Boppy, Bubby, Baby

Eloise is now 15 months old and she has so much energy; she is very busy all day long and always wants to go outside. She will stand at the gate at the top of the stairs and say "outsigh." She loves to stomp around (marching in place), turn around and around in a circles, and when she dances she bends her legs and bounces her little bum up and down.

She loves to hide behind the glider that is in her room. She will all of the sudden disappear and when I walk in her room I will see her little head peak around the chair and she will start to giggle and hide herself again. Sometimes if I don't notice she is hiding behind the chair she will peak around and say, "Elowee" (which is how she says her name) because she wants me to say "Where's Eloise?" so she can hide and play her game.

Three of her favorite words are boppy, bubby, and baby, which sound very similar, but have very different meanings. Bobby is what she calls her blanky, bubby is what she calls a bunny, and every time she sees a baby or a picture of a baby she gets very excited and yells "baby, baby!"

Her vocabulary continues to expand. She even tries to repeat difficult words, for example, "exercise" and it sounds pretty close to the actual word when she says it. Last week there was a thunder storm. She said,"dat," wondering what the noise was. I said, "thunder" and she repeated "tunder." When she wants something she doesn't know the name of, she reaches for it and says "dis, dis, dis," meaning "this, this, this."
She also says, "down" all the time, which also means up. She says down when she wants me to put her down and down when she want me to pick her up.

She still absolutely loves books and right now her favorite book is The Wheels on the Bus. Every time she wants the book read to her she will sing "bus, bus, bus" in the Wheels on the Bus tune. One of the things I cherish is when she grabs a book and plops down in my lap for me to read it to her.

She now blows kisses, which is the cutest thing ever.

Every time I go grocery shopping or anywhere, she says "hi" to everyone we pass with a big smile on her face.

She is really into shoes and constantly pulls shoes out of our closet for us to put on. She brings them to us and says, "ahn, ahn" (elongating the ah sound of on).

Whenever Nick and I are brushing our teeth she wants her toothbrush as well. She reaches for it and says, "teeth, teeth." Then she follows Nick and I around while we brush our teeth.

She had her first (and of course, I hope only) laceration repair yesterday. She fell and hit the back of her head on a door hinge. It took one staple to close it up and she handled it like a champ. She wasn't really bothered by a staple being placed in her scalp, but instead was bothered by me holding her down so she couldn't move.

And of course, she still loves sticks and rocks.

Etherington's Visit

It was so enjoyable to have Craig, Diane, and Jane visit us for a few days. Eloise was delighted to have pure entertainment the whole time they were here. Every morning she followed Jane around like a little puppy dog.
She loved digging in the rocks and dirt with grandpa.

Mimi and grandpa brought Eloise all sorts of gifts. I was especially excited about the dresses and shoes and Eloise was especially excited about the books. She would choose a book and go back and forth from mimi to grandpa so each of them could read to her.

Easter

Eloise had fun with the Easter egg hunt. You may notice that she not only collected the eggs, but she also picked up some rocks on the way. She loves sticks and rocks.

She had a hard time deciding if she wanted to put the eggs in the basket. She really didn't want to let go of them.

Rosemary Beach

For Nick's spring break we went to Rosemary Beach. Mary Alice and Wade, some friends of ours who live in Rosemary Beach, were so nice to let us stay in their carriage house. It was such a relaxing vacation. The weather averaged about 65 degrees and reached 70 degrees a couple of the days, but we just bundled up and went to the beach.

Eloise loved playing in the water and in the plants. She learned the word "down" while we were here and any time we carried her or put her in the stroller she would say "down" and wanted to get down and pick up, touch, or taste, anything she could. After many long walks, we finally figured out that if we gave her a stick and a pine cone she would be content in her stroller for the duration of the walk.

Here she is saying "wee" as the swing goes back and forth.

Eloise helped us to an early start every day since she woke up at 4:00 AM. Each morning we went for a walk. Here we are walking along the boardwalks in Rosemary Beach and of course, Eloise is picking everything up on the way.

As you may have guessed, she is showing us her tongue.

One of the streets in Watersound, a community just down the street from Rosemary Beach.

Here we are at Seaside, where we had to stop by Modica Market to buy a couple slices of the best cake we have ever tasted.

And of course, the gorgeous white beach of Rosemary Beach. Eloise didn't want to walk on the sand at first. Every time I tried to put her down she would lift her legs up, but by the second day, she was walking around and playing with the sand and shells. By the third day, she walked right down to the water and got her feet wet. She liked it when the waves came up and splashed her feet and legs.

Eloise is on her tiptoes watching the garbage truck drive by.

She had a rough time adjusting to the new sleeping situation.

Random Pics

Since Eloise started walking, she falls alot. Here, after a series of falls, she finally just laid there for a while because it was too much effort to stand back up.

Eloise loves to empty any cupboards she has access to. The other day she was busy emptying the cupboard while I was cleaning the bathroom sink and when I looked down she had crawled inside.