Talking

Elise has learned a new word. As is evident from listening to her jabbering, THIS is her favorite word. She has also recently learned DADADA, and has started using it to refer to Daddy. When she sees pictures of him in our scrapbooks or picture frames she points to Logan, and says, "DADADADA". I am teaching her the sign for this, and she is getting really close to getting it right, although she gets across the general meaning.
Her newest verbal word is BUBBLES. She says BUB, and keeps saying it, until I respond by saying bubbles. Then she blows air like she is blowing up a bubble. She points to the bubbles if we are near the shelf where they are kept, or she will go find the shelf if we are in another room. As she has very few verbal words, I am so excited that she has started using sounds and imitating what I'm saying, and is starting to get that words aren't just signs and gestures. I got a video the other day of her verbal and signing abilities, and am so glad to have it documented. I think part of the reason she says this word verbally, is that I have no idea what a sign for bubbles would be, and so we just say the word and blow, so this is what she has picked up to communicate about one of her favorite activities. So, when you hear the little voice saying "Bub?", you know it is time to stop whatever you are doing, grab your bubbles and head outside to enjoy some relaxing time with your favorite bubble blowing companion....Did I mention ELISE LOVES BUBBLES!!!

Thinking Finger

We have a book where the characters are making decisions about their favorite objects of different colors. As I read to Elise I try to act out or point to different parts of the picture to help her understand what the words on the page are portraying. With this story every time a character thinks I tap my index finger on my lips to show thinking. I notice that I have included this 'thinking finger' when we are choosing which story to read from the shelf, which meal we are going to have for lunch, and any other time we are thinking. The other day as Elise asked for a story, I noticed that she signed story, then started tapping her lips with her index finger. It took me a bit to realize what she was doing. Now I find her using her thinking finger whenever she is deciding what to pull off a shelf. She gets a big smile , and taps her lips, then will pull a book down, and start reading it. I finally got a picture...

and a great video clip too!!! This video was taken while I was trying to eat breakfast, and shows her thinking finger in action, her ability for taking things off the shelf (we're slowly learning about putting back on the shelf), and her blowing kisses when she says I love you. What a great girl!

Playing Games

We have a few games 0on the bottom shelf of the book case, so Elise can play with them. In the last several weeks she has been exploring, and while she still loves books on the second shelf up, she has been discovering the joys of games on the bottom shelf. She loves Jumping Monkeys, Candyland, a matching game with tiles, various puzzles, and recently has become quite good at Connect 4. I try to get pictures of her playing these games, because her versions of play are uniquely different from the rules that come with the games.
For instance, in Jumping Monkeys, we spend the time putting the tree together, taking it apart, putting monkeys on the tree then shaking the tree so the monkeys come off, and sometimes making the monkeys jump off the little ramps.
For Connect 4 she gets a token, puts it in the slot, gets another token of a different color and puts it in the slot, disregarding maneuvering for positions, and continues to put tokens in, until she decides it is time to put them back in their storage columns. She loves to do this, and will take a long time putting them one at a time into the columns, until the game is over.
Candy land is another fun one. She likes to put the pieces on the board, then dump the card all over the floor. We sort the cards, we stack the cards, we put them in a baggy, we dump them out. We can play Candyland for a long time.

One of the fun things about all this game experience is teaching Elise a sign for a game, and then watching her remember the sign the next time we pull out the game, and then she can start asking to play a game by signing the name and then going to the shelf to get the game out. I am looking forward to having many hours spent playing lots of fun games with this sweet girl!

Cleaning Helper

Elise is a wonderful helper. She likes to be in the middle of whatever it is I am doing. She will play momentarily with things on her own, but when she sees me trying to do a project, or get something done, she jumps right in with her whole heart and soul. Although at times I am tempted to think, "this would be a lot easier if you didn't have to be in the MIDDLE." I know Elise loves me, and I love her tremendously too, and in those moments, I just have to remember she is curious, and is learning about her world, and doing so through our projects together.
The other day I was trying to cut the fabric for our quilt back (I've been working on a quilt for Logan for a couple years now). I have to put my large green cutting mat on the floor, and I usually barricade Elise in the living room, and put the mat in the hall. This is really awkward, as there isn't very much room in the hall, and she has learned to climb over the barricade. So the other day I put the mat in the living room. Elise sat down on the mat. I pulled out the rulers, and gave her one to hold, and a piece of fabric I didn't need right away. She didn't want the things I wasn't using right then, she wanted the things I was using. At first I got a bit frustrated, and kept trying to place her out of the way. As this repeatedly didn't work, I finally realized I needed to do as my mother did for us...creatively come up with a way to involve Elise so she could be my helper. I put the ruler on the fabric where I needed to cut, and started to hold it down, when Elise came and sat in the middle of it all, right in front of me. So, I moved her just a bit, put her hands on the ruler, and asked her to hold it down for me, showing her how to do it. Once I asked her to hold that ruler down, she held it down for all she was worth, and didn't let it budge. Even when I needed to move the ruler a bit, or change pieces of fabric, she kept holding that ruler down. She is the best ruler holder down I know, and is available if any of you need someone to hold down your ruler. She was so excited about helping, and although there were still some snags, it ended up being a positive experience we had together, rather than a frustrating one.

I am learning that even though projects may go smoother, and faster without a little helper, they are always fun with her help, an adventure, and allows us to spend some great time together, and gives us an added bond of helping one another.

So, it has become an interesting part of my life, figuring out ways to involve Elise in activities that don't normally feature the skills of a 1 year old, like the dishes, vacuuming, laundry, and this sort of thing. Little by little, we're working it out. She is learning about articles of clothing, so she can hand me a piece at a time out of the clothes basket so I can fold them. She is especially good with socks. Unfortunately she still messes up piles of clean folded clothes, but I think it is because she has so much fun helping, she doesn't want to stop just because the clothes are all folded. She keeps opening and closing the dryer door, and helping hand clothes to me, even when we are all done.
The dishes are a bit more challenging. She has a cupboard in the kitchen full of things she can play with like metal bowls and wooden spoons, and fun things. Usually she just plays with those while I hand wash the dishes and get the dishwasher full and ready to go. She has started trying to help fill the dishwasher, or wants to take the soapy dishes out, which is less than desirable. So, we started having her help unload. She is fabulous at handing me one fork or spoon at a time to put in the drawer. She is great at giving me her dishes one at a time to put in her cupboard, and after she has helped make the dishwasher empty of clean dishes, she has been content to continue playing with her toys while I load it with dirty, soapy dishes. Problem solved for now...
For vacuuming we've had a bit of a struggle. She loves the vacuum. She signs vacuum, and goes to the closet where we keep the vacuum. She helps me pick up all the toys off the floor in preparation for vacuuming, but once the thing is plugged in and actually vacuuming, she stands frozen in fear in one spot, looking at the loud vacuum in great concern. I told my mom about this, and she suggested looking for some toy version for Elise to have for herself. We went to the store, and while there are many high tech versions of child vacuums, with lots of features like singing alphabets and fun noises, the one that seemed like it would work well was the little corn popper toys, with the handle and the balls that pop as the wheels turn. We pulled it down, got Elise from the cart, and handed her the popper. She stood in the aisle, looking at us, and the thing in her hand. We showed her how to move it back and forth, and called it a vacuum. She still just stood there. Logan demonstrated the vacuuming action, and I kept signing vacuum, and telling her about what a great vacuum it was, and how it was just right for her. She finally got it. She happily went up and down the little aisle repeatedly, vacuuming up a storm. I complimented her on her great vacuuming, and she got a big grin on her face. We got some curious looks from other shoppers as we vacuumed in the toy aisle, but once we got the popper home, she has been vacuuming ever since. She is still great at helping get all the toys out of the way, and getting the big vacuum out, but she is no longer as scared of its noise, and loves using her own littler one!

I tell Logan all our little adventures in helping clean, and he kind of smiles. I assure him, Elise is a great helper, although I don't think he has completely realized what this all entails. The other day, Logan and I were wanting to make some Forgotten Kisses cookies. I turned on the oven, got the ingredients together, the mixer out, and got ready to start mixing, when my little helper came over. She, of course, wanted to help and be in the middle of things. So I picker her up with one arm, and kept adding ingredients to the mixer with the other hand. Logan thought it was worth capturing in a picture or two. I thought it was funny, because it is how our life is most of the time, but was glad to have this documented, so I can remind her how much she likes helping cook and clean when the time comes that she is a bit more resistant to helping.....

I guess my life has become more complicated, or at least completing everyday tasks has become complicated, but I must admit that it is way more exciting with a helper like Elise, and even though it seems like doing the laundry or the dishes take a really long time, I am glad I have Elise to share these activities with. I hope I can get a clip or picture of her with her vacuum soon, so you can all share the delight she has in helping. And in the meantime, if you need a helper, I know a girl with some great skills!!! Thanks for being my best helper Elise! Mommy loves you and all your help!!!! And thank you to my mom for helping me realize the important thing is spending time together as a family, not getting things done as quickly as possible!

Reading the Card from Grandma P

My mom sent a box the other day with some cute outfits, some special long lasting bubbles, and a little card just for Elise. We pulled out the things in the box, and to my surprise the thing Elise latched on to wasn't the bubbles, but the card. I read the card to her once, and put it aside with the things I was pulling out of the box. Elise reached over, picked it up, opened it, and, pointing to the words, started 'reading' it to me. She spent 20 minutes 'reading' the card all by herself. She would put it back in the envelope, then pull it out, open it, and start 'reading' again. I tried to get a picture, but she got distracted by the camera. Once the camera was put away, she went back to 'reading' her card. Once in a while she would give it to me so I could read it to her, but then she'd take it back and continue reading all on her own. Since then she has started doing the same thing with her other books, or even my mat stacks she takes off my scrapbook supply shelf. She opens the pages, points to the words and reads them, or just points to the pictures or the color pages and jabbers away, describing what she sees I think. It is so cute, and makes me excited for the time when she will have more verbal words and can really read to me.

Hangar Update

Here is an update on the hangar situation from Logan's work. He took the camera to work last week to get some pictures for us. While I don't understand all the details of the construction of the building, I find the scope of the project amazing.

Here is a picture of the length of the building, with one completed hangar at the end. (I guess the whole building is called a hangar, and each individual compartment or room is also called a hangar):

This is a closer view of the completed hangar at the end. Completed meaning the walls are up and the pieces are on top.

This is one of the small planes sitting at the airport. This is the size plane this each hangar is designed to house.

This is our car sitting inside one of the foundation areas for on of the hangars in the building, just to give an idea of scale for how big the building is.

We are so grateful Logan has a job, and is even getting the opportunity to try something new and challenging, with lots of unexpected excitement!

Walking with Bubbles

This is Elise letting me know she is ready to go water the flowers (which have all lost their petals, so we don't spend as much time watering them).

Elise and I haven't been out for more walks in the last week, as we've been deep cleaning and rearranging our apartment, for the visitors who will be coming soon. (Logan's parents and my mom are coming next month). Elise is still asking for walks, but as we're not spending as much time playing games in the front room, she has taken to getting her shoes, socks, sweater, hat, and even some sun glasses and following me around the house with them. She puts on the sunglasses, which is a big step because she was afraid of them for a long time, and walks around until I notice her. Then she'll start getting the other walk items and bring those to me. Here are some cute pictures of her bringing her shoes and socks to me while I was trying to eat breakfast....

She tries to get the whole set on her feet by herself, and is getting very independent.

We have also added a new favorite for her: blowing bubbles during our walks. She loves this, although it makes it a bit hard to be walking, blowing bubbles, talking with her, and trying to hand her snacks at the same time. We got a new pack to carry her, and while it makes it easier on my shoulder to a point, it also puts her so far behind and above me, that we are struggling in the transfer of food from my hands to hers. We've instead been bringing the new bubbles that Grandma sent, and Elise loves to look at them, and even just go outside for bubbles instead of a walk. We're hoping for some sunshine in the next week, and we'll venture out again. Thanks for helping me remember this form of exercise Elise!