Eliza at 14 Months

What a fun age! There's seriously something new and exciting everyday.

Communicating
Eliza jabbers to herself (and to us) all the time. The expressions on her face and the way she interacts lead us to believe she is really trying to get a message across. She often repeats (used very loosely) words that we say. Her newest word is "shoes." She isn't aware that it has a singular form. She will bring me one shoe, say "shoes," and nod until I put it on her. She sings her own songs as she plays the piano.

Nodding is the gesture of the month. She nods with a big smile when she wants to answer yes (or wants to encourage us to say yes to one of her demands). Her nod is slow, sassy, deliberate, and oh-so-cute. She also knows about shaking her head. When she does something she knows she's not supposed to do, she'll look at me and shake her head before I even have a chance to tell her "no."

Eliza sees the grapes on the table and desperately signs "more" until I give her some.

Eating
In the last week or so, bananas have moved out of the #1 slot on Eliza's favorite foods list, though she still consumes one or two every day. Grapes are the new banana. She cannot get enough of them! She also decided that she really likes strawberries. Cheese, bread, and ice cream all make the top ten list, as well. She almost always eats whatever we are having.

Eliza usually pulls things off the lowest pantry shelves while I make dinner. On this occasion she found the marshmallows and decided to give them a try.

Traveling
Eliza walks (and even runs a little) with confidence now. It is her primary form of transportation. Now that she can stand up on her own, she doesn't need to crawl to a wall or chair to help her stand up when she falls. She made it safely up my parents' steep stairs (upstairs) before any of us noticed she was gone. Unfortunately, she also fell head first down my parents' concrete front steps during the same visit.

Here is Eliza right after her spill down the front steps. It actually looked worse later on when her eye got a little black, her forehead bruised, and a nice scab appeared between her eyes.

Growing
When I took Eliza in to get checked out after her fall she was over 27 pounds (I don't remember her weight exactly). She did have her clothes on, but they were light summer clothes so they couldn't have weighed much. She had been feeling heavier to me, but I just thought it was because I was becoming more pregnant.

At 14 months Eliza has 14 teeth! Her most recent additions are the 2 bottom canine teeth. They aren't in all the way yet, but they have broken through the gums and have been by far the most painful for Eliza.

Aren't Eliza's post-bath curls just gorgeous! I have even put mousse in them a few times to preserve them throughout the day. If it's humid outside they come without any help at all!

She demanded to wear her blue shoes right after she got up, so Mike just tied her sleeper legs back and let her run around like this for a while.

We have to watch our little monkey carefully, otherwise we find her like this! Here she's standing on the arm of the "nursing chair" in her bedroom.