and she's UP!

Yes, as you MIGHT have guessed from the title, Elyse is walking.  Beeauuuutiful.  Finally.  We are SO happy that she has decided that walking on her feet is way more fun than crawling or walking on her knees.  Love it. She start taking "chances" about 6 weeks ago, and she's slowly progressed into walking (or toddling) around the house at leisure with a stumble or two.  Again, I love it.  I never in my wildest dreams thought that my little girl would wait so long to walk, but it's been fun to see her do this on her own.  No matter how hard I tried to encourage it, she was determined to make it something she would do in her own time, thank ya very much!  I perhaps would have picked an earlier date, but I'm so happy that she's now movin' right along.  Here she is cruisin' around with a good book...

Anyway, enough of that reveling.. Elyse is ALSO 20 months old today!  I didn't think I'd have too much more to report as far as this age goes, but there are some new fun things.  Elyse's hair is getting very long (you'd never know), which makes for some nasty knots & messy tangles.  We get through, but it's not always pretty.  She is outgrowing her glasses, so we really need to figure out where to hunt down some more teeny specs...  She is really enjoying her dirty laundry basket (which has been sorted to contain only semi-dirty clothes.. I promise)... it's bizarre, but she loves to sort the clothes and identify what each item is and who wore it.  She does the same thing when I fold laundry.  We were wondering why she started cussing, but it seems that she's actually attempting to say "shirt."  Hmm...  She loves to stack her books & gets very frustrated when they aren't perfectly aligned.  I'm SO tempted to hide any puzzles (she gets severely angry when she can't get them solved), but I'm determined that she's going to figure out how to chill soon enough!  She is putting words together, and it's fun to hear the mishmash of sounds that come out of her mouth.  She loves to come with me to get Em up from her naps, and she usually says "get Emmie" as she toddles behind me.  Once she gets to her bed, she pulls up as far as she can and yells "Emmie" at the top of her lungs.  What a pleasant awakening for Emily.  I can hardly believe she's on the road to AGE TWO.  But for now, here are some of my fun's and not-so-fun's for this stage:

fun's:

* I love watching her try to figure out something.  It's so fascinating to see a little person learn!
* Elyse loves to go on walks- I get such a kick out of hearing her say: "Mommy, CAR!" or "Mommy, Buurd!"
* She loves to point out our facial features, even during the most serious of moments.  It's SO hard to keep a straight face!!
* She can make the happiest "I'm innocent" face EVER.  Wow.
* I love that she'll still rock with me before bed & asks me to keep singing when I stop.  Maybe I should have her hearing tested?
* One of my favorite moments this month was in the car a few weeks ago.  I was sitting in the back with her trying to coax her into napping... I was playing with her hair as she settled down, and when I stopped, she looked up at me and said "more, please?"  *sigh*
* I love how she's still addicted to Daddy :)
* Elyse is cracking us up with the way she has been pigging out on her food.  The other night, she ate a WHOLE sandwich, almost a cup of peas, almost a cup of grapes, and plenty of craisins for dessert.
* Her eyes light up when I give her a cookie in a way I never thought possible :)  That's my girl!
* I love watching her interact with Emily when she doesn't see me watching.

not-so-fun's:

* Still working through tantrum issues... YUK.
* It's REALLY hard to teach a little person how to be nice, you know???
* The word "no" can turn from polite to evil in about 2 seconds.
* Again, seeing her get so frustrated with toys :)  Okay, it's kind of funny, but I do feel bad sometimes :)
* She wants so badly to play with the big kids, so I'm hoping she gets proficient in this walking-thing quickly!
* Her eye teeth started cutting 6 weeks ago, and they're STILL not through!  OWW.

Elyse, we just love you to pieces.  I hope I always remember the adorable way you look up at me when we read together & the way you smell after your bath.  You'll always be my baby girl!

You just keep charming us :)