Scooting Right Along

When Elsa started crawling a few months ago, she developed her own unique method that was pretty amusing. She looked like a gunshot victim: She used her right elbow and her left knee to propel herself along, while her right leg just dragged along behind her (click here to see video of her crawling). It didn't seem like the most efficient method of getting around, but it worked for her, and it cracked us up.

But now Elsa has come up with an even MORE hilarious method of getting from Point A to Point B: She scoots around on her butt instead of crawling. It's hysterical!

She actually looks like she's hopping on her butt—I don't even know how she does it. Sometimes she reminds me of a little bald bunny rabbit, hippity-hopping around the house. It was quite a crowd-pleaser at music class on Tuesday and with the ladies at the gym daycare! And let me tell you, she is getting FAST at it. On the wood floors, on carpet ... you name the surface, she can fly across it on her butt. Here she is scooting OVER the frame of our baby gate:

Since she started doing this, she has gradually phased out crawling almost entirely, and is now mainly using this butt-scooting to get around. And of course, this also reminds me of the story GiGi tells about my mom scooting around on her butt in a pie plate when she was 14 months old. I hope that by the time Elsa is 14 months old, she might be, I don't know, walking or something ... but, family history being what it is, I'm not holding my breath. : )

So that's been the major development of the last few weeks. In other areas, Elsa is trying very hard to pull up to a stand, but so far she has only managed to pull up to standing on her knees. I think she's getting very close though. She also will move her feet when we stand her up and hold onto her hands, but we have to give her a lot of help with balancing. Still, she seems to want to move, which I think is a good sign.

She is saying (or trying to say) many new words. In addition to "Dad" and "Mama," "wow" and "uh-oh" are definite favorites ... she says each of those at least 80 times a day (the context still eludes her). But some other words I have deciphered are "doggie" (sounds more like "daw-daw"), fish ("dish"), duck ("duh"), geese ("eese"), cheese ("eeze"), and what I think are "that" ("dat"), and "this" ("iss"). She can also point out nose, eyes, mouth, and hair when asked (and if she feels like it), and she seems to know scores of other words, including Elmo, swing, outside, Belle, book, and ball.

When it comes to eating, unfortunately she seems to be getting pickier by the day. At this point, she refuses to eat any type of cheese other than American slices (ick). She also hates instant oatmeal, scrambled eggs, cold cuts such as turkey and ham, tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, and all types of berries. The good news is, she's getting a little better about some veggies. After a few months of refusing to do anything but squish them, she will now eat canned carrots, green beans, peas, etc. She loves any fruit that isn't tangy—peaches, pears, bananas, all types of melon, mango, and papaya have all gotten the Elsa Seal of Approval. And I can always count on her eating her meat: Chicken strips are hands-down her favorite food of all time, but she also eats hamburger, sausage, and I've even given her turkey burgers and veggie burgers. My challenge has definitely been to vary her meals as she gets pickier. As much as I'd like to give her the same thing for lunch every day (bread, cheese, and veggies), I know that won't help with the pickiness situation!

It's hard to believe she's getting to be such a grown-up girl! She is so much fun to be around, as always.