22 & 2 til 2!!!

This baby is 22 months old and 2 months away from 2 years old.  Wow.  I've truly got a little toddler on my hands!  Miss Elyse is just as busy as can be these days.  I have learned so much about Elyse over the course of this month.  I've seen new sides of her, heard new noises from her, watched her accomplish new things & eat new foods... This little lady is keeping me on my toes.  I kind of laugh now at what an incredibly easy baby Elyse was.  I'll be honest, that's partly why Emily is here today :)  I remember thinking that this parenting thing was a piece of cake!  Heehee... Toddlerhood has definitely not been the easiest of stages, but it sure has been fun.  My mom reminded me the other day when we were talking that I actually went through a very long stage of NOT LIKING babies or kids.  I barely remember that stage, but I'm glad it's gone :)  I sure do love my two babies.  I was at the park with a friend the other day, and it hit me that I was the one pushing the swing.  Remember the days of being pushed?  Does anyone know where those days went?

Elyse is in the process of cutting her final eye tooth, so that means 2 year molars can join us anytime.  Hey, her 4 eye teeth spanned almost 4 months, so let's just make a year of it!  I love teeth.  Yippee.  Elyse is a bit behind the game as far as mobility goes, but she is trying so hard to run.  I'm amazed at how often she crashes, but she seems to enjoy making a game of having mommy kiss her boo-boos and fails to remember to cry most times.  I'm okay with that!  Her new greatest love is BUBBLES.  She will sit in the bath for a very long time and just play with the bubbles in her hands until they disappear.  That is one of my favorite things to watch.  She's oblivious of anything else during bath time (until it's time to wash her hair).  She is enjoying coloring and Play-doh, though her attention span is still not very long at these activities.  She enjoys puzzles & the challenge of removing every piece and tossing them all into her toy box.  She loves to find little things that she can hold onto during the day... an empty spice container (yes, they make great toys!), a sock, a hair bow, a rubber band, etc...  She loves to count: "ooonnnneeee, tttwwwooo, ttrrreeeessss, eight, nine, ten."  Once in a great while, she'll remember the numbers in between :)

As for jibber-jabber, we're on a roll.  Elyse is talking all day, and each day I seem to make out more and more things :)  My new favorites are "cose your eyes" (when we pray) and "take a walk" as well as "poopie in pottie get sucker."  Some classics still stick around like "Emmie take nap - shhhh!" and "Daddy go work - shhhh!" :)  Not sure why she's being quiet, but okay!  Lately, she seems to be abusing the "Mommy hugs" and "Daddy hugs" quite a bit.  I'm not sure if this clingy stage is at all related to this current tooth, but Elyse gets very overwhelmed these days when we're out of our environment or in big crowds.  I'm praying this will pass soon for everyone's sake :)  I do love hearing her chatter on about everything she sees, including the new favorites of "bus" and "trucks."  We are now into opening our front door so she can watch the bus drive by.  Any engine rumble indicates a bus or a truck!  She loves to play a one-two-three game with just about everything, from jumping in her crib to being tossed in the air.  She also loves "ready-set-GO!"  She loves to spin in circles until dizziness makes her fall over, and she gets in these moods where a cheesy laugh is the response to everything.

I still love singing to her before bedtime while rocking her.  I'm so thankful she still lets me do this!  I try to plan Emily's evening nap during this time every once in a while, so we can spend some time together.  It's fun to have the same time with Emily 30 minutes later :)  Both girls are waking up around 7:30am together, and I could listen outside their door forever (if only Em would let me).  Elyse is usually listing off things she sees in her room, from her soccer ball to wipes.  I'm not sure if this is a phase, but Elyse's afternoon nap has shortened from 3 hours to 1.5 to 2 hours at most lately.  I'm HOPING this is a phase, but perhaps I should be prepared?  Uh, oh.  On another note, Elyse started the summer with a size 2 foot.  Yes, size 2.  By the August, she was a size 3.  Today, she is a size 5.  SLOW THIS TRAIN DOWN.  I'm going broke.

Elyse has just started to try singing, and it's pretty funny.  She usually only gets a word or two out before getting all shy on me, but it's encouraging to know she'll try :)  She loves to wave her little "light" around in "This Little Light of Mine" and it looks more like interpretive dance.  We still deal with random tantrums, and though they're fewer now, they come like bolts of lightning: unexpected & deadly :)  God's been teaching me so much about his unconditional love for me as his child.  Seriously, I am reminded all the time of how rotten I am.  It makes me give Elyse an extra hug at bedtime as I'm reminded of how badly I want for her to know her Heavenly Father's unconditional love for her.  I'm learning to love everything about the way God made Elyse, even the parts of her personality that make some days difficult.  I see so much of me in her, it's not even funny :)  (Mom, quit laughing.)

Here are some of my fun's and not-so-fun's for this age.  I do love this kid so much- it's hard to pick :)

fun's:

* hearing more spontaneous "lie-love-lou"'s
* When I wear my glasses for the day, Elyse will go back and forth between pointing to "Mommy's goggies" and "Leese's goggies" over and over again.
* Elyse still waits up for Emily if I keep Emily up later at night.  If Elyse goes down at 6:45 and Em at 7:15, Elyse will pop up when I go in their room and ask to kiss Emily.  Almost regularly, they'll both fall asleep as soon as I leave.
* Getting Elyse up in the morning and hearing her say "Daddy work?"- and being able to answer "no!" :)  I love watching her face light up.
* Watching her scrape every smidge of peanut butter off her graham cracker.
* Trying something new with Elyse and seeing her enjoy it immensely . . . like the slides at a new park or tea parties with her tea set :)
* hearing Elyse point to her crib and say "sleepy time now."
* Elyse LOVES dogs.  If we hear a bark of any sort, "DOGGIE!!!!"  In fact, Jordan was outside cleaning the gutters, and he sneezed loudly.  Elyse jumped and said, "Doggie?"

not-so-fun's:

* If I turn my back at all while Elyse is eating yogurt, she'll look around sneakily and start smearing yogurt on her hands and over her arms.  If I'm lucky, she'll get her hair, too.
* Going to bed in a pack 'n play is NOT fun anymore at all.  I'm thinking we need to start working on sleeping in a sleeping bag, or something like that when we're out.
* The tangles in her hair are still giving me (and her) grief.  I feel so badly for her.  I always have to ruin bath time with the conditioner and the comb!
* hearing her change "nana" to "banana"  :(

 We love you, Elyse Noelle!

You sure do know how to make us smile.

Happy 22!!!