I thought to myself everyday that I needed to take Ellie's 22 month pictures--and then today she turned 23 months. April literally flew by before my eyes!
Ellie got her first throw up yucky sickness last week. She has been going to lots of toddler time activities around town and is around lots of children so I'm assuming she just picked up the germ somewhere around the way. She was down for a day and then Josh and I got it...it consumed last weekend and after many, many loads of laundry and sterilizing the house we are back on our feet again.
I did take her in to the doctor to get checked out--she saw Dr. Jones and really did love him. She let him check her ears and listen to her heart with no whimper. He told her he was looking for kitties in her ears so of course she sat quietly and listened for the meow. We will be using that trick from now on.
She weighed 21 lbs, 4 oz (1%) at her appointment. We are hoping she didn't lose too much weight from being sick.
She has a good little schedule going on right now where she gets out of the house nearly everyday. She has a timid, stoic and shy personality when she is in a new environment and we're just trying to expose her to being around new people and experiences so that preschool isn't such a huge transition in the fall. Luckily Greenville has so many things going on for toddlers that are for the most part free. She has been going to Kindermusik, toddler time at Chickfila, many different library preschool programs, Gymboree and the children's museum offers a new activity weekly.
She has started imitating and saying so many new words just in the past week or so. I can get her to say nearly everything now, although it's sometimes in Ellie-ese and no one would understand what in the heck she is trying to communicate. My favorite is when she says "no" and "uh-oh". She purses her little lips in the sweetest way.
We reversed her in the car last week. I wish I could say it has been life changing and she is the world's best rider now but the crying and whining continues. We are just starting to car train much like we sleep trained until she realizes we aren't going to answer every request that she makes.
Ellie is wearing:
Dresses/pants/bloomers--12 months
bubbles--18 months
PJs--12 and 18 months
Shoes--3 and 4's
Diapers--3
Ellie's current favorites:
Food: gummies; peanut butter toast
Drink: milk with vanilla Pediasure
Book: Little Blue Truck
Movie: anything Elmo or Mickey Mouse
Animals: dogs or giraffes
Toys: water table; very much into her baby dolls right now; stickers (unfortunately); bubbles (also unfortunately)
Song: Wheels on the Bus (need to get a video of her doing the motions)
She is finally realizing the importance of a bow! She loves to point out her bows to strangers and is starting to request one if we go outside without it. Cracks me up.
We have switched Gymboree days/times due to Kindermusik and we love her new teacher, Mrs. Tiffany. She pushes Ellie to accomplish new things and I love seeing Ellie's pride when we celebrate a new skill. Gross motor does not come easily to E--that coupled with Ellie's timidness to new things--causes her to not being willing to even attempt activities so Mrs. Tiffany has been perfect for her personality.
She is getting brown as a berry from being outside--she already has little tan lines where she wears her sandals. Her hair is turning lighter too.
After her nightly bath time, she and I spend 20 or so minutes together rocking and reading and singing. It's a sweet time that I have grown to love so much. We read a story from Jesus Storybook--we are now nearly half way through for the 2nd time. She loves and requests her bible throughout the day and while the stories are long and wordy she listens intently. We will read a couple more shorter books after that and then she loves to label all of her body parts. Pointing out her elbows, shoulders and back are her favorites.
It's not all rainbows and roses around here--she demands our attention every second she is awake, has a very head strong personality, knows what she wants and gets mad as a hornet when she doesn't get it. We are continuing to work on her scratching and sudden outbursts of screaming when she doesn't get her way (and attempting to not laugh hysterically at her when she does it--because really? She's 21 lbs. She can't do THAT much damage yet.)
We love you on the perfect and not-so-perfect days, little love. I cannot believe next month you are TWO!
