Ellie had her 15 month appointment this week even though she is now 16 months because some appointments got cancelled/pushed out along the way. She weighed 19 lbs 9.5 oz (20-25% percentile) and has a height of 30" (20th percentile) so still a peanut but still growing well. Both the nurse and doctor commented on how strong she was when they tried to examine her, she packs a big punch for a little lady!
Ellie is going through a separation anxiety phase I think, she has been attached to my hip for the past few weeks and freaks out when I try to leave her with Brian or anybody else (except for grandma). She is fine with other people if I am still there and interacts well, but if I leave there is a lot of screaming and crying. Most of the time she cries if I am not holding her too, it is not good enough to be around me, she actually wants to be held most of the time. Good thing she still doesn't weight too much!
She wants to walk everywhere now. I took her to the mall and didn't bother with a stroller because I knew she wouldn't want to stay in it - she liked to just hold my hand and walk up and down the ramps and stairs. I should have taken her to the mall more this winter when we were cooped up in the house for so long. The bad part about her wanting to walk all the time is that I can't walk the dog with her out of the stroller, so this has become a challenge because she screams when I put her in the stroller.
I finished fully weaning her right after she turned 15 months. At that point we were only down to her right before bed session. So one night I just read her a few stories and put her to bed and she was fine. I was so nervous she would freak out or wake up in the middle of the night, but she was fine. For the next few weeks she would pull on my shirt and seem like she wanted to nurse so when she did that I would say "do you want some milk?" then give her some milk in a sippy cup. That seemed to work well and now she doesn't pull on my shirt nearly as often. I didn't get engorged at all - probably because I was down to just one short session when I stopped. I like having the freedom to have Brian put her to bed and I am doing fine emotionally with it because it is nice to have a "break" before the new baby comes. Although going right from fertility treatments to being pregnant with Ellie then nursing to being pregnant with baby #2 I definitely feel like my body hasn't been my own in many years. I do feel lucky to have this problem though - being able to nurse Ellie for so long and then get pregnant right away is a true blessing. I do look forward to the time when I truly do have my body back though!
We are trying to encourage her to try to say words instead of her usual grunting and pointing. She can say up, more, duck, hop and I think a few other words.
She had a great time visiting the Easter Bunny - as you can see she handled it pretty well! We do an Easter Egg hunt with the little cousins on Easter so I am excited she can walk and participate this year!
