What Ellie is Up To.

The biggest thing is apparently a growth spurt. On Friday she asked for cottage cheese for breakfast, and some oatmeal, which is normal (though usually we substitute yogurt for cottage cheese, but hey, more protein.) Then she had a yogurt around 10, and at 11 she was whining for more food, so we had a banana. I thought for sure she was just bored or stir crazy, and not really hungry. Well, then we went out to lunch with Lexi and Kristen and at lunch she snacked on a bunch of goldfish and some dried fruit before the meal, stuffing it in rapid fire style. We'd ordered the girls a grilled ham and turkey sandwich to split, and Ellie ate all of hers and then half of Lexi's. She is an absolute bottomless pit! I don't know how much taller she is intending to get. I'd like to her to wear her 2T stuff before growing out of it!

Speaking of. So, her first two winters we kept her either swaddled, or in a sleep sack (which is basically a blanket with arm holes that you zip your baby into.) Here is a picture:

Cuddly, right? The baby can't roll out from under the blanket, nor can they pull it over their face and smother. I highly recommend. Last winter I bought Ellie the XL sleep sack, which she could actually walk in, despite the lack of feet. I have video of it somewhere that I should find - she is like a little Lisa Simpson. This year, she moved into the 2T-3T sack, which actually has little foot holes at the bottom. But unlike a pair of footed pajamas, there is still a ton of material at the bottom - it's definitely not fitted to the crotch. She looks hilarious in it, but thankfully, can still walk (and climb up into bed with us in the morning no less!) I'm glad I remembered it last night and pulled it out of the closet - this morning it was 65 degrees in the house. Which is colder when you remember that she doesn't currently sleep with a blanket, nor does she have a nice spouse to keep the bed warm, or even a kitten to lay on her head!

She is obsessed with her birthday presents, especially her tea party. It came in a little carrying case, which is great, because she likes to take it to other people's houses with her. And she loves her Sesame Street doll house. She calls all of the character figurines her "friends." As in "let's go see my fwiends!" as soon as she gets up in the morning. She likes to lay them all face down on the coffee table before she takes a nap, and then when she wakes up, she will run out and wake them all up too.

She likes to carry around a bag and pretend to go shopping. Usually she is also pushing a baby (or bunny) in the stroller, so she will tell me "goodbye mama, I'm going to buy some apples!" and then will come back, hand me a pretend apple and tell me "you taste it? It tastes good." She also is in to smelling things lately (will bring me a lotion to open up and let her smell, especially) but if you ask her if something smells good, she will ALWAYS say that it smells like "a peanut butter sandwich." My orange scented lotion? Peanut butter sandwich. The cats? Oh, they smell like sandwiches too.

And when she gets excited about something, especially something alive (such as a cat, or a rabbit) she starts exclaiming "oh, looka him! Looka him! He so cute!" which makes me laugh every time. Her delight is infectious.

She still calls yogurt ohgirduh, which I love, and my other favorite Ellie-ism is when we're walking some place and she doesn't want to hold my hand, she will say "I walk to myself mama." She knows she has to hold my hand in parking lots, but on a side walk she will pull away "I walk to myself!" I use the phrase "to myself" now too because it just cracks me up. She does however, call hop hops rabbits (whabbits) or bunnies now, and she has starting calling agua water more than half the time. Finally, speaking some English around here.

We've discussed the whole baby brother situation with her often. She thinks he lives in my belly button, though the other day she thought he was gone (but from HER belly button. I assured her that he was still safe and sound in mine.) She knows that he will be nursing when he comes out, and depending on the day, she says we will either kick him, or hold him and rock him. I think she's going to do a pretty bang up job of big sistering. Maybe she will even share her Sophie - she dug it out of the toy box the other day and seemed mystified by the squeaky old gal, and I told her "oh, you used to love Sophie, you used to chew on her feet," and she stuck Sophie in her mouth again and announced that she tasted "bleah!"