15 months

Although Ella turned 15 months a few days before Christmas (Dec. 23), we just had her 15 month well child appointment and I wanted to include her stats:

Height 31.75 inches - 83rd percentile

Weight 23 lbs. 4 oz. - 55th percentile

Head circumference - 18.7 inches - 88th percentile

According to Ella's doctor, she is tall and skinny for her age.  We think she's just right :).  Dr. Spence also told us that she's not only cute, but also very smart for her age - like we had any doubt! 

This is a long and probably boring post to most, but there are a few things I wanted to remember about Ella at this age.  A lot has changed in the last few months!

• She made the transition from two naps to one nap a day at around 13 1/2 months.  She now naps from about 12:30-2:30pm.   She is still a great night time sleeper going down around 7:00pm and sleeping until around 8:00am.  

• She has two teeth and three or four impending teeth. Her second bottom tooth popped through at about 14 months.  She has three or four teeth on top that are just starting to cut through.  She's had a few miserable nights because of them, but besides a runny nose, doesn't seem to be too affected by them during the day.
• She walks/runs everywhere these days! She loves running and squeals and laughs when we chase her.
• She is still very attached to her stuffed doggie.  She loves all her stuffed animals and often sleeps with 4 or 5 stuffed animals and one or two blankets in her crib.
• She loves shoes, and has quite a cute collection of them!  She is obsessed with getting them out of her closet for us to put on for her, and also loves taking them off.  When she's in her carseat, we usually go to get her out and find she's taken her shoes off.  She loves looking at the shoes in my closet and hiding them in places that takes me awhile to find them.  She's been known to throw a tantrum or two in the Nordstrom's Kids Shoe department when her mean mom forces her to leave the display of shoes that she's enamored with.
• She LOVES books.  Hands down, she would choose a book over any toy, any day.  She loves getting out a book and bringing it to us, then crawling in our laps to read it to her.  Any book that has pictures of dogs is a favorite.  
• She is a picky eater - I guess that's no surprise coming from two parents who were pretty picky eaters as kids too!  She's not very adventurous about trying new foods - she's not even a fan of pizza, french fries, or waffles.  She sticks to her basics: cheese, noodles, yogurt, toast, squeezy pouches (thankfully she gets her veggies this way), fruit, and a couple of snacky foods.  
• Her vocabulary is expanding every day.  She has at least 30+ words (that are decipherable to Cody and I at least!) and is repeating words and putting new sounds together every day.  Some of my favorite pronunciation of words she says: 
• "Nanta" (Santa)
• "Nay-nay" (Nathan)
• "Duck", "milk", and "book" (we love it when she says anything with a "k" at the end of the word as she pronounces the "k" very prominently)
• "Naa-naa" (knock knock)
• "Hiiii dada!" and "Bu-bye dada!" (in her cute little sing-song voice)
• "Bebe" (baby pronounced with a bit of a french accent)
• "Bopa" (Grandpa)
• "Bonk!" (she says it any time she falls, trips, or hits her head...she also loves patting her own head or anyone else's and saying "bonk!")
• "Mem-bee" (binky)
• "Aawa" (water -we like to think she knows Spanish and is really saying "agua" for water";))
• "Nada" (all done - she also signs frantically when she's all done eating!)
• "Didy" - Lily

Here's a peek at what she's been up to in the last few months in pictures...

Growing lots of curls!

 Playing silly games with daddy - this girl loves her dad and literally cries when he leaves the room

 Doing headstands

 Eating satsumas (she's obsessed with them) and being willing to bite through the skin to get to the fruit when mom and dad are too slow to peel it for her :).

 Making fashion statements with her choice of shoes and clothes and becoming quite opinionated about what she wants to wear

 Being entertained with boxes!

Working on eating with utensils

Loving brushing her teeth!

Playing with babies

Playing on daddy's ipad

Trying out her exersaucer - which she is clearly too big for now ;).  Our friends borrowed it for a few months and after they returned it she insisted on playing in it.

We love you sweet girl!!