GROWING, CHANGING AND LEARNING

I know we've said it before, but it really doesn't seem like we've only had Elysa for just over a month. She is a sponge, and the changes in her are coming so fast it seems like it has to have been much, much longer than that. When we met her, she had plenty of personality, but she was still predominantly on formula, wouldn't move around too much (crawl or climb), and just babbled and pretty much played quietly.

She is now seriously teething (drooling and chewing on stuff constantly). She is eating and generally playing in and with solid foods. She FINALLY started drinking plain water, and is beginning to exhibit her independence when feeding herself finger foods (Veggie-Booty puffs are irresistable to her). She mimics many sounds she has heard from her toys and from people, including a very funny mimic of Cookie Monster saying "Hello There". We think we are hearing some common sounds and words with associations, but I'm pretty sure that is just wishful thinking at this point.

She sings and babbles like crazy to music (Veggie Tales sing along is now the ONLY CD other than lullabys in the car). She is VERY close to crawling (gets up on her knees and will rock back and forth, but still no forward motion) and in the last few days will NOT sit still. She is always trying to get/climb from one person to the next, wanting to be held so she can jump/stand...



...or is rolling around on the floor...



We have been showing her "Baby Signs" which she is beginning to catch on to and use, though not reliably yet. Jackson has been renamed, and is actually responding to, "Woof-Woof". He's figured out that if he hangs out under the high chair, the new pack member occasionally tosses him a goody!

We have a nap and sleep routine in place that seems to be working- for the most part and "should" still function for us when we go back to work next month. However, it is still pretty fragile, probably due to the teething, and some nap times and nights are better than others. She can and occasionally does voice her opinions and displeasures- LOUDLY. She is, by far, more often happy and charming than not.



She loves going to the lake for walks, and being seen. She won't readily go to new people which is very good, but she defintiely likes to interact with and see lots of faces, especially other children and grandma.

We hope to meet with two of the families we traveled with later this week, so it will be interesting to see how the girls will all react to each other.

More later......