It's with a trace of disbelief that I sit here writing Ellie's TWO-year post! Somehow I think this year flew by much faster than her first. The post title is my take on Ellie's birthday shirt featuring owl fabric that she picked out herself. Even though Ellie officially turned two on Sunday, due to an over-the-weekend exercise at Brian's work (and an untimely case of the sniffles for Ellie -- it's no fun being sick on your birthday!), we;'re going to celebrate this coming weekend. That said, I couldn't let another day after her second birthday go by without recalling how much our little girl has changed recently.
Ellie's biggest change recently has been her speech and I especially noticed it after I came home from from my long weekend away in New York. She's using two- and three-word phrases almost constantly ("Daddy's phone," "Mommy's socks," "Mommy do it," "sorry, Elmo" -- not quite sure where that last one came from); it's wonderful to hear her able to communicate more clearly, although this also means she's able to verbalize more concisely what she doesn't want ("No, no!" "Time op" -- that's time out -- "Ellie do it").
Bedtime is still between 7:30 and 8, but for the last few weeks she's been heard talking to herself and singing the ABCs in her crib until 8:30-9, even 9:30! She gets up anywhere between 7 and 8 the next morning, but it's usually closer to 8 and she oftentimes wakes up singing her ABCs. Naps have been so-so -- for a while she had been a napping champ, taking long naps, but over the last week she's been napping for much shorter, more restless periods of time (of course yesterday she slept for over two hours). I have a sneaking suspicion the restless naps have a bit to do with our potty training efforts, but more on that in another post.
Like every other kid, Ellie's favorite time is play time. She is able to occupy herself for long periods -- a welcome relief when I'm making dinner in the evening. Lately I've seen her take more interest in her baby doll and on a few occasions I've caught her holding the baby, giving the baby a hug and trying to dress and undress her. However, duck still holds the number one spot in this house -- she refuses to go to bed without it! Ellie asks to color almost as often as she asks to read books. We really have to keep an eye on her to make sure she stays on the coloring book (thank goodness for washable crayons!), but yesterday she did really well with minimal supervision! She loves being outside and has a particular fondness for bubbles and sidewalk chalk. Trips to the park are always a big hit -- she goes down the wavy slide over and over, but still hasn't summoned enough courage to go down the longer, taller tunnel slide. She'll walk up and say "hello!" into it knowing I'm at the bottom. When I respond with a "Hello! Come on down!" she politely calls back, "All done!"
Brian and I are very happy that Ellie has become so helpful around the house. She really enjoys putting clothes from the washer into the dryer and pushing the button that starts the drying cycle. She's equally helpful in knocking over freshly folded piles of clean clothes (sigh). She's made several attempts to help me unload the dishwasher, but I've been trying to distract her from pulling out the large, very breakable, dishes and handing them to me.
Here's the two-year rundown:
Height/weight: We'll find out at her two-year well check on Friday, but I would guess she's just under 24-25 pounds and 34-35 inches tall.
Ellie's favorite things:
Elmo -- this girl can spot him in the most inconspicuous of places (like the tiny, and I mean tiny, picture of Elmo on the back of "The Monster at the End of This Book")
Quinoa -- We had this for dinner the other night and she ate THREE platefuls!
Lights -- This was mentioned in my post about Christmas decorating, but Ellie is fascinated with Christmas lights
Reading -- Ellie could look at books all day and never get bored, although at some point she would want to be read to. Her favorite books right now are Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Richard Scarry's "On Vacation," and "Go Dog, Go!"
Snowflakes
Ducks, owls and bunnies
Airplanes
Sandwiches
Dislikes include:
Sitting on the potty when it wasn't her idea
Time out
Potatoes -- we're seeing a little improvement, but overall it's the only food I can think of that she would rather not eat
Leaving the park
(Ellie, please forgive me for posting this picture of you even though you weren't feeling well, but I love your sweet face and couldn't resist taking a few pictures on your birthday!)
Wow this second year went too fast! Happy Birthday sweet girl!
No comments:
Post a Comment