Back in the Saddle.

While it was nice to have Tim home for two weeks, I must admit, I am thankful that he's back in the office and Ellie and I are back in our routines. We had a lot of late nights, a lot of long boring mornings (with lots of whining for TV) and lots of crappy naps. But the last few days we've been walking in the morning, having a good lunch and nap and then living life in the afternoons (or bothering Gigi. Depends on the day.)

Ellie has been cracking me up lately with her Midwesternness. She's said "supper" instead of dinner and "bubbler" instead of water fountain for awhile, but the other day she told me "you betcha!" and I just about died. Soon she'll be making hot dishes for everyone. Plus last week I got her to yell "GO PACK GO!" to a stranger in the Trader Joes parking lot who was wearing a Green Bay sweatshirt.

She has also showed the first bit of interest in using the restroom IN the restroom (instead of in her pants.) I must admit, I am a little nervous about the whole thing, because if she can't be fully potty trained by April, I'm not terribly motivated to try. If she could just wait until after the baby is born and I have my mother of two sea legs under me, I'd be happy to take her to the toilet every fifteen minutes for days on end. But I know I can't hold her back, so when she asks to sit on the pot, we go and sit on the pot. She got all mad the other day when she pooped in her diaper and I changed her, and I said "if you don't like having your diaper changed, learn to poop in the toilet." She then asked to use the toilet and got SO MAD when despite all the straining, no more poop came out. She doesn't quite get that she has to go to the bathroom BEFORE the poop. The best is when I use the bathroom and she congratulates me. Thanks for the help kid.

It's also funny that she sings a song from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood every time she uses the bathroom ("if you have to potty, STOP and go right away. Flush and wash and be on your way!") Sometimes she'll remind me of all the steps. Again, thanks for the help kid. For those of you not in the know, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is a cartoon that features all of the puppets from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, with similar messages about kindness and learning and imagination. She LOVES it. We have all the episodes taped on our tivo, and no matter how many times she's seen them, Ellie always wants to watch them again. Except for the one about being angry - that one freaks her out.

Also freaky, this guy.

I guess now we know where Ellie learned her best moves.