December ~ 2015

Obviously I have been horrible at keeping up on my blog, especially things having to do with Ellie! So I've tried to make note of a few things she's been doing lately.  I just love how fun she is at this stage right now.  I do have a love/hate relationship with 2 1/2 years old, but overall she is so fun and surprises me every day with some of the things she comes up with or that she remembers. She can also be quite defiant and sassy...but we're working on it :)

* She holds up her finger and says, "Back!" As in, "I'll be right back."

* She can do two pretty well with her fingers and knows that she is two years old when you ask her.

* She knows and seems to understand that there is a baby in my belly.  It's adorable.

* She says her p's with an m a lot of the time...but not all the time...it's weird. Example: mink = pink, mane = plane.  It's cute right now, but I know she'll grow out of it.  There are some other letters she mixes up too and it's pretty cute.  When we were in Indiana we tried to get her to say Poppa Tom correctly.  She says "Poppa Pom."  So we tried to get her to say the T.  Here's how it went:
Grandma: Say T.
Ellie: T.
G: Say Om.
E: Om.
G: Say T-Om.
E: T-Om.
G: Say Poppa T-Om.
E: Poppa T-POM!!!   Well, we tried...

* For awhile she was helping say her prayers at night and would repeat what I said, but now she is refusing to do so.  It's crazy how one day she loves doing something and the next day she wants nothing to do with it!

* Oh my gosh. She has started singing along to songs!!! I LOVE IT! The most recent one is "Hello" by Adele. She makes the cutest face too and holds the long notes with this high pitched squeal thing.  You just have to see it to fully appreciate it.  But it's awesome.  She also sings along to parts of songs on my Taylor Swift 1989 album.  She'll just randomly pipe in on parts of songs.  I can't get enough of it.  And then there are other times she'll tell me to turn the music off in the car.  She'll yell at me until I do!  Crazy girl.
* Unfortunately, the nose picking phase has started. And she eats it. It's so disgusting.  That's all I want to say about it.
* Ellie's speech has improved so much the past few months. Granted, there are still things I have no idea what she is saying, but overall it is so much better!  I'm so glad.  Makes my life much easier when I know what she's trying to say.
* Ellie has started showing empathy.  It is the cutest thing.  When she sees someone that is sad or upset she gets really concerned and asks if they are sad and gets this sad/concerned look on her face.  Then after a while she will ask, "Happy now?" to make sure you are not sad anymore.  When it's me she's started to add in giving me a hug and kiss.  It melts my heart!  When we were visiting my friend, Jess, she did this and Jess goes, "That's so nice she's showing empathy...now we know she won't turn into a psychopath!" HAHAHAHA!!! Thank goodness :)
* She has some perfectionist/OCD tendencies...and I'm sure she gets them from me. (Though recently I learned that Landen has some of his own that I didn't know about...so maybe it's from him...) For example, at bedtime she is pretty set in her ways.  But especially when it comes to where things are set on her table.  Her baby and book have to go in certain spots and then she has to line her book up with the edge of the table so it is straight!  If I set them down on the table and they're not right she throws a fit and has to fix it.  Wow.  It's kind of intriguing to watch...
* Okay, so sometimes when I need Ellie to pay attention to me I have to put my hand under her chin to direct her face toward mine and I tell her to look into my eyes.  It typically works well for me.  Lately though she has started to do it to me!  She'll grab me chin and say, "See my eyes!" and then continue to make sure I'm staring at her.  The first time she did it I about died.  It was so funny.
* At night time when we're trying to get her pajamas on she likes to play tickle monster.  She goes to the other side of the room and creeps toward you with her hands out to tickle and then starts a tickle fight.  It's quite adorable.
* Ellie has finally learned how to jump off the couch, or like objects.  For so long she would try to jump off but didn't know how to propel herself forward, so she would just land on her bum on the edge of the couch and then slide off.  Well, she's finally figured out to propel herself forward!  And now she has to jump off the couch all the time and makes sure we watch...every. single. time.  HA!  She also really likes to do obstacle courses across the furniture.  I'm fine with it though because it sure keeps her entertained!