Sweet Sixteen

After being so sick a couple of weeks ago, Elsa has been a total sweet pea - even with two molars popping through her gums (and I can't imagine that feels that great); so I've decided to title this post "Sweet Sixteen" in honor of her 16 month birthday!

We don't go to the doctor again until 18 months, so I don't have any official measurements, but there has been some fun developmental progress to report:

• Walking: This past month, she has gained a HUGE amount of confidence and skills when it comes to her walking. She zooms around the house, especially at about 5:30 p.m. every evening because Dada is finally home to play. I fully expect her to be running by the end of this month. 

• Dancing: She's started dancing more to music, which is just about the cutest thing ever. When I turn on the car, she immediately starts bobbing her head to the beat of the song on the radio. And when we let her cruise around the second floor of our house, she makes a beeline to our clock radio to turn on the tuneskies. 

• Word/Sound Identification: This past month, we also started to work more on animal sounds and body parts. She is close to saying "Moo" for cow and "Baaa" for sheep. And she can expertly point to her hair, ear, tongue and belly (she already knew eye, nose, mouth and toes).  

•  Communication: Elsa has mastered the skill of negotiation. She's now tall enough to see what's on the kitchen counter, which has started to create some interesting situations. For example, early last week, she eyed a bag of Cheerios on the counter. She immediately started saying "yum yum", signing "more" and walking toward me. She then pointed at me and then at the Cheerios while giving me what I have dubbed the "death glare". I'm fairly certain that if I hadn't given her some Cheerios, she would have found some goons to break my legs! And if these tactics hadn't worked, she would have moved on to her other approaches - an innocent smile, batting her eyelashes or even offering her treasured Lovey as a barter for whatever treat she's after.

And, as I'm sure you have learned to expect, I have to share some pictures of the Little Miss from her Sweet 16:

Cheese!

Turning up the tunes

No time for hair brushing... I just want to play!

Easter and Granny!

Ok, my last couple of blog posts have been somewhat out of order, but please bear with me! I finally got all of my pictures from April downloaded from my camera to my computer and I want to share them with everyone :-)

We were blessed with a visit from Uncle Chris, Bedstefar and Granny just in time for Easter back in April. Uncle Chris and Bedstefar drove back home that Monday, while Granny stayed for an extra couple of days for some special girl time.

We somehow didn't get a family picture on Easter but did get some with the Little Miss and Granny and Fairy Tale Town. Here are the pictures of the cutie:

Elsa's Easter Egg - she lost interest in the Easter Egg Hunt after finding her first egg

Checking out the chicks at Fairy Tale Town

We love slides

There's no time for sitting!

Elsa's favorite part of the zoo (we rode the panda in honor of Uncle Chris!)

Monthly Update

I have gotten so far behind with the blog lately. Here is Elsa's 15 month update... 3 weeks late (oops!).

Elsa has been keeping us on our toes, so to speak, moving around the house and exploring everything that is in her path. We were a bit concerned because her walking was progressing slowly but our concerns were put to rest at her check-up with the Developmental Specialist. They said that she's doing great with her language and fine motor skills. Her gross motor skills (mainly walking) are a bit behind but they gave us some resistance training exercises to do with Elsa to help her get up to speed. We're seeing huge improvements already.

She also has been growing and gaining weight, but a slower pace than before. There's no concerns with this - once babies start walking, their weight gain tends to slow down. And her pediatrician said they have their growth spurts at different times, so they tend to go up and down on the percentile charts. Here's her stats from her 15 month appointment:

Head Circumference: 48 cm - 93%

Height: 31.25" - 69%

Weight: 22.2 lbs - 60%

And, here are some pictures of the cutie pie!

What's that?!

Bathing beauty

All done!

Resting with her good pal, Donald

Mother's Day, Claussen Style

Carl and I decided to celebrate Mother's Day a day early this year. As many of you are aware, the month started off a bit rough, with Elsa being sick. So, on Thursday afternoon, I decided I deserved to celebrate the holiday a day early... and since it was "my" day, I got what I wanted :-D

We kicked the day off by meeting my Mother-in-Law, Joan, at Old Navy. I recently got another free samples share for Old Navy through Crowdtap and I decided to share it with Joan. The sample share was for a free pair of shorts and we both agreed that we'll need plenty of those as we chase after the Little Miss this summer!

Choices, choices, choices

Found my pair!

Joan rocking her selection

Thank you, Old Navy and Crowdtap!!

After our mini shopping spree, it was off to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Elsa kept us all busy by throwing her grilled cheese, bananas and cup all over the place. Thankfully, she kept quiet and didn't hit any of the waiters!

Then, Joan whisked the Little Miss back to her house for some girl time while Carl and I went to the movies. I honestly can't remember the last time that I went to a movie in the movie theater. I have a feeling it must have been at some point last summer... but it may have been when I was pregnant, which was super uncomfortable and not fun!

After the movie (which was The Hunger Games, btw), we did some quick errands and picked Elsa up from Grandma's. We were all rested and happy. And then I got a big surprise - a box of flowers were waiting for me at home. Carl has never been a big flower guy, so I was completely caught off guard. His response? "You can thank the Marketing people at ProFlowers. They kept hounding me with emails!"

Spoken like a true guy.