Snug Little Bug

Little E put her pillow (a little one that I made her that she HAS to sleep with now) in a washbasket while I was doing laundry, and curled up into it, asking me to cover her with a blankie. She loves confined spaces right now.

One of Ellison's nicknames has been "Bug" (as in Love Bug, not the nasty little creatures). After her baths, she loves to be snuggled up in the towel and held like a baby. The other night I was feeding into it, calling her "Little Baby Bug". Now that's what she whispers & wants me to say when I rock her & she's laying on me. One of our few bedtime rituals is to say, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite... but if they do, hit 'em with a shoe, and they'll turn black & blue...". She thinks it's hilarious, and shakes her head back & forth smiling and whispering, "No bedbugs bite... shoe...black & blue".

Halloween Try-Outs

So, these may be our only Halloween photos this year (I'm not very hopeful, that's why I'm going ahead and posting these now). Jonathan & I thought it would be cute for Ellison to be a flower this year. So we ordered this cute little costume, it arrived, we were all excited, and Ellison HATES it! It has a green jump-suit that goes with it, but she absolutely refuses to wear this flower hat thingy, so we haven't even gotten that far yet. She looked at us like, "Oh, you're kidding, right?!" After about 20 minutes of bribing, and telling her it would be a special surprise for Daddy when he gets home, I got the pink petals around her little face for about 30 seconds (and managed 2 photos) before she started ripping it off and whining. It's been sitting on the dining table for a couple days, and when she walks by, she looks at it with utter disgust. Maybe she can go just as a stem for Halloween???

So my mom reminded me of these 2 little dress-up costumes I had tucked away that Ellison received as a gift when she was an infant. I always thought they were bigger sizes, but when I looked, sure enough they're her size now. Keeping my fingers crossed, I talked them up like crazy this morning, hoping she would be just as "excited" as I was when I spoke of them - the Holy Grail of Halloween costumes.

After some reluctance, I was successful in getting her to try on the fairy outfit, though it had to be on her terms. Her new wool mittens were not negotiable in the deal. This fairy outfit had a little headpiece, too - it came flying off faster than you can say "Wiggles". (Apparently our daughter's dexterity is not hindered by mittens).




But, ah, our little princess felt right at home the moment she had on her princess outfit! She saw the hat and almost wouldn't wait for me to get the dress on first.

It's like she's saying, "What the heck took you so long to figure this out?".

The perfect accessory for a princess? Those blue mittens. Gosh, I hope she's over them by the time May rolls around.

"Where is my knight in shining armor? Are you out there, Daddy?"

On a final note, when Jonathan got home from work, we tried putting on the costumes again. She agreed to it, but for a mere minute. We just may be staying home to pass out candy this year after all...

[October 23, 2008]

Silly Lilly

Why is it that I always think of Olivia Newton-John when I see things like this?

I love that Ellison seems to be cracking herself up, too.

This is the little girl who has started saying, "Break it down" (with complete rhythm, I might add, as if in a hip-hop song). She heard it on "Yo Gabba Gabba" yesterday, and it's stuck. Well, maybe it has stuck 'cause we've asked her to repeat it about 20 times...

A Sunday Afternoon

Took advantage of the cool, sunny October day. Ellison played around in the backyard a little before her nap. We tried to snap some cute fall pics of her, but photographers we are not! And Ellison wants to do her own thing (which does not involve listening to Mom's or Dad's gentle instruction).

Poor Mookie - she's always getting kissie requests. You can almost see her eyes rolling, but she always quickly obliges so she can hurry up and move on to funner tasks at hand.

It was very challenging for us to let her play with "Turtle" (the sandbox) when she was still in her church clothes. Thankfully she didn't get suspicious when we explained she couldn't get inside because the sand was too cold.

Oh, fall is here. That means Mommy has started to become a weekend widow again since poor Daddy's stuck blowing the bazillion leaves that seem to land in our yard on a daily basis. The downside of having a lot of big trees surrounding us. When Mookie got up from her nap, she was immediately upset to see Mommy (and not Daddy), so we had to join in on the "fun". Ever the little helper, Ellison wanted to use a broom "by self" to assist her padre.

Having fun hearing the crunch of the leaves as she stomped around.

[October 19, 2008]

Nasty Tests

Last week Ellison had to undergo a VCUG (voiding cystourethrogram) and a renal ultrasound since she got her first UTI. Jonathan and I were absolutely anxious and fretting about having to put her through such an unpleasant procedure, but she did better than we could've hoped for, and the results all came back just fine. For the ultrasound, she layed on the table, lifted up her dress and held perfectly still, every once in a while smiling and saying it tickled. For the nasty one, the VCUG, she was such a big girl during the procedure, and only cried when they put the catheter in, and towards the end when she just wanted us to hold her. When it came time for her to have to pee for the last portion of the test, she cried out "Diaper on!" - she wanted them to put her diaper on because she knew she doesn't normally pee on a table. The tech told us "She's ready to be potty trained, guys!". Yeah, yeah, I know...

For those of you in the local viewing area, if you ever find yourselves in the radiology & ultrasound departments at Moses Cone Hospital, we were very impressed! Ellison was supposed to have the tests done on 2 different days, and they asked us if we would mind if they just did them both while we were there. Uh, yeah! The nurse that put in Ellison's catheter got it right in, the techs were great, and the radiologist was AWESOME to the 3 of us! I know, I know... I'm a little partial to the place. :) [October 16, 2008]

"Underwear"

The other day, Ellison asked "Please" if she could put on her "underwear like Mommy"... with "diaper off!". I obliged, and that girl felt FREEDOM!!! I think she realized it felt so much better for her (or maybe it was just my imagination). She kept them on quite a while, until finally I asked her if we could put her diaper back on. Are these not the cutest buns you've ever seen Elmo on?! [October 14, 2008]

Winter Preparation

Ellison keeps putting on her fleece hat & mitten sets as of late, and thinks she's pretty cool doing so. I makes me immediately think of hot flashes and feeling claustrophobic, but she seems to enjoy this. We were impressed at her nack for picking out a set that coordinated with her shirt, even if it is on backwards. [October 13, 2008]
She also had to try on Daddy's scarf, who showed her the stylish way to sport it.
Then she had fun putting Daddy's guitar picks INSIDE his guitar.

Fall Festival

Last weekend, we met up with some friends at the Fall Festival at Bur-Mil Park. It was an absolutely perfect day! The weather was awesome, and there were so many things to see and do. Besides the normal playground and open areas for little ones to run around, there were all kinds of vendors (both food and otherwise), bouncy houses, a pumpkin patch, hayrides, face painting, kiddie tattoos, animal petting areas, games, etc. We met our friends, Michael, Lauren, Ethan (whom Ellison calls "Eaton") Sbihli there, and got to meet up with our friends, Rebecca & Allie Saffioti, too. I do have to say, that it is very difficult to stay in the same area as anyone else when you have little toddlers that have a clear plan. But they (and we) had a blast. [October 11, 2008]

This photo is funny. When Ellison was 3 months old, we got her pics taken, and she was doing this SAME thing to the bunny that was sitting next to her then.

Checking out her new tattoo. Later that night when we washed it off, she started crying for "flower".



Lauren & Ethan

Rebecca & Allie, with her little face painted

These pics are out of order, but I'm not attempting to change it. This is Ellison waiting patiently for the strange man (well, not strange, just a stranger) to finish applying her tattoo. We were surprised she sat there and let him do it.

The Soto 3 on the hayride. When we first got on, Ellison whined because she wanted to sit up front with the giant cow mascot.

That Daddy is such a trooper. Ellison kept trying to climb up with the big kids to go down the big slide. So her pa took her down "again" and "again" and "again"... She loved it!

Fun on the playground

Petting the miniature horse

Oh, and the cow that we literally had to chase down so Ellison could give him a hi-5. She wouldn't stop whining until she got to him.


The Sbihlis on the hayride

23 Months Old

Oh, our little bug... I can't believe it's the last monthly birthday set we'll take. As you can see, Ellison continues to be a little worm for her b-day photos. We're surprised over time at how much she's starting to become a ham for the camera. We always just thought it was her personality that made her stop whatever she was doing when camera came out. Lately, though, this girl has been trying to perform! She has a funny fake smile, and does all these silly things for the camera now. And 2 nights ago, when I got out the video camera, this girl performed every song in her repertoire!

Speaking of, Ellison has shocked the pants off us (OK, so that's likely a bad visual for all of you) the last couple weeks. She does about 4 complete lines in a row of a song now! It is the most precious thing! Her fave songs to sing are: "Happy Birthday to You", "Rock-A-Bye Baby", "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", and "ABC's".

WARNING: STOP READING THE REST OF THIS POST IF PARENTAL BRAGGING MAKES YOU FEEL HOMICIDAL TOWARD ME. I'm simply documenting...
I've said it before (but I'm an obnoxious parent), but her speech has just continued taking off this last month. Everywhere we go, people comment on how well she speaks. They're dumbfounded at the nursery that she tells them when she needs her diaper changed. (Yes, I'm still resisting potty training). Even the pediatrician today said her speech is incredible (as Ellison kept reminding her to "check the ears").

Ellison still loves doing anything art-related. Our mouths were letting flies in a couple times this past week when we saw Ellison color very slowly & intently - she colored Barbie's hair and arm near-perfectly, staying in the lines. She likes to draw "happy faces" all by herself - complete with eyes, nose, & mouth. And after having me write and spell "Ellison Soto" out about 10 times a day per her request, she now can spell and write part of her name (the l, l, i).

Ellison is starting to enjoy numbers, letters, and shapes even more. She points some of them out in many places. A couple nights ago when she was performing for the video camera after the vocal ensemble, we asked her to count, and she started counting in Spanish. Abuela will be so pleased!

Daddy is the greatest again right now. He went on a business trip for the first time since Ellison was an infant, and it was not easy on her, as you may imagine. Now that we're back into a normal routine around here, I feel like scum of the earth again. I wake up to my baby's voice on the monitor repeating, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy, hold you...". Thinking she'll get over it when she sees her smiling mother (that carried her for almost 10 months, endured bedrest for 6 weeks, and gave birth to her) saying "Good morning, sunshine!", I'm quickly brought back to reality by a frown and continued requests for Daddy. Every evening when he comes home from work, she hears his car pull in the garage and pleas with me to hold her up so she can "knock-knock". She looks through the window of the door to the garage, and keeps knocking on the window with her little mini-fist, grinning ear to ear, watching her daddy until he makes it in the door.

Now, this doesn't say much about my parenting skills according to the AAP, but Ellison loves TV. I can't even name her favorite characters now, because there are so many shows she likes. Foods haven't changed much. One bitty milestone is that she will finally drink juice! She has never liked it, but she actually likes a little now. She has the same typical favorite things to play & do, still stickers and now playing with "dollars" (her fake money). And every day or evening Jonathan or I have to "make a house" or "make a boat" for her to sit in, using a blanket stretched over our legs suspended across to the ottoman. One other thing that is SO silly, she likes her dad to pose an exact certain way when he rocks her. She makes him use his left hand (yes, it makes a difference, people) to hold his hair back and rest his head on the arm of the chair. If he doesn't get it right, she lets him know. So quirky!

OK, I've lost most of you by now; but for those of you still reading this far and wishing I would just land this sucker, here you have it. :)