16 months.

Here is sample of what it is like trying to corral a 16-month-old to have her picture taken.  The YHLers are lucky they have each other to help, because it's pretty impossible with only one adult.

First I had to get her to stay in the same room with me, which is no easy task now that she has mastered going down the stairs on her own.

 

Then there's the whole stand-in-this-spot-next-to-your-giraffe-while-looking-at-the-camera-thing.  You can see how well that went.

Eventually Pete was able to come help and we managed to get these two, neither of which are great, but you get the idea:

I think Ellie has grown enough hair in back that she needs a haircut.  Pete disagrees.  So if you think Ellie looks like she has a mullet, you'll have to mention it to her daddy.  I tried pigtails the other day, and they looked really cute.  And lasted for no more than 5 seconds.

In her sixteenth month, Ellie started voicing her opinion and displaying her independence.  She has had a timeout now (once for 2 minutes for throwing toys) and several days where both Pete and I have been at our wits' end trying to keep her happy while not giving in to her every whim.  Example: We try to keep our wagon rides to once a day, usually after dinner, but if she happens to see her wagon in the backyard, the next twenty minutes sound something like this: "Wide?  wide?  wide?  wide? wae wide?  wide?  wide?"

And if she's hungry, she'll walk over to her chair at the table and start going, "Chair?  cheese?  chair?  chair?  cheese?"  Sometimes she substitutes "apple" (/ae_ʌ/ for my speechies) for "cheese", but it's usually one of the two.  The other night while I we were making dinner, she hung desperately from the bar on the freezer and shouted, "Beeee!"  So we gave her some pre-dinner yogurt.  (Ellie eats Yo Baby yogurt, so if you mention yogurt, she will reference the baby on the packaging.)

She is still loving the shopping car we found at a garage sale, and the sandbox.

 

Here are some iphone pics from last month, and a pretty funny video.

at the UK Arboretum

the prettiest little boy on picture day

Ellie's first piece of artwork

a bedtime story for Pippa

I lied.  I found three videos worth posting.  If you're short on time, just watch the third one, it's the funniest - Ellie finds her shadow.