Elli-isms

Ellison is a total water girl. As mentioned before, she loved the beach, and this summer she's still lovin' her some pool. We've been fortunate this year to have had a pool date with Megan, Baity, Cameron, and Ella at the Elks; we've tested out the fun pool and awesome slide (or so I'm told by Ell & Daddy) at Tato & Nilda's neighborhood pool recently; we've gone over to the Lake Jeanette pool with our neighbors, the Fennels, a couple of evenings; and we've gone to Bur-Mil a few times. I'm still in shock over the fact that we didn't take pics of any of these pool days - we either forgot the camera and the cell phones in the car, or we just wanted to be in the moment. Ellison especially LOVES when we're at a pool where she can wear her little Dora floaty ring thingy. She's not a big fan of the arm floaties since they were introduced after Dora. We've been working on her kicking her legs and moving her arms, and she is so happy to now be able to spin herself around in her ring, or be able to kick herself some short distances. She loves playing on pool stairs (descending them until it's deep and we grab her and whisk her away in fun), and loves counting to 3 (or 5) and jumping in for us to catch her.

One of the funniest things we've heard lately... Daddy was getting out of the shower when Elli was hanging out in the bathroom. She was staring you-know-where, and said, "Daddy, you have a big peanuts!". Yeah, Jonathan was walking a little taller that day, but I quickly reminded him that she has nothing to compare it to. Hee, hee. He's going to kill me for posting this entry...

Ellison asks me to go fishing on occasion. And she's the fish. She'll stand across the room, and I have to pretend I'm throwing in my reel (is that even the right lingo???), then she "catches" it with her mouth. I start reeling her in all the while she pretends she's being pulled in by the hook in her mouth. She's such a little nut.

She still tries to whip out some Spanish, which of course, is incomprehensible to us. The other day she said, "Ay, Dios mio!". I'm guessing I have been using that phrase a lot.

Every night after we read her story in her big girl bed (which she still won't sleep in), she then has to make her bed all by herself. No, we didn't enforce this, SHE'S dictating it. But we have to wait there patiently until she goes back and forth to each side straightening her covers to her liking.

She's been planning her 3rd birthday for a while now. She's light-years ahead of us. We hear repeatedly how she wants the "princess cake" (the Barbie one at the grocery stores where the cake is Barbie's big dress) and "I want to eat it BIG". She kept insisting for my impending birthday that I was going to be getting a princess cake.

She wears panties to bed now. A few weeks ago we noticed she kept waking up dry, so we gave it a shot and she's done great. We still occasionally have an accident at night, but for the most part that wasn't too bad a transition. One hint to any of you who have this in your future: double up their bedding. Always have on a mattress cover and sheet on top of another mattress cover and sheet. You'll be very thankful you did it at 3am, when you can just peel off a layer instead of wrestling with those stupid tight mattresses!

I love our little quiet conversations when I'm rocking her before her nap. It's so fun to hear what her little brain is thinking, and she's always looking right into my face. The other day she starting petting my hair while looking into my eyes, and said so quietly, "My rubbing your hair because my love you". Seriously, let's just bring out the whole box of tissues, people.

She's been having a little bit of a hard time with our crazy family schedule lately. It seems either me or Jonathan is always running off to work, and the 3 of us don't get a ton of family time together. It's been hard on her, which is hard on us. It rips your heart out to hear, "Mommy, you don't want to go to work tonight" with a little pout on the face. There are many mornings she cries for Daddy. Yet another way it's hard to be living without family nearby. We're all she knows for her home comfort.

I've been little by little talking to her about going to school soon. I know this will be a hard transition for her, but I excitedly talk to her about it and tell her all the fun things she's going to get to do. She keeps telling me, "My don't want to go to school". This will be interesting...