Milestones, Milestones

I've never been the best record keeper. I've started at least 5 journals, swearing every time that this would be the time that I kept it up. I will have maybe 5 entries within the first couple of months and then at least a year before the next entry. I was never in any doubt, then, that I would be great with baby books for my kids. Both Ethan and Eleanor have them, and they are surely not empty (Will fills them out more often than I), but this blog will serve as the best record I have of these early years. One of my January goals (resolution is too strong a word) is to do better with the blog. I want my posts to really capture our lives right now, as I know this time is so fleeting.

Eleanor is going to be one in a little over a month! I really cannot believe it. I keep thinking she's only 6 months old or so. But the calendar does not lie. As she approaches her first birthday, she's really blossoming every day. Her crawling is now out of control. We really have to be careful to keep doors closed because she will follow us everywhere. Lately, she's been crawling into the kitchen while I'm preparing dinner and playing with the play plastic kitchen. She likes to take toys and put them into the cabinets. She also loves to try and get into the laundry room when we're in the basement, so that door now remains closed as well (which is good thing, anyway, since it's full of Will's clutter). She will follow Ethan around, too, and he loves to play a crawling version of chase with her.

In addition to crawling, she's also starting to pull herself up to standing. She's not very strong yet, but we've seen her do it a few times. I tried to get some video of her pulling up on the train table, but she moves on to other things instead of pulling all the way up. Trust me that she can do it. And, just today, I came into her room to see her sitting in her crib. I had put her down for a morning nap, but there was a whole lot of racket coming through the monitor. Usually, she goes to sleep so easily, so I went to peek at her and found her sitting up. Let me tell you, she was mighty pleased with herself, too. She was literally bouncing up and down on her bottom when she saw me, like "Look at me, Mom! Look what I did?" The thing is, even though she's been able to sit for months, she never goes from her back to sitting because she NEVER rolls. She has rolled before, but never really does it anymore. If she happens to fall back from sitting and is on her back, she'll just lie there. Every once and a while, she'll roll to get to something, but mostly she'll just fuss like a pill bug turned upside down. Well, she must have figured it out today because she was sitting in her crib. I guess I'll have to move the crib mattress down now. Yet another rite of passage. Before I know it, she'll be moving out of the crib and into a big girl bed. Ugh!

On the food front, we're mostly done with baby food. I keep some on hand for when we're eating something I'm not sure she'll eat, but she's been eating what we eat for the last few weeks and eating a lot of different fruits and some veggies, along with all kinds of other foods like cereal bars, real oatmeal, waffles, pancakes, sausage, pasta, etc. I wasn't sure about introducing citrus, but she LOVES all things citrus. Mandarin oranges and grapefruit are her favorites right now. She would eat an entire grapefruit if I let her. This makes for some interesting diapers, but she's not adversely affected in any other way, so I keep giving them to her.

Finally, she got another tooth last week. Her other bottom tooth. All the better to eat with, I suppose, but she's never had a problem with that.

In this picture, you'll see a sippy with formula. I've started giving her one formula feeding a day to get her ready to wean. My goal is to have her weaned by spring break. She's doing better every day.

Another thing growing on Eleanor...her hair! I can know get a bow in her hair without a headband. I keep these with me so that I can pop on in when she's mistaken for a boy.

Will snagged this Pottery Barn kitchen at a school rummage sale last week. It came with a tea set and stainless steel pots and pans. Likely worth around $500. Will paid $40 - for both pieces! Super awesome find, and now we're looking around for the fridge. Someone was selling the matching one on Craigslist, but she wanted way too much for it. It hasn't sold, though, so I'm hoping she comes crawling back to me and wants to sell it.

Here is a tiny preview of the decorations for Eleanor's first birthday party. I'm pretty psyched.

Eleanor in her new kitchen.

I wish I had time to start a food blog, 'cuz I sure do like to take pictures of my meals and talk about food/recipes. This was our dinner last night. Steakhouse filet (Will said they were so good that there was no need to go to Wildfire anymore, but I said let's not get crazy), roasted asparagus, risotto, and an arugula salad dressed with lemon and olive oil.

Yesterday, I took Ethan to Bakers Square to make his own little pie. I guess they do this every once and a while. It was cute. He got to roll out the top, pinch the sides together and then decorate the top with sugar. Then we went home and baked it. I didn't so much care for the pie myself, but it was a fun (and free!) activity.


She loves having access to these pots and pans since mine are behind child locked cabinets!

Almost!