Ellie has been working on counting. I didn't realize that we counted around her so often but we must because this weekend she has started picking up things and saying Eee, oaa, dee, tee, ohh...etc. She has the counting rhythm down perfectly but hasn't gotten a grip on the actual words. It is pretty darn cute. Check out the video we caught of her "counting" until they are "all gone" She is pretty persistent with letting me know that they are all gone...all gone...all gone!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
18 Months Old!
Eleanor is 18 months old and more fun than ever! It has been quite some time since we've updated the blog so there is a lot to catch up on. We are amazed every day by how smart Ellie is (I guess not just Ellie but toddlers in general!). It is unbelievable how much she understands and how she is just absorbing everything that is going on around her.
She is starting to be a little chatterbox. Among her words are...hi, bye, dada, dog, all done, all gone, apple, more (sometimes--although she still relies on signs for this and for some reason says BA instead of more usually). And she knows quite a few animal sounds.
Ellie continues to love music. She jams anytime we have music on and as far as she is concerned the louder the better. She has quite a few dance moves that have at this point surpassed both her father and my abilities. She will settle for kids music too and her favorite songs right now are "Bringing Home My Baby Bumblebee" and "Wheels on the Bus" She is getting quite good at the actions. My favorite is the windshield wipers- she holds up one finger on each hand and wildly swishes back and forth! She will sing the Elmo song...La la la la! and sometimes she'll sing other things--it is starting to be actual notes she is singing instead of just chanting :)
Ellie loves to have things in their correct place. She is quite good with puzzles and sorting toys and will spend extended amounts of time working on that type of project. She also likes to have trash and recycling put away. If she finds a piece of paper on the ground she makes the icky noise (thanks to my dad for helping us teach her that!) and she trots over to the trashcan to throw it away. So far she hasn't thrown away too many things that we needed (that we know of!) This part of her personality is proving very beneficial for potty training. We haven't been pushing the issue but did pull the potty chair out of the closet last weekend just to let her get used to seeing it and get her curiosity going. Much to our surprise she picked it right up. She used the potty multiple times last weekend and has continued throughout the week. We ask her occasionally if she needs to go and she runs to the bathroom. Of course she is still in diapers and hasn't figured out that this is an all-the-time activity but we think she has made an amazing start for an 18 month old. My guess is she'll continue to try it out and it won't be long before she is out of diapers. Yay!
Coloring is one of Ellie's favorite activities. She is quite the pro at using her crayons. Unfortunately, she prefers to use a pen in most circumstances :) She also LOVES finger painting. We reserve that for a before-bath-only activity. My mom finally helped me wise up to the fingerpaint on highchair technique....toddlers to care much at all about getting paint on paper and the highchair washes off very easily.
Ellie's favorite toys at the moment are her baby dolls, she strolls them around or wears them in the sling that aunt Carissa made. If you make a crying sound she runs to pick up her baby to make sure it is okay and will rock it on her shoulder. She says "bye, bye bye" as she rocks, I think this came from us saying "Rock-a-bye" It is pretty darn cute. She is also into her play kitchen and using the keys to pretend to get in the door, reading, stacking blocks...you name it! She loves to bounce her ball and thinks it is just hilarious when it hits the ground and boings back up.
This summer has been busy so far. We went up to Asheville at the end of April to welcome Ellie's new baby cousin June Eliza. She is super cute and we are so excited to have a new baby in the family! Ellie wasn't quite sure what she should think about that new little baby but she and Vera had a great time playing.
My grandparents came for a couple of weeks in May. It was great to have them here and Ellie really enjoyed having a couple of extra people in the house to entertain. She practiced her knee trick...we are not real sure what it is all about but for some reason anytime Elle sees a bare knee she puts her forehead on it. Don't ask me where she learned this...I have no idea! Jesse, Mike, Vera and June plus Aunt Carissa came to town as well.
Jason's dad and stepmom also came for a visit and we traveled to Star to see the Hamilton side of the family. It was super nice to have Jason's dad her to celebrate Father's Day. We are so thankful to have so many amazing dads and grandpas in our lives.
My parents' exchange student from Morocco, Iliass, went home a couple of weeks ago as well:( We will miss him a lot. He really was one of Ellie's very favorite people. He could make her laugh in almost every situation and they were good buddies. We have already skyped with Iliass once but Ellie wasn't so sure about why exactly he wouldn't come out of that computer screen, hopefully by keeping in touch this way she won't forget him.
So we have been keeping busy but having a lot of fun along the way. Ellie and I did the Parent and Child Swim Level 2 class this summer and she continues to be a little fish. She loves to swim and splash and sing "Motorboat, motorboat goes so fast...."
She absolutely loves the library and going on little excursions shopping or to the park or really most anywhere. She unfortunately has decided that riding in the grocery cart is no fun at all and she demands to walk behind and push which is a little bit hard! We are hoping that phase ends soon.
She is starting to be a little chatterbox. Among her words are...hi, bye, dada, dog, all done, all gone, apple, more (sometimes--although she still relies on signs for this and for some reason says BA instead of more usually). And she knows quite a few animal sounds.
Ellie continues to love music. She jams anytime we have music on and as far as she is concerned the louder the better. She has quite a few dance moves that have at this point surpassed both her father and my abilities. She will settle for kids music too and her favorite songs right now are "Bringing Home My Baby Bumblebee" and "Wheels on the Bus" She is getting quite good at the actions. My favorite is the windshield wipers- she holds up one finger on each hand and wildly swishes back and forth! She will sing the Elmo song...La la la la! and sometimes she'll sing other things--it is starting to be actual notes she is singing instead of just chanting :)
Ellie loves to have things in their correct place. She is quite good with puzzles and sorting toys and will spend extended amounts of time working on that type of project. She also likes to have trash and recycling put away. If she finds a piece of paper on the ground she makes the icky noise (thanks to my dad for helping us teach her that!) and she trots over to the trashcan to throw it away. So far she hasn't thrown away too many things that we needed (that we know of!) This part of her personality is proving very beneficial for potty training. We haven't been pushing the issue but did pull the potty chair out of the closet last weekend just to let her get used to seeing it and get her curiosity going. Much to our surprise she picked it right up. She used the potty multiple times last weekend and has continued throughout the week. We ask her occasionally if she needs to go and she runs to the bathroom. Of course she is still in diapers and hasn't figured out that this is an all-the-time activity but we think she has made an amazing start for an 18 month old. My guess is she'll continue to try it out and it won't be long before she is out of diapers. Yay!
Coloring is one of Ellie's favorite activities. She is quite the pro at using her crayons. Unfortunately, she prefers to use a pen in most circumstances :) She also LOVES finger painting. We reserve that for a before-bath-only activity. My mom finally helped me wise up to the fingerpaint on highchair technique....toddlers to care much at all about getting paint on paper and the highchair washes off very easily.
Ellie's favorite toys at the moment are her baby dolls, she strolls them around or wears them in the sling that aunt Carissa made. If you make a crying sound she runs to pick up her baby to make sure it is okay and will rock it on her shoulder. She says "bye, bye bye" as she rocks, I think this came from us saying "Rock-a-bye" It is pretty darn cute. She is also into her play kitchen and using the keys to pretend to get in the door, reading, stacking blocks...you name it! She loves to bounce her ball and thinks it is just hilarious when it hits the ground and boings back up.
This summer has been busy so far. We went up to Asheville at the end of April to welcome Ellie's new baby cousin June Eliza. She is super cute and we are so excited to have a new baby in the family! Ellie wasn't quite sure what she should think about that new little baby but she and Vera had a great time playing.
My grandparents came for a couple of weeks in May. It was great to have them here and Ellie really enjoyed having a couple of extra people in the house to entertain. She practiced her knee trick...we are not real sure what it is all about but for some reason anytime Elle sees a bare knee she puts her forehead on it. Don't ask me where she learned this...I have no idea! Jesse, Mike, Vera and June plus Aunt Carissa came to town as well.
Jason's dad and stepmom also came for a visit and we traveled to Star to see the Hamilton side of the family. It was super nice to have Jason's dad her to celebrate Father's Day. We are so thankful to have so many amazing dads and grandpas in our lives.
My parents' exchange student from Morocco, Iliass, went home a couple of weeks ago as well:( We will miss him a lot. He really was one of Ellie's very favorite people. He could make her laugh in almost every situation and they were good buddies. We have already skyped with Iliass once but Ellie wasn't so sure about why exactly he wouldn't come out of that computer screen, hopefully by keeping in touch this way she won't forget him.
So we have been keeping busy but having a lot of fun along the way. Ellie and I did the Parent and Child Swim Level 2 class this summer and she continues to be a little fish. She loves to swim and splash and sing "Motorboat, motorboat goes so fast...."
She absolutely loves the library and going on little excursions shopping or to the park or really most anywhere. She unfortunately has decided that riding in the grocery cart is no fun at all and she demands to walk behind and push which is a little bit hard! We are hoping that phase ends soon.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Flower Girl!
Ellie was a flower girl for our good friends Maggie and Josh this weekend. Their wedding was at the beach which was great because we have been wanting an opportunity to take Ellie to the beach since she has never been.
We had a great time. Ellie loved the sand and water. She was a little weary of the waves but enjoyed the little wading areas and was okay if we held her.
She did a pretty good job during the wedding I thought. She is of course pretty young for such a duty, especially on sand! They had someone carry her down the aisle which was perfect. It was a special day for us and we are so honored that Maggie and Josh included her.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Happy Easter!
We had a busy but fun weekend. Aunt Carissa came to town on Thursday morning. Yay! Thursday afternoon Ellie and I joined my mom and two sisters (Zoe and Carissa) and we went up to Asheville to visit Jesse, Mike and Vera. We had a great time and the cousins played and played and played. We are so excited that a third little girl cousin will be here soon! Ellie loved all of the different toys and Vera was such a great sharer of her things! Ellie especially liked her sand box and her kitchen. We came back late Friday night and Ellie slept the whole way home.
Saturday we took it pretty easy around the house and tried to catch up on laundry and cleaning up etc. I don't think I've mentioned it but we are pretty sure that we are going to put our house on the market in the near future. We are quickly feeling that we need a little more space for 2 dogs and a baby! Unfortunately that means we have a lot of things that we need to get done!
Sunday morning Ellie had her own little Easter Egg Hunt in the front yard. She had a great time. She eventually decided to sit down and point at what she wanted and see if she could get us to deliver the eggs to her! Funny girl! She got the Duplo farm animals in her Easter Eggs and also loved the silly little spinny-egg light up toy. Fun times!
Carissa goes home tomorrow. :( We will miss her as always. She taught Ellie how to nod Yes and No. It is very cute. And she rarely makes a mistake...we're impressed. Not sure if we'll be thanking Carissa next week for the "no nod"! We'll see...
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
15 Months Old!
Exciting things are happening in our house! Ellie is so busy and so fun and so exhausting. She walks like a pro! I think for awhile she didn't really know that she knew how to walk and so would only walk if she "forgot" Apparently this weekend she realized her abilities and now only resorts to crawling in extreme situations. We love that often she just stands and pats her tummy and then waddles off in her new independence.
It is amazing how smart Ellie is and how fast she acquires new things. I didn't realize before I had a toddler how much they comprehend. One of her newest tricks is pointing out your ears. She quickly jabs you in one and then whips your chin around to get to the other. So funny! She has known nose for a long time but hasn't yet discovered that she herself has these body parts. I'm sure that will be coming soon. She can point out every nose in her books...the rabbit's nose, the llama's nose, the bird's nose (beak :)... She is also picking up a few words. Still many are indistinguishable and I think "ba" stands for a lot of things. It is nice that she signs "more" and "all done" so we for sure know what she means when she uses those. She can point to Daddy and knows the difference between Missy and Milo (hilarious I think) but I really don't think she knows Momma yet. Ha! I'm making Jason talk about Momma more so hopefully she'll pick that one up for me :) She also gives kisses. So sweet and slobbery!!! She opens her mouth all the way up and slobbers your face if you ask her for kisses. She is still a big time waver and is quite friendly to most strangers. She waves at people as we walk by, she waves at old men in cars driving by, she waves at animals and will always wave at other little kids. She gets a lot of attention for her waving!
We love that Ellie is so happy and giggly all the time. I don't know if it is normal but her little toddler feet get really sweaty. It is a little gross in that adorable little toddler feet way but we started probably a bad thing by pretending to smell her "stinky feet" She laughs uncontrollably. We're pretty sure we started a bad thing because now she smells her own feet and laughs or will even smell ours and laugh. Oh my goodness...
Elle has a little tunnel that Grandma brought over and she has been playing in there a lot lately. She even crawls in if she needs to hide something from us. Sneaky, sneaky. She went in the middle and pulled out all of her baby wipes one day!
Ellie has some pretty good dancing moves. She loves daddy's music and prefers it a little bit on the loud side. It is so funny. She moves her whole little body and has pretty good rhythm. (I don't know who she got that from) We've recently started to work on adding the arms into the dance moves. Maybe we'll add a few steps next. So far it is mostly a "bounce" dance.
One of Ellie's favorite activities is drawing with a pen (I did not condone this activity) but she loves to do what everyone else does and is surprisingly good at drawing with a pen. I got her some crayons and she is not so into them. Well she likes to eat them, a lot! She also loves to get "messages"- we draw pictures on sticky notes and she sticks them on the window. She recently got some easter window stickers and loves to play with them! She loves to be outside and so we have really enjoyed the first bit of spring and the beautiful weather. She sits on the front porch and watches for the cars, or squirrels, or whatever happens to pass by. She gets especially excited if someone pulls up to see her! Wagon rides have become one of her favorite things and she loves to pick up the prickly gumballs. She only holds them by the stem which I think is pretty cool.
Ellie's favorite foods this month are cheerios, whole wheat pancakes, blueberries, avocado, green beans, cheese, mac n' cheese, cheesy goldfish crackers (Are you seeing a theme....) She is just starting to try to feed herself with the spoon. It is pretty cute to watch her. She isn't quite coordinated to get the food and make it all they way to her mouth so she picks up the food, puts it on the spoon and tries to get it into her mouth. Often it rolls off and she tries again or just eats it with her fingers. Fun times.
We are having so much fun and Ellie is growing up to be quite an amazing little person. We're pretty happy that she still takes time out of her busy schedule to be sweet and cuddly.
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