So Sunday afternoon we were heading to my in-laws like we do most Sundays. We had a couple of errands we needed to run before we got there, also like we do most Sundays. The first place we stopped to look for a magnetic baby lock; didn’t have one. So we headed down to Buy Buy Baby to check and see if they had them. Since we had originally gotten them from there to begin with anyways. While we were in the car I told Dan that maybe we would go and get i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m after we were done. Desmond didn’t seem to be paying attention, at the time.

We got there and Dan was putting Eloise up on his back, so I took Desmond with me across the parking lot to the sidewalk. We get on the sidewalk Desmond looks at me and says, “Get ice cream first!” and starts to head off down the sidewalk to the ice cream shop. He was not happy with us telling him no and making him go into the store with us first. Apparently he had been listening to us in the car, and apparently the kid can spell. At least important words like ice cream.

After we picked up our items Dan went to drop them in the car and Desmond and I headed to the ice cream store. One thing that it is important to note, we bought baby wipe at the store. Also note where the baby wipes were headed…

So when we all got to the store we ordered a cone for Dan, a cone for me and a cone for Desmond. We assumed Eloise would be happy enough to lick the cones while on Dan’s back. I know we are foolish! Also Desmond got Rocky Road, which Dan doesn’t like. So as we are leaving the ice cream store I try to give Eloise a lick of Dan’s cone and she attempts to take it out of my hand. I tell her no, just lick the ice cream cone. She gives me a look like are you joking Mom? She then keeps repeating “ice cream, ice cream, ice cream!” She wants to hold the cone though.

So we stop at a set of tables and Dan gives her his cone. He and Desmond go back to the ice cream store to get Dan a new cone. Eloise sits with me and starts chowing down. When Dan and Desmond get back, Dan has Desmond’s cone and Desmond is happy with his new cone. Poor Dan, eventually is able to convince Eloise to switch with him, but she was quite happy with Dan’s original cone.

So the two small ones eat their ice cream happily. Eloise also wears her ice cream quite happily. It was a nice full body experience for her!

Oh and Dan ran into Whole Foods and bought another package of baby wipes, because it was faster then walking to the car to get the ones we had just bought. So that we could clean up Desmond and Eloise!

better knows as yes, she is still a peanut!

Eloise had her 15 month appointment on Friday. She is still tiny. She dropped from 8th percentile in weight to under 5th percentile in weight, looking at the chart though, she is totally off the edge of the chart. The doctor seemed a bit concerned because she dropped percentiles again, neither Dan or I are concerned. She actually gained more between 12 and 15 months then Desmond did. Desmond gained 3 ounces in that time period she gained 4 ounces. She is quite a peanut though.

She is 18 pounds 4 ounces, so she finally hit 18 pounds. I am hoping she’ll be 19 pounds by her 18 month appointment, maybe a bit higher even, but I will be quite happy with her at 19 pounds by then. Her height stayed right at the 25th percentile, she is 29 3/4 inches tall. She is still in the 50th percentile for her head. She is just a tiny little peanut. She did great at the appointment though she wasn’t pleased with her shot. She had a fun weekend at Sesame Place though.

She gained 4.5 ounces in the past three months which is not unexpected with her hitting her stride in walking and running and just being on the go, and she gained 1 3/4 inches.

At birth 7 pounds 5 ounces and 19 3/4th inches
At 1 month 8 pounds 8 ounces and 20 3/4 inches
At 2 months 10 pounds 4 ounces and 22 1/2 inches
At 4 months 12 pounds 14.5 ounces and 24 inches
At 6 months 15 pounds 4 ounces and 25 1/2 inches
At 9 months 16 pounds 12 ounces and 26 3/4 inches
At 12 months 17 pound 15.5 ounces and 28 inches
At 15 months 18 pounds 4 ounces and 29 3/4 inches

I am not going to put a comparison up to Desmond’s stats at the same age anymore. It is sufficient to say she weights less then he did at 6 months and is almost as tall as he was at 12 months.

Here is Eloise showing off her sunglasses.

Last year we took Desmond on one of the water slides at my parents pool. He was not a fan. A lot has changed in a year. This year he couldn’t get enough of the water slides. He started off going down with either me or my Dad and quickly graduated to going down all by himself, with someone at the bottom to catch him. He loved it, he would try to get us to take him again and again and again. We did limit him somewhat. We won’t let him go down more then 5 or 6 times in a row, since that was enough for the adults. When he is a bit bigger so he can go up the stairs all by himself, I know where he is going to spend his whole pool time when we are visiting!

Eloise also went down the water slide with my Dad. She enjoyed it, but once or twice was more then enough for her.

So one of the pools at my parent’s club has a splash pad, rather then a wadding pool. Both Desmond and Eloise enjoyed playing in it when we went to the pool. Here they are having fun.

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So we have a pool we go to year round up in Maryland. There is an outdoor pool from Memorial Day to Labor Day and an indoor pool the rest of the year. We love our pool and it is a great place, both the indoor and outdoor pools are zero entry and both kids love playing in the water. That being said, they don’t allow you to take pictures at our pool. Which generally sucks, since well I like taking pictures, lots of them. So the only time I get swimming pictures is in the summer, when we are down in Georgia at my parents lake house, since the various pools at their club don’t care if you take pictures.

Eloise, Desmond and I were at my parent’s lake house for 10ish days at the beginning of this month. We went to the pool a lot and I got a bunch of pictures of the kids in the pool. I plan to get some more when we go back. For now though here are pictures of the two small ones, my Mom, my Dad and me in the swimming pool.

Desmond jumping into the water.
Ready:

jump:

splash Nonnie!:

Eloise and Nonnie:

Desmond swimming with his Grandfather (pom)

Desmond swimming to the bottom of the pool to get his Woody dive stick.

Desmond swimming to the side with Mommy’s supervision:

Desmond practicing his swimming with Mommy

Desmond taking a ride on Mommy’s back

So Eloise talks a lot. It is kind of weird actually since while Desmond had a lot of words at 15 months he didn’t really use them. In fact he didn’t really start talking a lot till right before he turned 3. Eloise on the other hand loves to talk. She normally just uses one or two word phrases, but she does occasionally use 3 to 5 word sentences as well. I figured since I have a blog post way back in history of what words Desmond knew and used somewhere around this age, I would do one for Eloise as well. So here is a partial word list for Eloise, she knows a bunch more then these, but these are the words I know she says frequently off the top of my head.

dog
K (for K-line)
Des (Desmond)
Mama (me)
Dada (Dan)
Grandpa (My Dad)
Nonnie (My Mom)
fish
pop (lollipop)
tuptake (cupcake)
bo ber (blueberries)
that
bark (and if you ask her what sound a dog makes she will say bark bark)
moo
cow
go
up
bath
shoe (she loves shoes)
sock
dress
pink
that
sit
walk
down
ball
cup
juice
gummie bears
mine
car
no
yes
pants
chocolate
ice cream cone
peach
apple

Plus a bunch more I can’t remember off the top of my head. You know looking at the list, it looks like my kids eat a lot more junk food then they really do. She apparently likes sugar though! She likes fruits and veggies too, just doesn’t name them yet, I think I blame her brother for this since he says the names of various sweets far more then he says the name of fruits and veggies.

And a few I forgot when first writing this post:
bop (for boppy)
tah dah
nurse
all done
please
thank you
book
yum
kiss
frog
taco
pasta
french fries
potty
hi
bye bye

So we had planned to go strawberry picking when the season started. We didn’t have time to go on Saturday May 13th though so we planned to go on the 14th. Unfortunately the farm was closed because the picking was still sparse at the time. So the following weekend, we decided we would go on Sunday, since we had a bunch of things happening on Saturday. Sunday came and it was wet and rainy, so we ran some errands in the morning. Around noon we decided it was wet out but not really raining so we would go ahead and go pick strawberries.

This is Desmond’s 3rd year picking strawberries he loves it. Eloise went last year, but she was on my back the whole time so this year is really her first year picking strawberries. She loved it too. She sat next to the strawberry container and ate the freshly picked strawberries out of it. She thought it was the best. Desmond actually picked a few strawberries before eating them. He was not happy when we left because he wanted to pick and eat all the strawberries. We figured 15 pounds of strawberries was more then enough.

I have a ton of pictures, so I am going use the break to cute down the number shown on the front page. There are a lot of pictures you have been warned!

First we have Dan showing off one of the huge melded strawberries we picked. We called it the butterfly strawberry since it looks like one

Here is Desmond picking some strawberries

Here is Eloise picking some strawberries

Now on to the enjoying of the strawberries

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Here they are enjoying themselves at the playground again.

So K-line’s crate was in the living room when we got home from Strawberry picking on Sunday. Which meant that both my kids needed to go play in it. They both quite enjoyed playing in the crate. Though Desmond wasn’t quite sure what to do when Eloise tried to lock him in!

I see my brother!

I am going to keep him in there!

Look Mommy I’m a puppy!