Terrible 2 1/2?

So I read a book that suggested that 2 is a pretty great age but 2 1/2 is a difficult one...

uhhh- "fixing" a hole in the wall with a set of keys and a pacifier of course!

Ellie talks up a storm.  She says full sentences without blinking.  She questions almost everything and loves to discuss what is going on.  The most common phrases out of her mouth are "WHY?" and "I do it MYSELF!"  That's how they learn, right?!

School is still going really well.  She has adjusted to going and is starting to figure out the whole nap routine.  She is the shortest napper and still wants to be rocked to sleep but the teachers are being super nice about that.  She still loves to have her "Sue days" and it really helps her to have that familiar routine that she loves so much.

Watering bean plants in the school garden

Typing at school!

We've been busy this summer playing outside at all the local parks (We love finding new ones) and swimming.  We found a new sprayground right down the street that is super fun.  Ellie has also spent some time out with her water table and she still love love loves bubbles!

 

Ellie is still loving art- she will sit down and draw for very long periods of time and absolutely loves to paint!  She enjoys building towers and is really very good at it.  Right now she will spend hours playing pretend with her baby dolls, kitchen, or little people.  She has elaborate conversations on the "phone" and makes up conversations between her figurines.  It is pretty much awesome. 

Check out those letter "Es"

Taking Baby Jesus for a tractor ride!

 I'm amazed at how caring and sweet Ellie is to her little sister.  She seems to really love having a baby sister and is patient and gentle with her.  We are curious how this will change as Ruby starts moving around and can get her toys.  The relationship is pretty mutual--Ruby things Ellie is pretty much the funniest thing she has ever seen!

Playing horsey with Ruby....

Ellie and Ruby had their 1/2 year doctor's appointments together this morning (convenience of having almost the same birthday!)  Ellie weighed in at 31 pounds (between 50 and 75th percentile) and was 36 inches (50th percentile).  She didn't have to get any shots (Yay!!) but did have to get her finger pricked, for which she was amazing- sat perfectly still and didn't cry at all.  That is a strong cookie!  Best news yet- she doesn't have to go back for another 6 months when she is 3!

 So we don't think there is much terrible about 2 1/2.  It does however require much parental energy, creativity and patience.  It is amazing how much personality, opinion, and knowledge Eleanor has already!  We love it!

Making banana bread

Doctor Eleanor playing at Marbles Museum

Reading on the hearth...her "bed"

Scientist Ellie checking magnifying her Ritz cracker and gems!

6 months old!

I can't believe a half a year has passed since Miss Ruby Kate came into our lives.  She is a true bundle of joy- happy all the time!  At her check up this morning Ruby was 15 pounds, 2.5 ounces (50th percentile) and 26 inches long (75th percentile) her head was right on track for Hamilton size at 43 cm (75th percentile).  She did great- hardly even cried for her vaccines.

Ruby is sitting really well now.  I love how straight she sits- with perfect posture!  She spends a lot of time sitting on the floor with a few toys and is happy for quite some time.  She has also started rolling and trying to scoot a lot more to get what she wants.

We have had a fun and busy month- we took trips to the pool and lake, Marbles museum, a Mudcat's game, and even a train trip to Charlotte.  We also celebrate Ellie's half birthday yesterday and Father's Day.  Ruby loves to be along for the ride.  She is quite happy in her car seat and especially loves to suck on her toes!!

We joke that she is stingy with her laughs...you really have to work her to get her to chuckle.  Smiles aren't so hard but laughing requires much work.  We have been pulling out "new" toys that had been put away and both Ruby and Ellie are having fun discovering and rediscovering them.  We kind of forgot about the exersaucer but we weren't too late.  Ruby has a pretty good time bouncing around in it!

Ellie's 2 and a Half Birthday!

Ellie has been pretty proud of the fact that today is her half birthday! We've been talking about it quite a bit and so she was wondering where her cake was. So we decided to take a trip to the grocery store and she picked out the perfect half birthday cake for her half birthday. She was pretty excited about the whole thing...right down to the 2 1/2 candles!

Yum yum yum...

Ruby had her first taste of real food today.  If you can call it that- not sure I'd count rice cereal in that category. She did the usual baby thing...spit it out, gagged, you name it!  But by the end she seemed to understand that the point was to ingest this foreign substance but mostly just wanted to hold the spoon.  Ellie was really excited about the process and had to be right there the whole time.

I'm pretty glad we waited until 6 months- feeding a baby is messy messy messy! It is funny, I fed Ellie cereal the day she turned 4 months old.  I just couldn't wait.  But with Ruby I knew it wasn't necessary or even recommended.  She was much better at the whole process (2 months makes a big difference!) and I'm hoping she doesn't run into the constipation issues that Ellie did.  I probably could have held off even longer but the pediatrician said not to wait past 6 months (We made it by one day!!)

Train Trip to Charlotte

This weekend the girls and I went on an adventure! My mom had to be in Charlotte from Wednesday through Sunday to sell origami at a convention so why not take advantage of an opportunity to visit a nearby city (no childcare in Raleigh, hotel room in Charlotte...) Carissa came to town to help out with the origami and the babies (Thanks Car!) so on Friday morning we set out...

Jason had to stay home to watch the dogs and work on a big project for work so he dropped us off at the train station to catch the 6:45 AM train! We stopped by Bojangles to keep Carissa happy and were on our way. The train trip was fun- just a few hours and they had a snack car that we checked out when Ellie got bored. At one point both girls were lulled to sleep by the clickity clack and it made for a pretty pleasant trip down to Charlotte.

Sleeping on the train seats

Sue picked us up at the Train Station in Charlotte and we dropped her and Carissa at the Convention Center to sell origami! The girls and I headed to the hotel to check it out and get diapers changed and our day planned. We ended up going to Discovery Kids! A new kids museum in Charlotte very similar to Marbles. Eleanor had a wonderful time- checking out all the new displays.

Firefighter Ellie in a life-size fire truck

Ellie loved sitting IN the water table!

Who is that baby?!?

On Saturday Vera, June and Jesse came to Charlotte to hang out. We went to Discovery Place and Imaginon and the kids had a great time playing together. After a busy day we went back to the hotel and had free "kickback" (their answer to Embassy Suites' Happy Hour) which included macaroni and cheese for the kiddos. It was fun times for all!

Sunday morning breakfast at the hotel. Lucky Charms= vacation food!

Sunday was the last origami selling day and the convention center was also open to public so we had breakfast together (which made for some happy cousin time!) and packed up the rooms. We stopped by the convention center to walk through the displays and then hit the park for one last round of Charlotte Cousin Play 2011 before we packed up the origami display and headed back to Raleigh, with a stop at the airport to drop off Carissa and IKEA of course....

It was a great weekend- and now I need another to recover.  

Eleanor's First Hair Cut

After

Before

Ellie had her bangs cut tonight! She sat perfectly still in my lap and enjoyed the whole process very much. Her bangs are pretty short but they are super cute. It was pretty funny- we were thinking we would go to the kids hair cutting place around the corner but turns out they close at 7 (crazy!) so it didn't work so well when we pulled up at 6:56.  Ellie was crushed so we settled on the Great Clips a few doors down.  They did a great job, it was MUCH cheaper and they still gave me the "Baby's First Haircut" card with a curl taped inside. 

Happy Father's Day!

 

Happy Father's Day to all the daddies out there!  I hope Jason had a good one.  I took the girls (With the kind assistance of Zoe) to one of the local bisque painting places and we made him a really cool mug.  It was a lot of fun, gave him some time off to himself, and I think turned out really well.

Ruby's Footprint

Ellie's Handprint