11 Months

E-Claire is 11 months old!

As you can see, it's becoming increasingly difficult to take photos of Elliot. She's constantly busy and getting into everything -- it's hard to get her to hold still! But let's face it, she's still a doll.

Aren't those cheeks, pigtails, and thighs just the cutest?

Here are some updates since last time I wrote:

• Out of nowhere, bath time has become difficult. E suddenly isn't content to sit and play with her toys. She only wants to stand and try and climb out of the tub. And then of course she gets mad when I make her sit. 

• Ellie loves to play and she has recently mastered hide and seek. She loves to hide around corners and behind doors then pop her head out and say "boo!"

• This is nothing new, but Elliot loves her daddy. When Christian leaves for work in the morning and closes the door behind him, she will crawl as fast as she can to the door, jabbering "da-da-da-da" to see if he'll come back. They have a special bond and I love seeing them together. Christian has trained Ellie to give him kisses on command and now it's second nature. As soon as she sees daddy, she opens her mouth like a baby bird and plants one on his lips.

• My little girl is no longer a baby. She even helps around the house! Ellie has two chores that she likes to do: turn on/off the lights and help mommy unload the dishwasher. And by unload, I mean throw all the clean utensils on the floor :)

• Elliot recently spent her first night away from Mommy. It was a pretty big deal. Well, it was a pretty big deal for me anyway...Elliot wasn't even phased! She spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Purcell's while Christian and I took an overnight getaway for our anniversary. Ellie babe had such a fun time with her grandparents, she barely noticed I was gone. I guess that's a good thing ;)

• E-Claire loves to talk on the phone. Real or fake, she puts it to her ear and yells, "hiiiii!"

• Speaking of speaking, this girl talks nonstop. She has such a great vocabulary for an 11 month old. She's always been an early talker, but I'm amazed by how many words she knows. Some of her most common phrases are: ma-ma, da-da, no, bye-bye, ruff-ruff, ready-set, all done, boo, book, woah, wow, yay, and of course, her favorite: hi.

• This girl loves to chew on things, especially upside down binkies. But no new teeth yet! 

• Apparently being 11 months old brings a lot of new changes. One of the biggest change has been in her appetite. Elliot used to be a champion eater! Recently however, she's become picky. It can be quite frustrating sometimes because now I have to practically force feed her. She'll still eat her favorites: PB, bread, yogurt, and bananas. But anything other than that is pretty hit and miss. I hope this picky phase is due to her 4+ teeth trying to break through and will end quickly.

• This baby loves to stand on her head. She probably does it about 10 times a day. I don't mind seeing her chunky thighs and little bum in the air :)

• Ellie is still our happy, sunshine girl. I love getting her up in the morning because of how excited she gets. As soon as I open the door she squeals, jumps up and down, and screams "hi, hi, hi!" until I pick her up.

• She is still a major animal lover. Puppies will always be her favorite but she recently showed extreme fascination with seagulls. So much in fact, that she conquered her fear of grass! We were at the park, and these annoying seagulls were walking around us, looking for handouts. Before I knew it, Elliot was crawling as fast as she could, off the blanket (she never dared step off the blanket before) toward the birds. Also, when she sees chickens, she bobs her head and mimics their pecking. So there you have it -- she likes puppies and birds. 

• Last but certainly not least, Elliot Claire took her first step! It was more of a shuffle, and it was only for a second, but she did it! Unassisted! And she has refused to do it since. Sigh...oh well. I know she'll do it when she's ready...I'm just ready for her to actually use all the cute shoes she owns.

Every day is an adventure with Ellie. Here are some pictures of the fun things we've done since my last blog post. Things like going to the zoo, swimming, hiking, picking peas and cherries, and eating her first Popsicle.

And of course, my favorite part -- Picture Timeline:

One more month and the timeline will be complete!