She eats 3 meals a day, mostly fruits and veggies with some baby cereals and mum mum.
She rolls over both ways, rolls to get things she wants, and is starting to get up on her knees and rock (pre-crawling!)
She will also scoot herself backwards because her arms are very strong.
Ellie is getting her two front teeth. This has lead to lots of drooling and loud whining... she's not usually a cranky baby, but I imagine anyone would be so with teeth ripping through their gums.
She loves to figure out toys. She's very good at manipulating her hands to do things... she's almost got the pincher grasp, and today I saw her transfer a toy from one hand to the other!
OH, and she SITS UP! She does very well sitting up on her own for significant lengths of time. :-)
I took Ellie to her 6 month appointment a few days back, and she is healthy (except for the cold we all had here in the house) and growing well. She's now 16lbs 9.8oz (45 percentile) and 26" (25 percentile). Ellie has slowed down in her growth, but her pediatrician said this is normal about this time, and she is still healthy as can be.
I took a couple of pics of Ellie today, as well as added a few pictures to the Spring 2013 album (on the right side of the page you'll find a link to that). Enjoy!
I know I haven't posted in awhile... James came down with croup and gave the virus to me too, so we've been a house of illness all week. Ellie and Eliot have managed to stay healthy, but James and I have been terribly sick. I think James is on the mend, and I hope to head there soon. It's been a week of tantrums, wailing, and no sleep. Yup.
We took Ellie to her very first Fuchsia Saturday event this past Saturday! We always wake up early every year, pack a picnic breakfast for the kids, and make it over to Fred Meyer by 7am to stand in line for the best Fuchsia selection around at the best price (5 for $3!). We got 30 fuchsias and 6 geraniums for $21. I probably got about 10 varieties in all! Eliot waited in line with the kiddos (letting James munch on a cookie) while I looked around for the flowers and dropped them off at the cart. Then I arranged them in the pots we brought from home and they planted them for us with free soil. It was so much fun, Ellie was a bit tired but didn't cry or anything. James got a little impatient at the end, but it was about an hour so overall I think he did well.
Ellie has been growing by leaps and bounds. She is almost sitting up unsupported, and she laughs at EVERYTHING! She's very vocal with squeals and laughter, and she is just so darn smiley. I feel like I lucked out with her, she's terribly easy-going. She of course will cry when she's hungry or tired, but that's typical. Her favorite things include hitting a little stuffed owl to make it rattle, reading "Where's baby's belly button?" because she cracks up at the lift-the-flaps, feeling all the touch-and-feel books, grabbing my hair/neck/strings, and food time. She's eating a lot of solids, and her favorite food is probably a tie between pears and apples. Oh and she LOVES trying to drink her water from a sippy cup. She's not terribly successful at it yet, but that will come with time.
James is darn cute these days, he picks up a new word every day and says 8-10 word sentences. His new favorite movie is UP... he says, "U-P...UP!" when he sees it. He also asked me to make our house fly like the house in the movie. :-) We also started talking to James about our upcoming Disney trip in September, and now he is always saying, "I want to sit up on that, go see Mickey's house!" meaning he wants to sit on an airplane and go see Mickey.
I've started working with him on months of the year and days of the week and we started a countdown with stickers to show how many days we have left till we go, trying to teach him the concept of time. I would have waited to tell him about it, but I've found the more prep and talk I do about things, the less scared he is. When he went to the doctor the other day and I didn't have time to explain to him what was going to happen, he was terrified the whole time. So I've been making an effort to read him books about the process of flying on an airplane and showing him you-tube videos of some of the rides. We'll see what happens...
I've also noticed James does more pretend play than he used to. He likes to make his cars and characters act out things. He's also ALWAYS on the look out for numbers and letters, and will read them all on his own. While in the grocery store, he saw Cocoa Puffs and said (without prompting) "COCONUTS!" I figure that's pretty good for his age! He can also put DVDs in and out by himself, and unlock my phone and find whatever app he wants.
Because he struggles with his Ls and Rs, he comes up with some creative substitutes for words. "Road" becomes "Sidewalk," "Sit up on that" means "Sit on an airplane" and he can say "Bow" but not fiddle. :-)
Here is where I would insert something that is going on with me, but honestly all I do is take care of the kids and house and sing with the chorale once in awhile. Eliot is working hard at his 4 (5?) jobs, and we are all looking forward to some vacations to shake up our routine a bit.
