16 Months Old....

This weekend Elizabeth turned 16 months old. Milestones are happening so fast they are difficult to keep up with.

For words: she is officially tri-langual. She has lots of words in English, several in sign language and a couple in Spanish. She even used two words together this week asking her daddy to pick her "up please".

She watches everything we do and wants to imitate us. Here she is in my slippers. She loves putting them on but gets pretty frustrated when she can't walk around in them.

Santa Claus will be here soon. Elizabeth is ready...

Here she is getting into the dishwasher. She spends most of her time around the house, going from item to item, drawer to drawer and examining it all. She loves to help out and will hand you each piece of silverware individually as you empty the dishwasher.

Helping with the laundry of course. Her first love is pulling the lint screen out and watching the lint fly around. Her second, having us hand her item by item the clothes so she can toss them in the dryer. Yesterday, I wasn't going fast enough and she was complaining. When I looked over, all I could see were her little legs hanging out. Ken went and got the camera but by then, she was already inside!

Football season has been so much fun this year. Here is Elizabeth in a little cheerleading outfit - rooting for the Steelers, Cowboys and Chargers. Miraculously, they all won yesterday. And yes, if you watched the Colts and Chargers, you will know that I am not exaggerating by using the word - miraculous. Must have been the outfit...

Cheering makes you hungry. One of Elizabeth's favorite foods is corn on the cob. So much fun to eat. She is now using her fork to eat. It's fun to watch her working so hard to stab her food. Huge milestone for her. She also had her first bite of pizza this weekend....

Memorable Moments: the nursery provider was not at church yesterday so Elizabeth stayed with us. She was having a blast greeting every one, singing and clapping. She fell asleep in my arms toward the end of the music. A few minutes later, there was a moment where the congregation started clapping over something. Well, sleeping beauty heard this and jumped straight up, looked around and smiled, gave out about 5 claps and then promptly fell to my chest and was out cold again. It was hysterical....

In other news, the business had steady months for October and November. In fact, we actually still have a profit for the year. Huge milestone. The industry continues in its state of upheaval so Ken & I are working hard to focus on how our business will prosper during these times ahead. Not easy but we are working hard on our 2008 business plan. Our goal is to stay in business because this flexible schedule is so awesome for Elizabeth and we both enjoy our time with her tremendously!

Love to all of you....The Bates Farm