A Cute Funny I Don't Want to Forget

I got such a kick out of this the other day...

I was checking out at the grocery store, holding Ellison on my hip. I had my debit card in my hand to pay, waiting for my total. Just as the cashier announces the total, Ellison grabs the card out of my hand, swipes it by herself perfectly, then emphatically says to the cashier, "Credit... credit!". You know how some cashiers at places ask you, "Credit or debit?" ?! Wow, this girl is so perceptive it's scary sometimes. I think Daddy thinks I've been shopping too much for her to know that. :)

Park Time

Yesterday Ellison and I had so much fun hanging out at Country Park. It was the most BEAUTIFUL day! The weather was perfect with a nice breeze, Ellison & I had fun playing on the jungle gyms, swinging, having lunch on a bench overlooking the little lake, feeding the ducks, and just walking around. Warning: sappy-ness ahead... but it was just perfect. So perfect, that at one moment, I looked at Ellison with her smiling little eyes and a closed-mouth grin, looking up at me as the breeze rustled our hair, and it literally brought tears to my eyes. How wonderful to have these little moments in the midst of day-to-day "life"! [September 18, 2008]

Camera Troubles

So ever since we shared the stored photos on our camera with Ellison (she was fascinated), it is very difficult to take a photo of her. The second she sees the camera come out, she stops what she's doing and repeats, "More see 'em!", thinking we've already taken the photo of her. Let me explain: we started asking her if she would "like to see 'em" after we would take some photos, so now when she wants to see the photos in the camera window, she says she wants "more see 'em". This first photo is Ellison begging her noted phrase. The second photo is of our almost-2-year-old not very pleased that she hasn't gotten her way yet. Notice I say "yet". :) [September 17, 2008]

More Painting

Much to Ellison's surprise and delight, painting can take on many forms. She tried out her new little water paint set, and had a good ole time. She couldn't figure out, though, why I kept telling her this kind of paint doesn't need to go on her nose (like the finger paints ended up). [September 15, 2008]

Elli the Builda

Ellison really likes "Bob the Builda" right now, and took her try at it when her dad was fixing one of her new bikes (lovin' that Craigslist!). She just picked up the wrench and pitched right in. She's obsessed with this bike now; for the first couple days she would see it, she had to keep kissing it all over, and hugging various parts of it. I've weaned her into just blowing it kisses now when I'm trying to load her up in the Famster when she sees it in the garage. [September 16, 2008]

Regression

I think sometimes Ellison still wishes she were a baby...

Jonathan brought a carseat in the house (that's on its way up to the attic from the garage), and Ellison had some fun playing with it, and now we can't seem to get it out of the living room. It seems our little bug thinks her daddy brought it in for her. She looks at it several times a day and says, "Daddy made it". Ahem. See? She thinks her Daddy can rope the moon. :)

So she is often seen climbing into the carseat, usually requesting the little canopy to be put up, and then eats a snack or puts her baby's pacifier ("paci") in her mouth and lays there. And that's another thing, SEVERAL times a day, we are on an endless search in this house to find where "Paci" last ended up. This pacifier is not a normal one, mind you. It has a hard tiny little stubby to put in the mouth (since it is for a doll!), and that's it. Yet Ellison has the sucker (no pun intended) in her mouth at various times throughout the day. I find her spontaneously laying on the hard floor, laying on her baby pillow, sucking the paci. One day this week, I was rocking her before her nap, and she wasn't moving a muscle; naturally, I thought, "Wow, she must be really tired". Shortly after that thought crossed my mind, her little head popped up and I saw she had the paci in her mouth!

She also keeps asking, "Bottle, please". And we're talking about her baby's bottle, not a normal one. Apparently that's comforting to suck on, too.

[September 12 & 17, 2008]

Doing Dishes

I've mentioned before that Ellison loves doing dishes, and asks (which sounds more like a demand) to do them every single day. Here's our girl in action. [September 8, 2008]

Silly Girl

Ellison has never been one to crawl inside cupboards and such. Ummm, maybe because we never have any empty ones. Anyway, she's really into tents, and making tents and having little shelters now. Here's the ham-inator trying out the toybox for size.

And waving for the camera. [September 7, 2008]

Here Comes Age 2

We can most definitely see that the age of 2 is upon us. Yesterday was a textbook day full of those tumultuous moments. I keep trying to remember, that as hard as it is to be a parent of a toddler, it's got to be just as hard being a toddler. So I have sympathy for all of us in this household. Despite all of the moments that test our patience (as well as Ellison's), we are having a blast listening to how witty our little bitty one is getting. Sometimes Jonathan & I just stop and look at each other wide-eyed in response to what comes out of Mookie's little mouth.

Telling Ellison it's time to go night-night: "Just two minutes" (Ellison), as she continues playing.

Putting food in front of Ellison at the table: "Don't like it" (Ellison), as she pushes it out of her close-up visual field, then does the little backhand wave at her food as in "take it away".

Wriggling out of her dad's arms: "Mookie, where are you going?" (Daddy), "I don't know." (Ellison)

Heard no less than 20 times a day: "Come on, Mama!" (Ellison), as she waves me toward her.

There are so many fun little "conversations" throughout the day now. As hard as some hours in the day are, bring on 2!

22 Months Old

Ellison was a total worm for her photos! I think her biggest change over the last month has been in her speech and wit. We're amazed every day at new sentences and phrases she says to us. Ellison is in the nursery 2-3 days a week at church for a few hours at a time, so she's really doing great there now, and only cries for a second as we hand her over, then it goes away & she's great the whole time. MUCH to her parents' relief!

Her favorite activities right now are doing dishes, being a little mommy, playing pretend, and stretching. Seriously, yesterday Ellison started whining & crying because she wanted to do dishes so bad. Heh, we'll see how she feels about it when she's 10. It baffles me just about as much as the night she cried for broccoli before bed a few weeks ago (seriously). And yes, Ellison now commands her parents to lay down next to her, then demonstrates which stretching exercises we need to perform. She also has started this thing where she has to lay on her stomach in the bathtub now and swish forward & backward while trying to dip the sides of her hair in the water. She just cannot get enough water anymore. So long as it doesn't involve toilets, we're good.
She's also really into her cash register. All coins are called "pennies", and she loves playing with it all. She still really likes puzzles and flashcards, too.


Her picky eating hasn't changed yet, but we're remaining hopeful. She's still a pasta girl all the way! "'Anoni & cheese" and plain long spaghetti are the bomb.

Ellison lets us know all the time now when she should have her diaper changed. We're all prepped for potty training, I just can't bring myself to start it yet!

Ellison's dancing has gone to a whole new level, much to our delight. Free entertainment's great! She LOVES singing songs now. This means I don't get told, "No...no..." when I try to sing anymore. Several times a day Ellison rocks in her rocking chair singing, "Rock bye baby... treetop".

Curious George & the Wiggles are still faves, but she really likes Dora, "Bob the Builda", Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, and this wierd show "Yo, Gabba, Gabba!" (which totally freaks me the heck out. I can honestly feel my skin crawl when I see it. I try to turn the channel quick before Mookie sees it, but she's a quick little bug).

One of our favorite new things is the squeal of delight we hear from Mookie now that we taught her how to do butterfly kisses. We also get to hear this little girl squeal before bed when she has to do her nightly routine of hiding behind our bed pillows until we find her.

An interesting quirk to note, is that she is really focused on "sad faces" now. When I try to draw happy faces, she keeps asking me to draw sad faces, and then asks me to draw in the "crying" (tears). She's just really in tune to it. If she sees someone on TV that's crying, she puts on a little pout & repeats "sad". I hope I'm not encouraging future therapy sessions, here.

She continues with all of her other aforementioned activities, especially being a little mamacita. Today for about 45 minutes she kept changing Elmo's diaper. She'd open it up and say, "No poop," then wipe him with one of her wipes, and re-fasten his diaper (which was actually one of hers). She's constantly covering up, feeding, giving a bottle, pushing in a stroller, consoling, or rocking any number of her babies and animals. Speaking of animals, they can make us a little batty at times. We love that Ellison feels a sweet attachment to her inanimate objects; but honestly, it is not easy trying to put a toddler to bed (or get her out of bed, or carry her upstairs or downstairs) while she has to have 10 animals in her embrace; she. And, yes, I have counted 10! She insists on having "everybody" in her arms. We have to get sneaky and distract her while we throw an animal or two behind our backs, or we have to become mean Mommy & Daddy and make her choose.

I'm sure it's a universal toddler thing, but doors are constantly being opened & closed around here. I think we better get on getting the key to unlock the doors now that Little Nugget can reach and seems to enjoy it.

One other common Ellison-ism now is that she covers her mouth with her hands all the time in response to things, and will say things like, "(Gasp) Oh my!", and "Oh!". A little flair for drama. :)

A Little Treat

Poor Ellison got dragged all over the place this AM. She and Mommy went on a consignment sale frenzy. Mommy vowed to never do it again (at least for another year). The good news for Ellison? She got a baby doll stroller to drag all of her children/animals around in. Just look at her excitement. :) This girl has been working laps around our house! She dresses up for her walks a little more than I do, though - at one point she had on her plastic high heels and a pearl bracelet, with a little Kate Spade knock-off slung over her shoulder. Such a girl!!! [September 5, 2008]

Lipstick

Well, I guess you could say our girl has a thing for lipstick right now. I was in the bathroom (right off the kitchen) while Ellison was drawing with her markers. She started repeating "Lips!", so I started talking to her about drawing a picture of a face with lips. As soon as I walked out, this is what I found. This first photo is Ellison actually mocking the look on my face - and I kid you not, the camera was sitting right next to where I was standing. In between photos, she starting telling me "Lipstick!" and was going to keep reapplying before I stopped her.

This girl is really in-tune to lipstick. Everytime I kiss her (and I ALWAYS have Carmex on my lips), she says "lipstick", and has to put some on, too. (So imagine how many times a day that is).

It was so darn funny seeing these little green/blue/purple lips talking to me. Thank God for non-toxic, washable art supplies. [September 4, 2008]

A New Playmate

Yesterday Ellison got to play with a boy, for once. It's a long story, but I babysat for Sam Plunkett, who happens to be Ellison's age. They did great together - they both were angels. [September 4, 2008]

Check out Little Miss Flirt! Wow, she's laying it on thick! :)

Ellison HAD to sit in Sam's seat, and thankfully he was okay with sitting in Ellison's.