13 1/2 month update!

Cutie pie Elise at 13-months

Elise walks everywhere now. She started walking unassisted right around 12-months-old and for a few weeks after that she would teeter around the house very gingerly. She has since become a pro and is on the verge of running. Mom and dad will be chasing after her sooner than expected!

At 12-months-old, Elise was already saying five words regularly: mama, dada, baba, cat and up. At 13-months-old, she has now expanded her vocabulary to over 20+ different words. She's added words like banana, dog, ball, down, book, apple, car, fish, bird, bunny, hi, bye, uh-oh, daddy and mommy among others. About 23% of 13-1/2-month-olds say over 10 words, so she is a bit ahead of the curve in terms of her vocabulary! We're at the point where she learns a new word on a daily basis.

Daddy and mommy are amazed each day by how smart she is. She can already count to three. She says it as, "un, tooo, fee", it is pretty darn cute. At first, we thought she was just repeating it back until she actually started counting her toys, and other items around the house, without any guidance from us. I was reading to her this morning and when I pointed out objects in books she correctly identified dog, banana, apples, and even did her best to say octopus (it came out more like octo-pol) but still impressive nonetheless! For alligator she points to the photo and says "grrrrr". It is very cute and certainly a video worthy moment!

Elise now goes to daycare three days a week. It is great for mom and dad, as we are able to get more work done, but best of all Elise really enjoys getting to spend time with her little friend Lillie.

She loves hide-and-seek and squeals with delight whenever we discover where she is hiding and chase her around the house.

She likes to squint her eyes, pucker out her lips and turn her head when she doesn't want to eat something we offer her. We now have to trick her into eating her food by acting as if we are eating it.

She has learned to give kisses! When she gives kisses, instead of puckering her lips she just curls them inward and smacks her mouth together. It is pretty freaking adorable.

She started singing at around 12-months-old. She has the cutest little singing voice. During car rides, she will sit in her car seat humming and singing to her own little tunes.

Elise got a hold of mommy's cell phone and made her first (and hopefully last) 911 call. The officers actually showed up to our house. It was pretty embarassing to admit our 13-month-old was the culprit!

She is on a primarily solid food diet now with three glasses of whole milk a day. She's tried just about every kind of fruit and vegetable there is. Her favorites are bananas, peas, avocado, squash, grapes, macaroni and cheese, tomatoes and of course her cat cookie graham crackers. She likes her graham cracker cookies so much, she went as far as to dig them out of her food bag and eat them all while mommy left the room for a minute. Bananas are her # 1 favorite food and she will go to the refrigerator and ask for them by name!

Enjoying the outdoors

Elise's art from daycare :)