- When she watches "TV" (signing time videos on my laptop) she keeps looking behind the laptop to see where all the "people" are.
- My mom taught her how to pray before eating. So now, whenever we say "Amen" she immediately signs for "eat". She also folds her hands and says "men".
- She is in loooooove with pasta with tomato sauce. I can have 10 different foods on her tray and she will always eat the pasta first.
- She is not a fan of vegetables and will only eat them if they are pureed with sweet things like corn.
- When Bry was out of town this weekend, she woke up Saturday morning, looked around in a confused state, and kept saying, "Dada". On Saturday night, I could hear her talking in her sleep, saying "Dada" over and over again. Bryant died when I told him.
- She is not tantrum-ing and is still overall a very mild-mannered and happy kid.
- She loves to share. However, there were a few instances when another kid stole her toy away from her and instead of crying or whining like most kids do, she screamed at them.
- She loves to climb on everything and then stand on them much to the dismay of her parents. We have to vigilantly watch her every move now.
- She is generally pretty fearless and daring.
- She still screams every night when we put her to bed, despite Bryant or myself sitting right by her crib.
- She is imitating many words and sounds now. It's hard to know what she really knows versus what she is just repeating.
- She made up her own sign. When she wants to be picked up, she pats her right cheek.
- I taught her how to fake smile. I say "smile!" and then she gives me the cheeiest, fakest grin and goes "heeeee." Her smile is a little crooked. Love it.
- When I go to the bathroom, she says "pee pee!"
- She likes to lift up her shirt and point/pat her huge belly and say "beh" (belly in Korean)
Monday, January 28, 2013
13 month update
Oh man, the motivation to blog and update is so low now. I'm trying to take at least one photo a day with my iphone and even that is getting hard. I am so not good at this photo-taking business. Here are a few random tidbits:
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Recent Developments
Elise is so old now. She is definitely no longer a baby and is acting like a little kid more and more everyday. Bryant and I are seriously blown away everyday. Here are some recent developments:
- loves the song "row row row your boat" and keeps saying "rowrow" so that we'll sing the song over and over again
- Loves penne with tomato sauce. She will inhale her plate and yell "duh!" (done) while signing "done" when she's full.
- She can now point to her head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, knees, and toes.
- We sleep trained and her and she is no longer waking around 10. Now we're working on the 1 AM wake. I'm sleeping on the living room couch and last night Bryant, in his delirium, called me to help because she was crying so hard. This is going to be a hard one.
- She is getting eczema on her limbs again. I think it's because I've been giving her meatballs with Romano cheese in it. I hope it's not a reaction to another type of food.
- She is mimicking everything we do. She will bring out Bryant's shoes and try to put her feet in it. She tries to put her own shoes on. She says "yeah" while "talking" on the phone. She will get a napkin and mimic wiping a surface down.
- She loves playing with adults. She will walk right up to strangers, smile at them, and then run away and then repeat this process over and over again.
- She can now sign for "night night", orange, and cracker. I gave our animal crackers to a friend because Elise was getting too addicted and signing for crackers constantly.
- She is constantly smiling and giggling at everything new.
Of course I'm forgetting a bunch. It's just amazing how much she's developed!
- loves the song "row row row your boat" and keeps saying "rowrow" so that we'll sing the song over and over again
- Loves penne with tomato sauce. She will inhale her plate and yell "duh!" (done) while signing "done" when she's full.
- She can now point to her head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, knees, and toes.
- We sleep trained and her and she is no longer waking around 10. Now we're working on the 1 AM wake. I'm sleeping on the living room couch and last night Bryant, in his delirium, called me to help because she was crying so hard. This is going to be a hard one.
- She is getting eczema on her limbs again. I think it's because I've been giving her meatballs with Romano cheese in it. I hope it's not a reaction to another type of food.
- She is mimicking everything we do. She will bring out Bryant's shoes and try to put her feet in it. She tries to put her own shoes on. She says "yeah" while "talking" on the phone. She will get a napkin and mimic wiping a surface down.
- She loves playing with adults. She will walk right up to strangers, smile at them, and then run away and then repeat this process over and over again.
- She can now sign for "night night", orange, and cracker. I gave our animal crackers to a friend because Elise was getting too addicted and signing for crackers constantly.
- She is constantly smiling and giggling at everything new.
Of course I'm forgetting a bunch. It's just amazing how much she's developed!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Allergy Scare
We had a major allergy scare last night. During dinner, I noticed Elise starting to scratch her eye a lot. She was eating an orange and so I thought she got some citrus juice in her eye. When I looked closer, I saw that she had tons of tiny little bumps on the left side of her face...looked like hives. So she was having an allergic reaction and Bryant went to Target to get some Benadryl.
Within a few minutes, the hives started spreading and her face started to swell. This was very scary. I went to Babycenter.com and they said to call 911 if the face starts to swell. Bryant came home and we just decided to go to Pediatric Urgent Care since it didn't seem like she was having difficulty breathing. The tricky part with face swelling is that it can also lead to the throat swelling and closing in. While we were driving there, I tried to interact with Elise the entire time to make sure her breathing was OK. I felt like I wanted to have a panic attack.
By the time we got to the hospital, it seemed like the swelling and hives were slowing down. A nurse looked at it immediately and said that we still needed to see a doctor, but that there was no need to be scared. We were relieved. Here she is at the hospital, looking much better, but still with face swelling. It was nearly closing her left eye shut!
Since we don't know exactly what caused the reaction, the Dr. said to closely monitor every food intake, especially if she is eating something new. We gave her hummus and spinach pancakes for the first time last night-- she basically had a taste of each and rejected both. I'm pretty sure the reaction was due to the hummus because it has pine nuts and sesame, both big allergens. From what I've read, it's likely that Elise has a nut allergy.
This makes me really sad. For whatever reason, the incidence of nut allergies is rapidly spreading and nobody knows why. I actually have a friend whose daughter died in junior high due to accidental consumption of walnuts in a dessert. I can't even fathom the pain. I just hate that I feel like I have such little control and understanding over this situation. And of course the irrational part of me feels like somehow I am to blame for this. I was always really worried that Elise would be one of those "nut allergy" kids and now it's looking like it is the case.
I've read that some kids grow out of allergies so I'm really going to pray that this happens for Elise. Not eating dairy is hard enough for her. I want her to enjoy things like ice cream, cheese, and creamy pastas! Anyway, please join me in prayer that Elise will be fully released from these allergies!
Within a few minutes, the hives started spreading and her face started to swell. This was very scary. I went to Babycenter.com and they said to call 911 if the face starts to swell. Bryant came home and we just decided to go to Pediatric Urgent Care since it didn't seem like she was having difficulty breathing. The tricky part with face swelling is that it can also lead to the throat swelling and closing in. While we were driving there, I tried to interact with Elise the entire time to make sure her breathing was OK. I felt like I wanted to have a panic attack.
By the time we got to the hospital, it seemed like the swelling and hives were slowing down. A nurse looked at it immediately and said that we still needed to see a doctor, but that there was no need to be scared. We were relieved. Here she is at the hospital, looking much better, but still with face swelling. It was nearly closing her left eye shut!
This makes me really sad. For whatever reason, the incidence of nut allergies is rapidly spreading and nobody knows why. I actually have a friend whose daughter died in junior high due to accidental consumption of walnuts in a dessert. I can't even fathom the pain. I just hate that I feel like I have such little control and understanding over this situation. And of course the irrational part of me feels like somehow I am to blame for this. I was always really worried that Elise would be one of those "nut allergy" kids and now it's looking like it is the case.
I've read that some kids grow out of allergies so I'm really going to pray that this happens for Elise. Not eating dairy is hard enough for her. I want her to enjoy things like ice cream, cheese, and creamy pastas! Anyway, please join me in prayer that Elise will be fully released from these allergies!
Friday, January 11, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
new obsession: oranges
Elise is obsessed with oranges, or Bluejay oranges to be more precise. This is a new development and I think she may even prefer it over church animal crackers. She can eat one and a half oranges (they are small) in one sitting. Today, when she was trying to ask for more oranges, she tried to communicate using every word and sound and baby sign that she knew. I was cracking up. I finally learned the sign for orange and so I'm going to teach it to her. This morning, she signed for "eat" to let us know she was hungry and said "wawa" after her meal to let us know she was thirsty. I am loving this communication stage.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
first tantrum
Elise had her first mini-tantrum today. It was cute. At church nursery (Little Lambs), the kids get animal crackers for a snack. This is quite possibly Elise's favorite food. She is the most ravenous animal cracker eater. When she eats something she loves, she tries to stuff as many as possible in her mouth. Today, I was handing out the cookies, and after I gave her one, she immediately wanted more. I gave her one more, and when she demanded more and I said, no, she started crying loudly. I was so surprised that I just gave her another cookie. I really shouldn't have done that because I want her to know the meaning of NO. When she asked for yet another cookie, I sternly told her NO, and moved her away from the cookies and distracted her. Oh man, let the power struggles begin!
Friday, January 4, 2013
new words and developments
water = wawa
boo! (to scare people)
shhh!! (with finger to her mouth)
she learned shhh on the plane. when a 2 year old boy told her to be quiet using shhhh, she pointed to his stomach and shushed him back. it was the most hilarious thing, especially since it was the first time she ever did that. even the boy cracked up.
we're in the thick of dol planning and so i'll have to write more later. i just wanted to write those 2 new developments for record keeping's sake. :)
her vocabulary so far:
mama
dada
dog
duck
upup
wawa
boo
shhh
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