Tuesday, February 26, 2013

22 months.

Cue Frankie Valli: "Bye bye baby, baby goodbye; Bye bye baby don't make me cry."


It would seem our baby girl is gone.  She is all toddler now, all the time.  Mind you, as I prepped this blog, I just had to go upstairs and rock her back to sleep (because 45 min is NOT a nap).  Yes, Pete and I miss our baby girl, her big chubby cheeks and bald head, we miss being able to take still photographs of her and do ANYTHING without chasing her hither and yon.  That being said, Ellie is at the absolute coolest, funniest, most amazing developmental stage right now. Her speech has really taken off in the last two months.  This from someone who knows a thing or two about speech.  Here's the thing, though:  I studied typical development in school, but all I've ever worked with is atypical (it's how I have a job, yo) - so to see all the things I had to learn in school actually happening in the proper sequence at the proper chronological age is nothing short of amazing!  One day, all Ellie could say was, "sock."  About two weeks later, it was "mommy sock,"  "ellie sock," "daddy sock," (agent + object - wouldn't Dr. Capilouto be proud?!?), two weeks after that it was "mommy gray socks," "ellie red socks," "daddy white socks" - grammatical morphemes practically leaping off the page!!  (Michelle + Tara, I know you know what I'm talking about.)  Then, on February 17th, it was, "No Daddy, No push it cart."  Her first 5-word phrase!!  She pretty much hasn't looked back since then.


In her 21st and 22nd months Ellie also mastered her colors and the ability to count to ten.  (I'm working on catching these skills on video, but we've had a few witnesses.)  On February 13th, Pete was taking her to school and turned his back while he left the car door open.  When he turned back around, Ellie had climbed up into the car and into her seat on her own!  Ellie has developed her personality as well, so we can't just get dressed in the morning anymore - she wants to pick her clothes, socks, and, most especially, her shoes.  I am having little success explaining to her that usually little girls don't wear running shoes with cable knit tights and a dress, so if you see us out and about and Ellie has on an odd assortment of clothes, you can assume she chose her outfit.


Ellie is pretty good with names.  She's very proud of herself when she remembers someone's name.  Case in point:  Construction started today on our basement office/built-ins (yay!).  The name of the project manager is Mike.  He has been to our house a few times now for the proposal, some measurements, contract signing, etc.  So ALL MORNING anytime Ellie heard the door open or saw Mike go out to his truck for more wood or heard a noise from the basement she said, "Mike! Mike? Mike!!"  Luckily, Mike has a son who is a year or so older than Ellie, so he gets a kick out of her.

Ellie has also assigned Pete a color.  Not surprisingly, it is orange.  "Daddy utch" is about how it comes out.  It used to only apply to orange crayons, markers, and chalk.  Every time we were coloring, she would pick out the orange and bring it to Pete.  Now when we go to the grocery store and we see actual oranges, or grapefruits, or pretzels with an orange box, they each get labeled, "Daddy utch."  Yes Ellie, your daddy is orange, the rest of the world just calls it red. :-)


We go to the YMCA every Saturday morning for swim class.  She loves it even more than she did last year.  We have to be very careful not to mention swim class until it is time to put on her swimsuit and leave the house.  Otherwise all we hear is "swim class?  Owen?  swim class!" and she finds her swimsuit and tries to put it on over her head.  Unfortunately, Owen does NOT like swim class as much as last year, so he did not get in a boat with Ellie.  Maybe this week.



Being Ellie's mom is the most exhausting and frustrating task I've ever attempted, but it is also the most fun and rewarding.  I'm so glad she's the babe we got, because she's the best and our absolute favorite.

The world is her trampoline.
 

Friday, February 22, 2013

Friday Phone Dump

this week with videos!





Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Meeting Baby Kate

We drove to South Carolina to meet Miss Katherine Elizabeth Wheeler this weekend.  The only person who exceeded mine and Pete's excitement to see the new baby seemed to be Ellie.  All weekend she shouted at the top of lungs, "Baby Kate!" "Baby Kate sleeping?" "Baby Kate upstairs?"

Ellie meets her new friend Kate, still brand new to us at five weeks old.
Love this pic of the daddies and their mini-mes
Perfecting the 'one-finger' touch.
Jen reading Ellie a book (in German!)
Looks like he knows what he's doing.
"MATT!" was another favorite Ellie exclamation.  So much that she used it again upon spotting a dark-haired guy at the grocery store this morning. :-)

We arrived on Saturday afternoon after an overnight at Matt's parents' house in Tennessee (thanks John and Peggy!), and had a great time visiting with the new Wheeler family.  It's amazing how quickly I forgot how small and lightweight a newborn is.  The first time I lifted Kate into my arms, I almost threw her to the ceiling!  I've obviously gotten used to picking up a much larger baby.

Matt and Jen are doing such a great job tackling all the new adventures having a newborn in the house brings.  Can't wait to see them again - hopefully this summer for a weekend.  Our girls are going to grow up seeing each other at the beach annually (fingers crossed), and I can't wait to watch their friendships (and shenanigans) begin!

Saturday, February 02, 2013

Our Snowy Day.

She looks like an intern for Santa Claus
We have had two days of snowfall and are expecting to get more overnight tonight.  This never happens in Lexington.  Yesterday's snow was very powdery and it was 9 degrees out so we didn't have an opportunity to play.  But today it got up to 32 degrees!  So we suited Ellie up in her brand new snow pants and coat from Joanne & Jerry, grabbed our saucers and sled, and headed down the street to the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center.  They have a small field next to their playground with a nice, small, gentle slope to it.

ready to go

Can't even wait until we've left our yard to try out the saucer.
Hitching a ride from mom to the LHSC.
We weren't sure how much she would like it, so she rode down on my lap the first few times, but then Pete went down once by himself - on his tummy.  Next thing we know, Ellie starts chanting, "Eh-ya turn, Eh-ya turn."  So we sent her down on her tummy and she loved it!  She would get to the bottom and start walking back up for another trip down the hill.  

coming back up the hill
I tried to go down once on my own, but Ellie decided she wanted to chain on behind me - it was so funny!


 
We're so happy Ellie enjoyed her first sledding experience.  Pete and I loved taking her!!