Ellie's Big News - First Edition!

ELLIE HAS SOME BIG NEWS!

HUGE NEWS!

VERY EXCITING NEWS!

But first, 

some photos of what we've been up to since Will started kindergarten.

She really, really, really misses her big brother.

For the first week of school, she insisted on carrying his pirate baby everywhere.

She even slept with him!

I've had fun playing with her hair.  I'm not very good at braiding and haven't attempted a french braid since I was 10.

Sometimes Ellie lets me practice on her.

And since she is 2 now, Daddy gave the ok to paint her nails!
Thanks to Lisa W for sending the awesome tiny nail polishes with itty bitty brushes.

 She even insists on taking off her splints to paint her itty bitty toenails.

She especially loves playing in my bathroom cabinets and lining up my nail polishes

And then yelling, "PAINT!"

She picks out her colors (she likes to mix them up between her various nails.  She's clearly a creative genius.  Or possibly as indecisive as her parents.  I'm going with creative.)

And then sweet girl knows to blow blow blow!

And then we admire.

 She has been making Ruby play dress up with her.

 Ruby doesn't seem to mind the oddly placed necklaces.

 In fact, Ruby seems to enjoy wearing lipstick.

 Sophie came over to play with Ellie one morning

 They were very busy cooking

We also like to play at the park by Will's school for a little while some days.

Practicing standing at the park

 That would be a stethoscope around her neck.  Like her big brother, Ellie is loving pretend play.  We call her "Dr. Danger."  She's a bossy doctor.

I'm really enjoying this one on one time with Ellie Girl.  The thing is, I really miss Will.  And so does she.  I'm grateful for time just for Ellie and I... I wish I could somehow still have my little guy too in the mornings.
(Do you think it's normal to still cry after a month of dropping him off?)

 
Yesterday, he asked me randomly in the car, "Mommy, do other kids kiss their mommies?"
Yes.  Yes they certainly do, love.
"Mommy, do you think the other kids at school might think I'm weird if they see me kiss you goodbye?"
No.  No I do not.
I assured him he could privately kiss and hug me goodbye from the car.
And then I wept.
Again.
Then, I withdrew him from school.  Forever.



And now the BIG news!!!

Look who learned to pull up all by herself!!!

It began one night in the bath a few weeks ago.  (Have I mentioned how far behind I am in blogging?)

And for several days, she seemed to be able to pull up only in the bath.

We noticed she really was relying on her forearms and her chest muscles  and sometimes her head to be able to pull up.  The height, stability, and width of the bathtub were perfect for the combination of muscles she was using.

I couldn't wait to show her physical therapist a few days later...

and then she did this:

Before I knew it, she was pulling up all over the place!  The only trick was that she was having a hard time getting back down - combination limited range of motion in her joints, weak muscles, and hard braces preventing her ankles from bending made getting down really tough.

And then after nap one day, I came into Ellie's room and she had stood up in her crib!

Which meant that at age 25 months, we finally moved her mattress down!!!

She tried to show me how she did it - she still hasn't consistently mastered sitting up yet but she can sit up if she uses a pillow or the bumper for support.

 She's so proud of herself and we are so proud too!

Then, this week, she figured out how to get down which is AWESOME!  I can hardly wait to show off her new tricks to her lowers orthopedist in a few weeks!

She's even cruising which is just incredible.  So proud of our girl!

This pulling up business is keeping her very, very busy!  

She loves pulling up on EVERYTHING!  

GO ELLIE GIRL!

(PS - STAY TUNED!  THERE'S BIGGER NEWS COMING.  IT DESERVED ITS OWN POST SO COMING SOON! )