Up

Today, Ellie mastered a new word. "Up". I'm not sure she's really clear on the meaning yet, but her pronunciation is fabulous. She has, "Mom", "Daddy", "doggy", "kitty", can sign "milk" and "bye-bye" (sometimes and with a delay), and now she has "up". She manages to communicate pretty well with that limited vocabulary and an imperious pointer finger. If she absolutely needs to, she uses fussing and alligator tears to make her displeasure known.

She's making rapid strides in all areas except crawling. Walking becomes more likely each day. She already pushes her seat around her activity table more than she sits/stands in it. She will walk (assisted) as far as about 5 feet before she lifts her arms to be carried. She stands for longer and longer amounts of time when she plays. Slowly, she is gaining confidence in standing and switching her supports from one object to another. If we rearrange the furniture, she could probably start cruising around the room. Falling is becoming less shocking and she barely makes a fuss about it anymore unless she was really engrossed in something up top and then the fuss is because she wants to get back to it, not because she hurts. Just because she doesn't crawl, doesn't mean she can't get around on the floor. She spins very cleverly and can push herself backwards until there is nowhere else to go. Ellie now finds it ridiculously easy to push herself into sitting from her belly. When I put her to bed now, she generally sits after I put her to bed and plays for up to a half hour until she literally falls over and passes out.

Wednesday, we saw a sudden change in her pottying. She kept her diaper dry the whole day except for naps. It kind of freaked me out because it was so sudden. She still sat and went in her potty, but she didn't wet her diaper between potty opportunities. Thursday and Friday weren't quite as stellar, but there were still a lot of dry diapers. We used about half as many as normal. So, I started using the cotton training pants with plastic covers between naps. I think she prefers those since they are probably more breathable. The other change in her pottying is that she can signal when we put her on the potty and she doesn't need to go. She simply stands up after 30 seconds or so. At first, I kept insisting that she sit back down and humor me. But, she's generally been peeing pretty soon after sitting when she does go. Poo can take a bit longer, but she seems to recognize when she needs to go because she'll sit and read and play for as long as it takes. So, I'm learning to trust her instincts and I put her pants back on when she "says" she's done. Now, we just need her to tell us when she has to go....

We've also seen a return of drooling. She has a whopper of a tooth coming in on her bottom right side. It may be her first molar. But sporadic drooling is really about the only symptom. Every now and then, she insists on Orajel (by biting Mom's hands and arms), but mostly, there is little indication that she has pain.

Mom and Dad are not making nearly as dramatic progress. I am reading, Dexter is Delicious (number 4 in Jeff Lindsay's series). I just finished Diaper Free Before 3, and am really crawling on my latest endeavors of a cross-stitch stocking for Ellie and a new portrait of her. I've started my Christmas shopping. I just finished some work for a Tri Kappa Convention logo and am also working on poker chip designs for P and selling ad space for the Gardening Show program I will also be putting together in December. P is working through another Star Wars Lego game and designing a bed frame for our Christmas gift. Tonight, P is trying a new ribs recipe and Ellie is taking her second long nap of the day. At this rate, she'll be going to bed at 8. Unless she thinks she has already gone to bed for the night...Damn Daylight Savings!!!!