Our Little Flower.

Today has been one of those mother of the year type days. Firstly, we've been sort of out of routine lately - Beans hasn't been sleeping well, napping well, or pooping well, and I was just chalking it up to her being a horrible little fart, and then this afternoon I convinced her to show me her teeth and lo and behold, she's cutting both top canines. Please note, these are teeth 15 and 16, and it still took me several days to figure out what was going on.

We have had some good moments. Today we were wrassling on the floor, and she was screaming with joy crawling away from me and then having me grab her leg and pull her back. We did that for a good ten minutes, and at the time I thought "man, I hope she doesn't end up with rug burn." Then when changing her into her swimsuit, Gigi discovered that her entire belly is one big carpet burn. EXCELLENT WORK, SELF.

A funny moment: while we were floating in the spa, a bee came and landed first on Ellie's watering can, and then on her swim suit. Gigi and I just told her to stand still and not bother the bee, because there's no use freaking  out - the bee is not going to sting her out of nowhere, so there's no point in getting her all worked up about bugs. When the bee flew away Gigi joked that maybe the bee thought she was a flower. And so we asked her, are you a flower? Her response is classic (this is obviously taped later.)

While she doesn't think she's a flower, she does think she's a butterfly.

And yes, we do eat a lot of yogurt.

Other things we have been up to:
-we returned to tumbling class today, as we are taking a summer hiatus from music. It was so weird to think that last time we went, Lexi was just taking her first steps and Ellie was barely beginning to crawl. Today they ran all over the place, climbed a thousands steps and shouted to each other. So cute!
-Speaking of music, Ellie has a favorite song, "Shipoopy," from the Music Man. While I'm pleased that she hasn't become addicted to some horrible Elmo song, there are days when I grow weary of listening to Shipoopy for the third time in a row. She definitely prefers when showtunes random through on my iPod (good thing I have a boat load of showtunes!)
-She's finally starting to call herself Ellie, as you can hear (seriously, it was hilarious. She picked up my phone this afternoon, held it to her ear and said "Hello, Ellie here!") Previously, she mainly referred to herself as baby. But still, if you ask her what her name is, she says Itty Bitty.
-As always, her vocabulary astounds me, especially what I consider advanced concepts, like the idea of "too" and "now." I took her out of the car the other day and she said "outside now," and when Tim and Ellie went to visit Mimi and Pa this weekend, she said "mama stay Ellie's house" (she did not add "to sit on her big ass," which is what I did for two glorious, quiet hours.)
-She continues to adore babies and stuffed animals, and is especially pleased when I swaddle one of her babies for her.
-Her little manners are very sweet. I love when she says please and excuse me. We are still working on thank you (today she burst into tears when Grizz asked her to say thank you for some banana chips) and she gets very upset when you ask her to say she's sorry.
-She likes to tidy and be helpful, and is very big on throwing away garbage
-She also likes to put our carts back at the grocery store, because I've taught her that people who don't put their carts back are jerks (because they are!)
-And if she's not playing with her babies, she's begging for someone to read her a book. You know, that damn stupid Biscuit book "just one more time. Read one more time mama."