15 Months

Our sweet Eleanor is one and a quarter years old (on the 9th)! We're going to put a stack of books on her head so she'll stop growing.

I love thinking about Avery at this age and comparing her to where we are with Eleanor - not developmentally, but in their personalities. Avery was pretty compliant, talked non-stop even at this age, was easy to train to walk holding our hand, loved to sit quietly and read books, and though she played well by herself, she really loved having someone play with her. Eleanor refuses to hold our hand while walking, HATES to be told no, is such a mischief-maker, is very quiet and plays by herself almost all day long. I have to be very intentional to sit down and join in her play, because it can be easy to tell myself, "I'll just finish this laundry, and these dishes, and then...." since she's so easy-going. Avery is artistic and enjoys imaginary play, loves anything girly and frilly and fancy, loves to dance, loves to read, and is learning to write - she's our verbal child. Eleanor is much more mechanical - she can figure out how something works within seconds of looking at it, her motor skills are much more refined than Avery's were at this age, and she really seems to take everything in and analyze the situation.

she put together this Lego tower all by herself

Eleanor is showing more interest in books and will bring me a book and say "ma!" (more). Her favorite is Hand Hand Fingers Thumb. She literally breaks down into a crying fit when we tell her "no"; she bursts into tears, flops down on the ground, sometimes sitting, sometimes head on the ground, bottom in the air. Too funny. Her words are minimal - mama, dada, nigh-nigh, and ma (more). I'm starting to feel like she'll never move past those.

She has 6 teeth! The last two popped in with minimal fuss. We haven't been so lucky with the others.

She loves food still, but she definitely has some preferences. She is willing to try anything new. She hates tomatoes but will eat pasta sauce. She's not a huge fan of eggs, but seems to like them fine if they come off my plate. She really loves bagels with cream cheese. She has a topical allergy to peanut butter (she gets hives where it touches her skin), but it hasn't caused any major issues. We keep it away from her just in case, and it's on my list of questions for her next doctor appointment. She also breaks out in hives wherever dogs lick her. (And update - we saw the doctor today, and Eleanor has to go in for lab work in January to check on these allergies.) (She also has a double ear infection!! And I thought it was Avery who had the ear infection.)

She is still taking two naps a day, though the morning nap has been on hiatus for much of last week because she's been sick. She crashes hard as the cold is coming on, and once it's a full-blown cold, sleep during the day just doesn't seem to be a priority for her. Ugh. She has been sleeping 7-7 this week, but I'm wondering how long this will last. She generally wakes up around 4 or 5 in the morning, nurses, and then back down for a couple hours. We haven't nursed in almost a week, which I'm ready for, but it's still a little sad to think about.

She plays shy with strangers who try and catch her eye and smile at her. She'll duck her head and slowly peek out and give them a tiny smile.

Eleanor loves to dig in my bathroom cabinets, and tampons and cotton balls are her favorite things to play with. She also discovered q-tips today. Toothbrushes are awesome - she loves to have her teeth brushed and will bring me her toothbrush.