the first time she did something that made me very mad, which is that she gave my face a bit of a slap as I was trying to change her diaper. It's tough to know how to invoke discipline in that very moment, especially as I was changing a messy diaper. I did end up putting her in two time-outs tonight because she was throwing tantrums every time she wanted something. So, yes, it's true: she's not all goodness and light. But when she's behaving badly I try to remember that this time in her development is a challenging one and that, hopefully, that her strong temperament will serve her well in the long run.

7. Back to another cute things she does: she says hi to everyone and often to inanimate objects if they look like people or animals. I have a wooden statute of St. Francis in the living room and she often says hi to him. Also, in the cupboard where I keep the nipples and other stuff that go with her bottles, there are some mugs and one of them has a face like Elmer Fudd, so everytime I open that cupboard to prepare her a bottle, she shouts "Hi!" She also says "Hi" to my cat Penny repeatedly and would love to touch her and become friends, but Penny is still pretty insistent on running away from Ellie. In fact, our across the street neighbor cat, Little Dude, who is as easy going and friendly a cat as you can imagine, also runs away from Ellie's enthusiastic "Hi's!" I think these smart kitties must know that a small human could mean trouble.

8. Ellie loves to go outside. In the front yard, she enjoys walking up and down the steps that lead to the front door. She also is very taken with the little boys who live next door and who have befriended Ellie from her first day home. Even when they aren't anywhere is sight, Ellie will sometimes insist on walking down to their yard and sometimes she seems to want to walk in their house! Just making herself at home! (Smile) These neighbors also have a nice swing set with a baby swing and so sometimes we go over there and Ellie swings for a while. She also enjoys our own backyard, or, more accurately, our back porch and deck. I have a selection of outdoor toys for her to play with (balls, bubbles, etc.), but, true to form, her usual favorite activity is to climb onto one of the benches that sit on the deck and then, with Mommy's help, jump down onto the deck. It seems that she can do this over and over for many minutes at a stretch without tiring.

9. She now loves her bath and is very excited when I pull back the shower curtain and get out her infant tub. Even with her clothes on, she puts one leg on top of the edge of the tub as if to try to hop on in (good thing she's still too short to achieve her aim). I have a number of bath toys for her and she does use them, but, again, it's the ordinary things that seems to hold the most appeal: the wash clothes, the bottle of Aveeno liquid soap for babies, and the water itself. She loves to splash mightily and gets pretty good distance on the spread of water. I usually get a semi-shower from my vantage point at the edge of the tub and I have got to get better about remembering to move the spare rolls of TP to the far end of the bathroom.

Well, I was going to go for 10 items in my post, but it's bedtime for Mommy! I hope one day that looking back on these writings will remind me of my cute, funny, energetic 18-month old daughter. I know even now that it will seem all too soon that she loses the last traces of babyhood. So I am relishing my baby girl while I can!

Love,
PA