I Heart Cortef

So things have been really great lately. She has been on Cortef for the past month, and it has made a world of difference. Little bear is full of energy and is happy. She is eating a wide variety of foods. She is packing on some weight and has outgrown her 12 month sleepers, finally. We are booked to see endocrine next Friday and I am excited to see how much she has grown.

Eating plums like a big girl!

No more pre-masticated food for you.

I don't want to eat my food.

I want YOURS!

The fall means all her playgroups have started up again, and we are keeping our days busy in hopes of sleep-filled nights. Sleep still is a challenge. Girlfriend thinks that 4am, 3:30am, 2:30am... yeah, she thinks those are appropriate times to start her day. I keep thinking if we transition her to one nap that this problem will be solved, but she's so tired by 8am, it's almost impossible. Kris and I are tweaking a few things and trading night-duty in hopes that we can all get a little more sleep!

To say she is adventurous is probably the biggest understatement. Her confidence is growing by the second and she is becoming fearless with her gross motor skills. She is still rocking her army crawl, but she gets her knees up underneath her and has a great waggle in her hips. This new little swagger means that when the mood takes her, she moves really quickly. We came home from walking the dog the other day and were preparing to head out to pick Kris up from work. I put the baby in the living room while I ran the dog into the crate. In my haste, I forgot to close the front door.

Yeah. She's a monkey. She won't stay still for anything anymore. Diaper changes were starting to become a challenge because she can flip over so quickly! I am very proud to say that I used my university education to combat the problem. My BFA is finally paying off! I channel my best Liza Minnelli and sing "I Gotcha!" from Liza with a Z, complete with hair flips and head rolls. Eleanor loves it, and let's be honest, so do I! In case you DO NOT have a BFA and are NOT familiar with the song or choreography by the legendary Bob Fosse, permit me to educate you.

She's also started expressing herself. We are getting some hints of temper tantrums and willfulness. Up until now, we really haven't had major issues with behaviour. I think she has spent most of her life feeling so crummy, she hasn't had the energy to fight us. Now that she is feeling good, it is time to catch up on all those terrible twos!

She decided she didn't want me taking photos of her the other day...

Even though the lighting was really good and she looked really cute and she was covered in the remains of a granola bar...

Her little lips quivered and started to fall...

And the waterworks started. PUT THE CAMERA AWAY AND CONSOLE ME!!!!

But speaking of expressing herself, we are working on a few words. She is babbling a lot and has some fun sounds that COULD be words if you turn your head the right way and the stars align and the SE wind is blowing at 15km/hr... Seriously though, she has added "ha(t)" to her vocab, which is very promising. She still has "hi" and she has also learned the baby sign for "dog", and that is a new favourite. The baby sign is way more fun than the ASL sign. You just pant. She loves Atia so much that she basically spends all her time panting. Or climbing on her. That's always fun. It's so great to get some communication going, though. I'm really excited to see how it comes along in the coming months.

And further proof that cortef is the best thing that has happened to our family, Eleanor has a little cold this week, but she hasn't slowed down at all. She's a total snot factory and she is a little cranky, but we are doing our damnedest to avoid a hospital stay and so far, so good! I feel like all our prayers have been answered. We are so blessed to be in this place of good-ish health. Long may it last!