Cold. Cold. Cold. BRRRR! Being from The South and then mild-wintered Denver, I was not prepared for the bitter cold of Indiana's January. Elizabeth, however, took it in stride and never complained. This month, she traveled and spent many an hour in the out-of-doors...but she doesn't seem to mind changes in temperature or even long hours in the car. She's just gorgeous, brilliant, and practically perfect in every way. *grin*

I know that I'm shockingly late in putting up this page. I truly do apologize, and I have no better excuse than to say that most of the pictures we took this month were on regular film and not digital. Here are 8 of the best digitals we got. I will scan the best of the paper pictures as soon as I can, but I won't make promises because I'm not sure if I can keep 'em!

Amy Nix
February 17th, 2004

We can tell she's gonna be bossy. (but she comes by it honestly) January, 2004		There has never been a more happy child. January 2004
Eating cuts into my play time January 2004		See? This is much more fun than eating carrots and oatmeal. January 2004
Got this great stuffed bunny, but the tag is the only part I play with. February 2004		I'm already learning to read. February 2004
Napping with the giganto bunny. February 2004		Daddy is my favorite place to sleep. February 2004

Health:

Elizabeth was perfectly healthy this month except for a few days of mild congestion.

Eating Habits:

Nestle Good Start Supreme Formula thickened with an unmeasured dollop of Gerber Rice Cereal
6 ounces per feeding , 3-4 feedings per day
This month, we added apples, peaches, sweet potatoes, and oatmeal cereal to Lizzie's menu. She likes everything except bananas.

Sleeping Habits:

Elizabeth sleeps like a normal grown-up kid, now. She typically naps for a short time once during the day and then goes to sleep around 10 or 10:30pm for the night. There are nights she doesn't sleep until late and days she naps more or less...but it's become pretty routine overall.

Development:

Elizabeth is fully mobile in her rolling and "creeping," now. She can wriggle and roll to just about anywhere she wants to go. She has begun rocking on her hands and knees, so we're convinced that she's mere days away from learning to crawl. Gone are the days that we could leave her unattended for a few moments to visit the bathroom or retrieve things from another room!
In the past several weeks, Lizzie's "vocabulary" has grown at an astonishing rate. She's gone from gurgles and other simple noises to distinctive babble "words." She says "ma," "ba," "na," and "da" in varying combinations. It's delightful to hear the long strings of "ma ma ma ma," but even I can't pretend that she attributes any specific meaning to them. She's having fun with it and we're enjoying the new and much sweeter sound of talking. It appears we've traded in the horrible screeches in for something closer to language. Oh happy day.
Elizabeth now uses her thumb and forefinger to manipulate things and pull things to her mouth. She has developed this skill early, so we're naturally making the most of it and putting in the early enrollment forms to MIT.
Lizzie finally sprouted her first two teeth! The two bottom-center teeth have surfaced and are extremely sharp. She plays with them with her tongue and it's REALLY cute. The teething pain there has stopped, but the two "Goofy" teeth on top are becoming more and more sore for her. Those will be next, I imagine.

Visiting:

From January 16-25, we drove down to Arkansas to visit with the Hollands and then the Newburys for a late Christmas. Ashley got to go on his first duck-hunting trip, and we all got to spend time with my brother, Steve, and his wife, Andrea, who were in to visit with their families all the way from London.


Elizabeth established her first favorite toys this month. Her Grandma Holland bought her a little Elmo doll and her Grandmum Nix bought her a Clifford the Big Red Dog toy. Both are very bright red (Lizzie's favorite color), and she gets very upset if one or the other isn't available for her to play with. Lizzie also had her first bath in the big bathtub this month. It's easier for everyone, and she gets to splash to her heart's content. She also "crept" for the first time this month, which is the immediate precursor to crawling.







All images made with text on this page were created using the fonts, "Bradley Hand" and "Curlz." The footprints and the jacks/rubberball set were made from picture tubes in a standard grouping from PSP8. All photographs and imagery on this website are the copyrighted property of Lowood Online. For more information, you can contact the webmistress by email.