This Busy Week

This week seemed so long, since last week was only a 4-day workweek (for Clay).  On Tuesday, Eleanor and I went to Music in the Park in Fredericksburg.  A live band played and there were LOADS of mamas and kids.  I don't think I've ever seen so many strollers in my life!

On Tuesday, I noticed a little bit of a rash around Eleanor's forehead.  On Wednesday, it had spread behind her ears and neck.  Thursday morning, it had spread a little more, so I took her to the doctor.  Well, the doctor didn't know exactly what it was.  She generalized it as "one of those lovely summer viral rashes".  Okay.  Eleanor's strep test was negative, so the doctor said to just treat the symptoms.  Benedryl has really helped her rash clear up!

Wednesday, we went to playgroup, where we had dress-up day for the kids.  Eleanor was a bumblebee.  She fell trying to walk too fast to the other play room... making her a Stumblebee.  (And "umble" reminds me of Dumbledore from Harry Potter, so then I started calling her Stumble-Nor).

Eleanor and her friends.  It was hard for them to stay still for Kim to take a pic!

Montessori floor-bed

We are beginning a slow and gentle process of transitioning from a family bed to a separate "big girl" bed for Eleanor (starting with naptimes for a while).  This weekend I transformed her room into a big toddler room by moving out the never-used crib and moving the guest bed into her room sans the bed frame.

My Girl's Curls

Look at her beautiful strawberry-blonde curls! She is so pretty and Clay is so happy that she got his curly hair. We went to the neighborhood swimming pool today and Eleanor and I had a nice time. Today she got to go in the BIG pool for the first time! She is beginning to relax a little more in the water. It will come with time. They just changed our swimming pool to have a salt water pump, so it's very nice to not have chlorine burning your eyes and throat and nose.

I am astounded at how much she's developed in the last few weeks! She is beginning to talk way more! She says Da-da-dad and Uhma-ma, A-duck, A-book, A-cah (a car), and Stinky! My silly-sweet child. Her walking is getting much better, and sometimes she gets in a hurry now- a far cry from the cautious beginner she was not long ago. Today when I left her at Gramma and Poppy's so I could go to Weight Watchers, she was having the best time in her play house. She was cooking with her frying pans and spatula. She scraped the pan, then "ate" the spatula, then laughed to us about how she was playing. She grunted really big as she first took a good look around her house, looked up at all of us (Gramma, Poppy, and Mommy), gave us a cheesy grin and her deep belly laugh.

Oh, and another food she loves besides steak and chicken... she loves tuna!

14 Month Height and Weight

At the moment, Eleanor is trying to put her shoes on her feet.  And she just shut the bedroom door.  The TV in the living room must be distracting her from putting on her shoes.
Yesterday, our friend Cindy A. stopped by with her pooch Ollie (a little black pug).  Eleanor was a little hesitant.  "What a strange cat," she must have been thinking!

Eleanor yesterday in her high chair as I was cleaning house

Today, I had an appointment in Richmond, and I happened to be running a little early, so we stopped by Eleanor's pediatrician's office to get her height and weight checked.  She is 14 months and a few days and the last time we had her height/weight checked was at her 12 month appointment.

Here are her 12 month stats:  31" tall, 22 lb 2oz

And this is her today at 14 months: 32.5" tall, 24 lb 4oz

So she is currently in the 95th percentile for height (taller than 95% of others her age) and in the 75th percentile for weight.  We tried to get her to stand on the "big" scales for her weigh-in, but it was a little too wobbly for her still.  So we sat her on the baby scales and she was frantically moving the weights around like "Noooo!  I'm getting too large, don't look, I don't want you to know my weight!"  It was funny.

She is still happily and safely riding rear-facing in her carseat.  Trips have become easier than they were, say, 6 months ago.  Hopefully we'll have a smooth trip to Pigeon Forge on vacation soon.  Clay said it will be a warm-up for our big trips out to Arkansas later this year.

I can't believe how big this girl has gotten!

(And I tried to upload more pics, but for some reason the uploader isn't working for me at the moment.)

Also, we had extra time to kill today so I stopped by my doctor's office and weighed in since I've been losing weight.  I've lost 13 pounds since my last visit!!

Well, it's time to start making dinner.  We're having tacos, so I know Eleanor will be happy to have beef for dinner!