Esther at 17 Months

August 07, 2015

Esther at 17 Months

It's been a while since I've bombarded you with info about Esther so here is an update. Esther is getting so big. Everyday it seems like more and more of her babyness is gone. It makes me a little sad but she is so smart and so cute, I love seeing all the new things she does too.

At her last Dr.'s appointment she was in the 97th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight. So she has lost most of her baby chub. Now she is our tall and skinny toddler. When we go out people usually assume she's older than she is because of how tall she is. She wears 18 month and 2t clothes so her clothes align more with her age now.

Esther loves to explore and hates to sit still. Church, Dr.'s offices, the stroller and car drives are all practically torture for her. The only time she sits still is if she is strapped down or for TV. I was originally very gung-ho about her not watching TV until she was two. Then morning sickness came along and that all changed lol. Her favorites are Monsters Inc, Dumbo, Teletubbies and Little Einsteins. I used to feel super guilty for letting her watch tv but now I try not to let it bother me because sometimes you just got to do what you got to do. I do usually limit it to no more than 30 minutes a day, which is still a lot but oh well.

She is learning things so fast these days. She uses words more and more and the rest of the time she still talks in her baby gibberish, which I think is so cute. I'll be sad when she stops doing that. Her favorite words are Baby, Ball, Dada and Outside. But she has about 20 or so words. She just doesn't say them all that often.

This is probably my new favorite picture of her.

She has been weaned now for a month. Surprisingly I wasn't too sad, because I know I'll be nursing again soon and because she still snuggles tons before she goes to sleep. She sleeps like a champ. Ever since we got back from Texas she has been sleeping in til 9:30 everyday. It has been great. I think it was a combination of her teething and catching up on sleep after the trip.

She still likes books but not as much as she used too. She does love them when she's tired and wants to cuddle though. I hope she likes them more again once her attention span gets longer.

She has become a bit of a picky eater (teething?) and it is frustrating when she will only eat a handful of goldfish for dinner. The things she likes are constantly changing. One day she'll love strawberries and the next week she won't eat them at all. Hopefully she grows out of it.

My favorite things about Esther right now are: her curly/crazy hair, her obsession with brushing her teeth, her obsession with fries and ketchup, her love of all babies and dolls. She has to take her baby doll with us everywhere and she will bring the baby + blanket to me for me to swaddle the doll. I also love how she lays her head on my shoulder when she is tired. She never used to do that before.

Every day when Leland goes back to work she stands at the window and waves and says bye-bye. I need to get a picture of that. She also understands so much more of what I say now. Probably 75%. If I say we're going bye-bye she runs to get her shoes. Or if I say she is going to go on my back she runs to get the baby carrier haha.

Her little social personality shows more and more now. She warms up very quickly in new places and thinks everyone is there to play with her. She will bring anyone toys/food. She definitely didn't get that from either of her parents haha.