Spring Flowers

If you only knew how tough it was for me to narrow down these spring photos to even this many to post. I simply couldn't stop taking photos of our little princess enjoying the beauty of spring - it was so sweet! She loves smelling the daffodils, and was very excited that I cut one for her to hold on to.

Bunny Day

Ellison spent this past Saturday at the Museum of Nature & Science with her dad for "Bunny Days". Elli loves bunnies or "mi-mi's" as she calls them, but she hadn't ever seen a real live one up close. The bunnies were nearly bigger than her! Her dad said there were LOTS of people there, so it was a crazy time, but she had fun. It looks like she enjoyed looking at some of the mineral displays, too. :)

Chopped Liver!!!

Um, yeah. So I (the person who endured bed-rest-hell for 6 weeks and gave birth to Ellison) apparently resemble rancid, maggot-infested roadkill in her eyes. OK, I'm being a little dramatic (I've been told that a time or two before). But I couldn't believe that my daughter actually wants me to leave! Get this...

I had to work on Saturday & Sunday this past weekend, as I have the past 2 weekends before that, which means Ellison gets to hang with her daddy all weekend long. So Saturday morning just before I had to start getting ready, Jonathan gets Ellison out of bed, and brought her into our bed where she plays & we watch cartoons. She had this lovely little sweet smile on her face as they approach the bedroom until... she sees Mama. The smile leaves her face, she clings to her dad as if I'm holding a machete, and proceeds to lay her head on him. This goes on for a couple of minutes while I, the sole person who plays with her and takes care of her every need 5 full days a week, try to warm her up to me so I can get just a little kissy and smell her saliva-scented cheeks (I'm her mom - I LOVE that smell!!!). Even an insincere smile would do at this point. What does the little love of my life do? She looks at me, starts waving her hand repeatedly, and says "Ba-bye... ba-bye...ba-bye". !!!!!!! OK, I know I'm #2 on the totem pole after her father, but she WANTS me gone now?!?! She's lucky she's so darn cute and loveable. I just wanted to post this little tidbit to save for the days when I can remind her of how much she tormented me (just kidding). She makes up for it every minute of those 5 days I get to spend alone with her. :) I'm sure Jonathan's had a talk with her, because she will occasionally reach for me out of his arms... just not often enough for my taste... :)

16 Months Old!

Another month gone by!!! Today for Ellison's little mini-birthday, we spent a fun morning together. We went to our usual Mother Goose library group, then we did some shopping at The Friendly Center. A bit chilly, but Ellison wasn't fazed since she was chowin' on Cheerios. We mostly just browsed, but it was hard - there are SOOO many adorable little clothes that her mama wanted to buy! We managed to get away with just one outfit. Ellison got to get out of her stroller and explore so many fun stores that are kid-friendly (after demanding, "Out!" in every one we went in to). Then to top it off, we went to Barnes & Noble - a kid hotspot here. She could hang out there forever with the train set, stuffed animals, books, and stage. It was a lovely morning for us both. :)
At 16 months, you all know by now Ellison's love of accessories (as mentioned several times). Her other favorites right now: Daddy (yeah, this one's ongoing), drawing, being let free in stores, bubbles, Collie Teddy (her Build-A-Bear) - this however does NOT replace her Teddy twins & La-La. She loves being outside just to explore, climbing on objects, her 'Once Upon a Potty' book, books in general, and using her voice. :) She's got such a great sense of humor, too. It's funny - when she turned 1 there were SO many changes that happened all at the same time, then it plateaus somewhat for a little while. Well now she seems to be going through another stage of changes. She's expanding her vocabulary & REALLY getting talkative. Her grandma said she takes after her daddy more now. ;) It's the best sound in the morning to wake up to her talking to herself & Teddy. It always used to be a monotone noise coming from her, now it's high pitches and inflections, with some "Teddy!" and "Uh-oh!" thrown in, usually followed by, "Daddy!". She's very in-tune to the letter "E" and the letter "O". Whenever she sees print and recognizes these letters, she proudly exclaims them. She loves writing the letter "O", too - she knows to make it a circular motion as opposed to scribble. Right now we're starting to practice more Spanish - she needs to be able to talk to her Abuela & Abuelo. :) She's got her English body parts down pat, but we're trying to teach them to her in Spanish now. We've been slacking in that department, unfortunately. We're working on colors, too. She still loves to say "Lellow" (yellow). For foods, she can be hit-or-miss when it comes to favorites now. Cheerios & bananas are still up there, along with those maraschino cherries that come in those little fruit cups. This past month marked the big transition from two naps a day down to one nap a day. That was tough trying to figure out, but we're all good now - just in time for the time change! Argh! Anyway, these are just some of the things going on in Ellison's world right now. Jonathan & I were just looking at some of her baby pics last night - for any of you who haven't been through it yet, SUCK UP EVERY SECOND! My heart is just broken knowing we'll never have those times back again with her at certain ages. I'm not sure God wants us to feel quite that way, as the future holds so much promise, but it just slips away from you before you know it. But we do love the fun and wonder of each new stage, too. Stay tuned!

The Mookie Hat Society

On a daily basis, when we're hanging upstairs, Ellison can be found either going through her shoe drawer or her hat drawer. She even does this at stores now, too. She has this special "hat radar vision", goes straight to them, puts one on, then takes off down the aisle at lightning fast speed. Her radar vision must suck the life from her other senses, because this child suddenly loses her hearing at this time. I could be shouting that Teddy was just kidnapped, I could even say that I found bananas coming out of the ceiling, nothing fazes this girl on a mission. She's completely focused. It's like the little voice in her head is saying, "Get as far away from Mama as quickly as possible, and don't look back... All you hear is 'blah, blah, blah'... Your name is not Ellison..." OK, so I've now established how much our girl loves hats right now. Here are a few shots of her going through and trying on each hat in her drawer. She even had to try on the mittens.

This one proved to be a little tricky with the strings all tied together.

Just Cuteness

I was actually trying to get us out the door in these pics. Ellison had other plans, though, once the hat went on. Notice the headband she's carrying around. Yes, we're still stuck on accessories. Hats, headbands, shoes, socks, bracelets, necklaces, purses, you name it.

Spice Girl

The spice drawer is a hit with Ellison most of the time while I try to cook (Jonathan's probably laughing at the last bit of that sentence - my idea of cooking these days is nothing short of simple & fast). ANYWAYS, Ellison loves rearranging (read "disorganizing") the drawer regularly. She has this thing for a container that holds the seasoning packets. She's always running off with it.

Mookie was making sure there was no MSG in this one...

Sportin' the Shades

Getting ready for bath time, Ellison found a pair of her dad's sunglasses and thought it was pretty fun to walk around in them. Or rather, to run away from us in them. Bath time always turns into a "Catch me if you can" game, but now all we have to do is mention bubbles and she comes running to the tub trying to put her leg over the edge. She then spends her bath putting bubble beards on her mom & dad, and intermittently eating bubbles from her hand.

Cute Shots

So I couldn't resist including these shots... This first one was rather serendipitous. I was kinda happy that I actually captured one of her little scowls on camera. This is the look she gives complete strangers in the grocery store who approach her, trying to be all sweet. It'll only be cute and acceptable at this age, Ellison, so let's get it out of your system now, girl! :)

As you can see, her frown quickly turned upside down. I wish I could say she was grinning at me, but we all know that's not the case. It was something on TV. If it wasn't that, then it would've been for her dad. :)

LOVE IT!!! OK, so once in a while she'll still smile at her mama. This photo reminds me of Mollie - Mollie has said that Ellison looks like she has baby veneers for teeth. And I must say that is one gorgeous uvula our girl has...

Is it wierd that we just wanna chew on this wittle face?!

Coloring

Ellison has been asking on a daily basis to "draw" (sounds like "jaw") as she toddles over to the kitchen drawer where we keep the pens and such. I wish I had gotten her started on the real crayons earlier - the box of 64 of the little suckers kept her occupied for SO LONG! We've been doing the washable markers and occasionally some pens with supervision, but crayons are apparently the way to go! The first time I got them out for her, she was so intent on her task - taking the crayons out and putting them back in, over and over. Oh yeah - she did dabble in creating a little art, too, but had more fun "organizing" her crayons. She becomes a little OCD with the broken crayons (not her doing) - she continually says, "Uh oh, uh oh..." and cannot continue with her creative tasks until the crayon in question is removed from the box. Coloring is one of her favorite activities right now. And I must say, she's got quite a beautiful scribble. :)

The Latest Stats

Ellison had her 15 month check-up last week. She's weighing in at 21 lbs, and she's 30 inches long. Her weight has stayed steady in the 25th percentile, but interestingly her height is dropping off, and now it's in the 30th percentile. Our little petite-sy.

Ellison's getting some major chompers in now. Two of her molars just started breaking through, with two more almost there. We have to say, these have definitely been the toughest ones to go through for all 3 of us! Well, I should say all 4 of us - Teddy's nose has gone through the ringer as Ellison bites it every chance she gets. Not only was she having a time with the (big) little buggers, but she got an ear infection to boot, and her parents have been messing with her nap schedule. Life is tough for 1 year-olds! Now that she's been on an antibiotic and we've come to a nap resolution (for the time being), she's back to being her happy, playful, well-rested self.

Ellison's getting some great quality time with her dad lately, which suits her just fine. I'm starting back to work, just on a per diem basis on some weekends, but I've had to do some mandatory hospital orientation during the week, which means that Jon has had to use some vacation time to be Mr. Mom. Some vacation, huh? :) Who are we kidding - he loves hanging out with Mookie! Well, I was feeling terrible that her mama wouldn't be around to take care of her while she's been sick. Ha! This girl acts like I have the PLAGUE! She wants nothing to do with me right now. Nothing. On Thursday when we were back on our normal schedules, I was so excited to be with her again & hang out with her all day. When she woke up, I was all smiles - so excited to get her out of bed. What do I get greeted with? "Daddy... Daddy..." while whimpering and pointing at the door. Oy. Now that the weekend's here, I'm still chopped liver. Her dad had to sit practically on top of her during breakfast this morning, as she just couldn't get him close enough. I'm like the boogey-man. I'm going to start sneaking Cheerios into my pocket. What Jonathan doesn't know won't hurt him...

Snow!!!

Who would've ever thought we'd be so excited about 1 1/2 inches of snow?! Man, it's been tough being somewhere in the winter that doesn't get much snow. Strange to get used to - it's made us a little more homesick. It was somewhat of a surprise snowfall. Suddenly one night after Ellison went to bed, we peaked out the window to see the most incredibly beautiful snowflakes coming down. They were enormous! It made for such a pretty morning the next day.

Ellison was mesmerized by the new look outside when she woke up. This girl has lived amongst LOTS of snow, but she was just a wee little one in our past wintry lives.

Peaking out at the fluffy stuff

We love this photo - too sweet!

Elli was watching the neighbor kids across the street sledding down their icy driveway in the wintry wonderland. The voice from Ralphie on "A Christmas Story" can be heard here... "Aw, come on guys...".

Upside Down

I'm not sure what yoga pose it is, perhaps "Baby Standing on Head", but Ellison's into it. Usually she's grinning as she peeks through her legs, but one has to be quick with the camera. Life is very interesting turned upside down. Now we're getting into advanced techniques, like turning it into a somersault. Before we can even say, "Again?", she's already nodding her head "yes" and into position.

The Great Outdoors

Ellison loves to be outside exploring nature. She had a ball last weekend just playing out in the yard.

She found some sticks that she tried "planting" in the ground, then found it very entertaining to feed her sticks to Bo. Bo kept gobbling them up into mulch, which Ellison thought cute at first, but then started to get upset that he wasn't leaving any for her to play with.

"He crazy..."

Fun with windchimes

Whose Paci?

Interestingly, we could only get Ellison to take a pacifier for about 3 months after birth before she completely refused it. Though we were bummed at the time, we also knew it was going to make life easier on us down the road - no "traumatic" weaning to go through. Well, for whatever reason, Ellison wants to keep putting her baby's paci in her mouth now. The thing doesn't even have the rubber sucky part on it, but she thinks it's nice to walk around with this thing in her mouth. It's apparently SO good that she's trying to get me and Jon hooked on it too.

Accessory Queen

Ellison's turning into quite the accessory queen - she's definitely all girl! She is so into shoes and socks, hats, and purses right now. Anytime we're upstairs, she starts digging into her shoe drawer and has to try on pair after pair - even when she's nearly naked waiting for her bath. She's even taken a liking to my shoes. Many times throughout the day, she drags a pair of my shoes around, puts her feet in them, and then clomps around. On these particular days depicted below, her accessory-of-the-moment was her little pink baseball cap.

15 Months Old

Ellison's little birthday shots included the 2 loves of her life this time: Teddy & La-La (her lovey). At 15 months, she continues to practice her vocabulary & speech skills and is getting so good at letting us know what she wants. She has started this new thing where she gets a hard scowl on her face at times. When sweet strangers come up & try talking to her in the grocery store, she scowls at them. It's a little embarrassing, but thankfully I have the excuse that she's only 1. I'm trying to work on getting her to smile for strangers when she starts to do that. She loves Elmo and Barney still, but has also discovered Blue's Clues. She mimics Blue's little noises EXACTLY, and when he wags his tail, she does the funniest giggle. She also loves bunnies right now. She is finally giving us kisses on the lips - for a while only Teddy & inanimate objects got that privelege. I of course ask for them a hundred times a day, to which I often get an answer in the form of her shaking her head. But at least she gives in to my relentless requests on occasion.

Superbowl Sunday

Daddy had his little buddy rootin' for the Giants with him. Ellison enjoyed the perfect football game food - Cheerios & pizza.