one year

I know every parent goes through this, but it's hard to believe Elise has been around for a year now. It's even getting harder to remember what life was like before her. Silly, I know.

I was telling Brian the other day that it's hard believe how much you can love such a little person (ok, she's really not that little...). I loved her while I was pregnant, and immediately fell in love (again) when she was born, but that love has grown tremendously in the last year. Who knew?

Anyway, here are some fun pictures from her birthday/celebration.

 going down the zip line for the second time - first time was with Dad (3/29)

(yes, we're the crazy parents who took our one-year-old on a zip line)

playing with some new toys (3/29)

 pink turtle cake! (3/30, inspired by her pink turtle stuffed animal)

 she didn't seem to realize she could dig in or smash it, she just kept

grabbing frosting and licking it off her hands (3/30)

 

 finally figured out how to dig in after a while (3/30)

 wearing part of her new shape sorter toy (3/30)

she won't keep hats on when we put them on her, but

she'll apparently put them on herself now (3/30)

learning

Things Elise has learned/done for the first time in the last week:

1. How to sit up from laying down (2/25/14 was the first time) - several times, I've looked over when I could've sworn she had been on her back, and she had sat up. I think this has actually contributed to her waking up in the middle of the night lately too, as she's often sitting up in the crib when I come in.
2. How to walk along a couch or other solid object - Daddy likes to stand her up against the dining room chairs and see if she'll walk around them. I didn't actually see it, but she apparently walked along the couch the other day.
3. How to pull herself up - the other night, I thought she was going to army crawl over to the laundry basket. Instead, I watched her get on her knees then WALK on her knees over to the basket (not far away) and use it to balance so she could get on her feet and stand up. Since then, she's also used me to pull herself up.
4. How to say "hi" - I doubt it was intentional, but she said "hi" to the Bishop in the hallway at church the other day. He stopped and asked if that was what she said, and I told him I thought so even though she's never said it before. (He was enamored, probably because he has a granddaughter around Elise's age, but I like to think it's because Elise is so adorable.)
5. How to fall asleep on her own - ok, we've had to do sleep training for this one, but it's been going pretty well after the first day or two. Bedtime was getting more and more difficult recently, and I blame myself for nursing her to sleep until now. Anyway, I knew I wouldn't be able to do cry-it-out sleep training, so we went for pick-up-put-down. Considering how old Elise is, I'm actually surprised at how quickly she's adjusted to it (the Baby Whisperer book I read said it would likely take a while to train an older baby).

It was an eventful week! (Her first top tooth also broke through a little over a week ago, and she cut her second one a couple days ago. It looks like a bunch more teeth are getting ready to come in too.)

flying a helicopter with Daddy at the San Diego Air & Space Museum

Other things she loves:

• drinking from straws (I was so excited/glad when she learned this skill)
• clapping
• waving and flapping her arms
• crawling (she hasn't quite figured out the hands and knees thing yet, but she's good at army crawling now - it has morphed even more so she uses her feet to push a little instead of just dragging her body with her arms)
• eating dust and strings and things she finds on the floor
• playing with power cords and the router
• shoving handfuls of raisins in her mouth (I'd rather she didn't, but it's hilarious to watch her when I put 5-6 on her tray and she puts them in her mouth one right after the other)
• sharing - toys, books, my phone, food, etc. (she likes to hand them to me and then take them back)
• eating yogurt - she can down a whole container by herself!

I was watching a friend's daughter and Elise wanted to share her monkey.

(I couldn't get a picture of her actually handing over the monkey.)

One of my favorite conversations to have with Elise:
Amy: Can you say dada?
Elise: Mama.
Amy: Dada?
Elise: Mama!

 flying a Gee Bee

Elise on camera

I need to edit these videos, but you get the unedited versions for now.

playing the piano

 

 

laughing in the bath

 

army crawling