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| elle louise, 5 months |
Tiny Little Elles Bells,
Oh my sweet girl! You are catching onto life so fast!! Your dazzling little smile and chortle has us laughing back at you all the time. Cannon is the funniest thing around and you will laugh at pretty much anything he does. He loves to make you happy so whenever he gets a good squeal out of you he will repeat his actions for as long as you'll pay attention. You two are such good little friends!
Just this week in the bath Cannon was pretending to float away and would reach for your little hand, 'help sister!!'; you would grab his hand and he would let you 'pull' him to safety. 'Oh thank you sister!' and you would laugh. This was repeated at least 20 times. You two are water babies and love to take baths together and go swimming together. We have had a lot of fun in the sun this summer at the lake, swimming pool and lots of backyard activities. You love to be outside, so if you are ever grumpy we hit the pavement. Unfortunately you haven't taken to the stroller yet and much prefer to ride in the Bjorn, strapped to me facing outward. You will ride like this for HOURS without complaining, so ride you do! I have you in there while I walk, do chores, socialize, everything. As long as you are close to me and can look around at the world, you typically stay happy. I just can't sit down.
You, on the other hand, have become quite the sitting expert. You love to sit up with a slew of toys in your lap. You will sit, blow bubbles and keep an eye on the room for a very long time if you have the right toys in front of you! We still have to steady you when we first set you down and be sure to watch you for tumbles, but you are generally doing very well!
Your interest in people watching is just the tip of the iceberg in your desire to be social. You DO NOT like to be left out of anything and will complain incessantly if we ever try. As soon as we make you a part of the conversation you are happy as can be. You are my little sidekick and we both love it. When you're not strapped to me you love to be in your exersaucer jumping to your little heart's content. You jump and jump and jump as you watch Cannon play in the toy room. When you can get your little hands on them, you love your toy car with the oball on the top that you can wind your little fingers in, my pink watch, your binki strap, cannon's cars, or any sort of cloth. You love to put different cloths in your mouth and chew/cover them with drool. You will chew on your sleeves, blankets, my clothes, and most recently: the socks on your feet. It is darling.
You are chewing and drooling so much that you have half of your onlookers convinced that you are teething but I am pretty sure that isn't the case. You are just drooley. You would think that with all of this chewing combined with your love for your binki that taking a bottle would be a piece of cake! This last month Daddy described feeding you to be like 'feeding a carnival ride'. Unless you are really hungry and tired, all of your little limbs go crazy! Your arms and legs do jumping jacks, you try to push the nipple out with your tongue, you shake your head and arch your back. It is quite the treat! We have found that squeezing you into a little ball and walking around is the best solution… but even then you won't let Daddy feed you. Right now you take 6oz when you wake up, 4oz before your morning nap, 8oz before your pm nap, 6oz at 4pm, and 8oz with rice cereal before bed. It is a nice routine.
You are waking up just before 6am most mornings. Your first nap is typically 8:30-10:30, we play for two hours, then you go back down 12:30-2:30. After your pm nap you stay awake until bed time at 7pm. You tend to get really cranky about an hour before bed but that is to be expected with having been awake for so long at that point. We have had quite the roller coaster this month with your night time sleeping habits. Daddy thinks I have been too easy on you because every time you would wake up I would jump out of bed and tend to you. We are going to start trying to sleep train you again tonight. It is so hard for me to listen to you cry! You are just so small and sweet and I know that all you want is love! Hopefully we can try and fill our love quota during the day soon so that nighttime can be left to sleeping. I love to squeeze you and kiss your round little cheeks. Daddy loves to tickle your neck with his beard. Cannon likes to get right in your face to yell happy messages. And you like to smile through your binki at us all doing our best to make you laugh.
Elles, I love you to pieces. You are a true joy in our home. Thank you for your happiness and sweet nature.
Always,
Mama
