Lately

What we've been up to lately - 

We have been playing lots of Hide & Seek.

Ellie hides in the exact same place every time - under the coffee table.

Her feet are always hanging out and she closes her eyes under the table & giggles while she waits for us to find her.

Cracks us up.

When she is seeking, she yells, "Found you!"

The game keeps us busy on all of the lovely rainy days we have been having.

LOVE RAINY DAYS!

Ellie helping her daddy shop online.

Lots of brother and sister cudding and singing lately

Ellie playing baby - I noticed today that her baby routine is very similar to our nighttime routine-

she nurses, rocks, & sings "away in a manger"

she puts the baby in bed and kisses her, 

then says, 

"ok, Nemo Baby, rock one more minute?  Ok, rock one more minute."

And she picks up her baby and rocks her on her shoulder for one more minute.

Be still my heart.

 Some things Ellie is up to lately:

Cracking us up with jokes such as,

"Knock, Knock Mommy!"

me:  Who's there?

Ellie:  "Ellie Grace Butts!"

and then she loudly fake laughs and says "Silly, Ellie!"

Will asked her one night who she was planning on marrying someday.  Her response?

"Baby Jesus!"

She does love her baby Jesus!

(Although I really really really want to plan her wedding.)

She still naps daily (2-2.5 hours) & is a great sleeper - usually sleeping til 8:30am.  She loves pink and loves books - especially ones that feature mice.  She can find hidden mice in books like "Goodnight Moon."  

She also loves her "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" book & spends most of her reading time pointing out all of the mommy and baby animals.

She loves to sing and sings loudly.

Ellie loves me to sing at night - "Jesus Loves the Little Ellies/Wills/Mommy and Daddy/Ruby/Meow Baby/Cookie & Lovie/Honey & G-Dad, etc  She gets rather bossy directing which person is featured in every single verse.  

 Much to her brother's delight, she seems to have his gene for loving dress up.

She has begun to play pretend & dress up.

She is quite adamant about who she is dressing up as, even when all evidence points to the contrary:

Will:  "Ellie!  Are you a good guy?" (Since she was wearing the pink superhero mask.)

Ellie:  "No, Will!  I'm Cinderella."

Of course, the pink mask should have been our first clue.

Ellie continues to eat just about anything.  She's not a huge fan of red meat but other than that, she eats everything.  She loves dips especially.  Her favorite drink is ice water.  She even takes ice water to bed with her.  She cracks us up sometimes asking for more food - often two bowls of cereal plus yogurt in the mornings!  She tried tomato basil soup this week and loved it - had two bowls!  She also tried tortilla soup last night and loved that.  Here, she is modeling her brother's favorite veggie:  asparagus:

walking her babies with the neighbors this afternoon

Ellie continues to love love love her Meow Baby!  She spends a great deal of time mothering him - cuddling, singing, hand feeding him, checking on him, & telling him no.

She's an animal lover, for sure!

Though she is nearly two and a half years old, Ellie hasn't gotten in trouble much.  She is generally obedient and I think most of the things that two year olds typically get in trouble for involve mobility and Ellie just hasn't had much independent mobility - she hasn't been climbing on tables or running away from me in parking lots or any of those more "typical" behaviors that might result in discipline.  Plus, usually a warning is all it takes for Ellie when she is testing us (dropping food used to be her offense.)  

But.  Lately, now that she is mobile, she has tried testing us a little more - not always obeying right away or turning to walk away from me.  It makes me so incredibly happy to get to tell her "no" & to instruct her to come to mommy!  It makes me happy because (1) misbehaving or thinking about disobeying is age appropriate cognitive behavior! & (2) it means that she has the mobility to turn away from me or to consider walking away from me - she has some independence!!  

The other night, R got onto Ellie and warned her and she immediately lowered her voice and said, "Yes Sir, Daddy."  Cracked us up - not sure where she picked up the "yes sir" but so cute out of her little voice.

In other Ellie news, 

she has made so much progress recently that we are lowering her pt sessions by 50%!  Yahoo!!!

She also doesn't have to go to speech therapy anymore unless I notice any issues!  

She continues to improve her walking & I love it!  She's pretty great indoors and today did an indoor incline (down) without falling!

Outdoors, she practices a lot but usually holds an adult's hand for safety.  

Ellie has started pulling her body up and lifting her legs on furniture - great for her legs & core muscles!  I can't wait to show her therapist this new trick tomorrow!

Will continues to love dress up and pretend play.  I adore his imagination.

He's really hard to get a picture of these days - constantly on the move!

 He started back to school this week and I confirmed a suspicion I've had this year about myself as a mother.  I prefer to have my kids at home with me.  I mean, sometimes I enjoy a break or running an errand by myself or soaking in my bathtub with a great book... but I really don't like this day in, day out school business.  I loved staying in our pajamas and playing and running errands together and eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner together during the Christmas break.  I miss my boy this week!  

Will loves playing outside and hates long sleeves and pants.  He was so excited that the sun came out today and it was warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt.  

He still naps daily (thank goodness!)  and would sleep until 9am if he could!  I don't know what we will do when he goes to school at 8am next year!  Yikes!

He eats quality food but not much quantity.  He loves fruits and most veggies.  He's not really into meat either.  

He tells very imaginative stories with lots of details and has never met a stranger.  

Whenever I am feeling down about myself, I'm going to play a little video I took the other day in which he described his plans to marry me.

He's a little concerned about Daddy being a problem since he married me first but he figures we can work that out. :)

He insists he will live with me forever (even with his wife and kids - hope my future daughter-in-law is cool with that.)  

He is a great cuddler and is tender hearted.

Precious boy - so very glad he is mine.