Caught on Tape

Latest Ellie-isms

First of all, we get lots of questions, some directed at us, some just directed out into the world. She likes to ask people/objects "what are you doing?" or "how ARE you?" She's also interested in what strangers names are lately. But we don't get a lot of "what's that," which surprises me, as I feel like that's a pretty common toddler question. Still, it's pretty funny to see a toddler enthusiastically ask some water on the driveway "what are you DOING, water?"

She continues to be big on saying thank you randomly. Though, she's saying "thanks mom" lately, and I keep telling her to say mommy. She's too young to be calling me mom, I think. For a few weeks now, she's known that her dada's name is Tim, but couldn't tell you mine. In the past week or so, she's figured out what mine is, but she calls me Mega.

As you can see, there is a lot of dancing in our house. A lot of singing too. She especially likes to sing in her stroller when we walk, and will randomly start in on one of her songs from music class (which she calls Miss Elena songs. Mostly when she's whining for them in the car.) She also likes "Single Ladies" by Beyonce and "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Ray Jepson. In fact, the other day she was in the car, whining her face off, and I said "what do you want, Single Ladies, or Call Me Maybe" and from the back seat came a tearful "Single Ladies!" We sing a lullaby to her every night, and the other day she was having a rough time going down for nap, so I picked her up and made up a new little ditty to sing to her, and now at nap time she will ask me "you sing my new song?" The lullaby is more important than reading Good Night Moon, it appears.

She continues to be so in love with Thor, and is finally figuring out how to truly be gentle with him. She pets his head, has mastered scratching him under the chin and she will curl up next to him on the floor to pet him. He genuinely seems to like her now. Lulu would still prefer if Ellie went and lived outside, but she doesn't truly like anyone other than Tim and I, and continues to get crabbier in her old age.

I just adore how funny and sweet she is. Yesterday morning she crawled up in bed with us, as she is wont to do, and asked if she could give us kisses. Then she started repeating "I love you too dada. I love you too mama." My favorite is when she runs over and asks "hold me!" Second in cuteness is when she really wants something and clutches her hand and goes "oh please!" The oh is what does it in for me.

Also funny, this morning I was changing her diaper and she pointed out the scrape on her knee by saying "I have a little boo boo. But it's okay. I'll live." Apparently she listens to me when I tell her to shake things off! I also like when she tells me "it's okay mama," or "no problem!" (particularly because problem sounds like plolblem. Sort of like how we are all a flamily.) Also random and weird, the other day in the car she kept telling Tim she was sorry, and when he asked her what she was sorry for, she blurted out "I don't like the forest!" Well, good thing you're in the car on a freeway then, kiddo.

Christmas Cheer.

Last night was Tim's company holiday party. They started later than in previous years, and there was no sit down dinner. I thought it was pretty hysterical listening to the nerds complain about no free dinner, because there were enough appetizers and desserts for you to come hungry and leave so full that your stomach hurt. I mean, sliders, a pasta bar, salads, desserts... what more do you need? However, when we got the news, we got together a big group of nerds to go out to fancy dinner at L'Hirondelle beforehand, which I think was the better choice.  A quieter start to our night with MUCH better food. It may not have been free, but it was sure worth it. Plus we arrived fashionably late, and just as the party was really picking up speed.

I still think the best part is that Gigi and Grizz (mostly Gigi) kept Ellie over night. Tim and I got home at midnight, and then slept until TEN AM. It was like I had gone into a coma, died, seen the light and then been revived.

Then I made Tim clean the house with me, because I am romantic.

But hey, everything's clean! Swept, mopped and everything! And while Ellie was taking her nap, Tim went and got us a lovely Christmas tree.

And we had a great time decorating!

Then I made chicken for dinner, and had Ellie help me bake a batch of cookies

We are living the good life around here! Now if I could only muster the energy to wrap presents.

Finishing Touches.

We are really getting down to brass tacks, which is probably why the renovation is starting to feel like it'll never end. Still have one last visit from the electrician to do, one last visit from the plumber, and a couple of cabinets to fix up. Then yesterday evening I came home to find a chipped tile, and two drawers improperly drilled for knobs. They were able to fix the tile this morning, but those two drawer fronts won't arrive until after the New Year. The good news is that our contractor is rolling with the punches, and said "you're the one who has to live with it forever, so we'll fix it, no worries." Then he had to suddenly get off the phone because his incredibly pregnant wife called, and he didn't call me back, so I can only assume that he's got him a new baby! (The good news is Arnie was still here this morning working on fixing things.)

I just want it all to be done now!

Dining room is done! The carpet being tacked back really makes a big difference. We're still trying to figure out how we'll orient the table, and how many leaves will put back in.

The new appliances are a dream come true. My microwave has a freaking touch screen! And I know it's not new technology, but having water and ice is the best ever. The oven cooks amazingly well.

And the dishwasher is damn near silent. It's so nice. So, so nice.

The cat door is another welcome addition. Thanks for the great idea, Construction Supervisor! Instead of having cat boxes in the hall bathroom (and therefore, cat litter EVERYWHERE) the box is now in a cabinet in the garage. The door is tucked away pretty discretely, the cats can get in and out easily, and there's no chance of them getting outside into the yard or even into the garage. Hopefully it'll make clean up a lot easier for everyone, and we can actually start bathing Ellie in the bath tub, instead of our shower. I put a box in the cabinet and have showed it to both cats, but we'll keep the other cat box out until the renovations are done, thus giving them time to warm up (Thor no likes it thus far. The good news is that Lulu's the revenge peer, so I'm less worried about my stooge cat son. He'll figure it out.)

Step Whatever: Home Stretch

WE HAVE A FULLY FUNCTIONAL KITCHEN! Gary was here yesterday morning hooking up the dishwasher and sink (with a little help from my Construction Supervisor, yet again. Perhaps he can join Gary's crew!) I have missed the sink more than I ever thought I would - having to bring everything to our tiny bathroom sink stinks. We were spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to use the same plate more than once, and I'd started taking sippy cups and water bottles over to mom's to wash them, because I felt like they were getting a better scrub.

It is so nice to just rinse a dish and throw it in the dishwasher. Or use a serving utensil, wash it, and throw it back in a drawer. In celebration, in the past 24 hours I have made two pecan pies (because my Grandma's pie crust recipe makes two pie crusts easier than one, and two pecan pies is a whole bottle of Karo syrup) and a lasagna for dinner tonight, because it is my boyfriend's birthday. He's turning 33 on 12/12/12, which is delightful and a little creepy.

Ellie is VERY excited about her daddy's birthday. She climbed up in with us today and gave him lots of hugs and kisses and told him happy birthday, and then we listened to the Beatles "Birthday," which is a family tradition. Then I made everyone pancakes, and because it's Tim's birthday, not mine, I even made him pancakes that weren't raw in the middle.

Ellie helped.

Then she insisted on wearing her apron through the rest of the day. Over her velvet Christmas dress, and to music class and the park. It was good though, because it allowed her to do some light house keeping at Gigi's house when we stopped by to celebrate with the Gardening Angels.

I'm so excited that things are coming together! We unpacked most of the dishes last night and the majority of the pantry. Things feel so clean and organized. The painters have been through to touch everything up, and now we're waiting on the under cabinet lights (hence the random wires still hanging out) and then some last minute wood work - mounts around the lights, some baseboard pieces, the thresh hold. Hopefully most of that, and a few cabinet fixes, will go in tomorrow and we can get fully settled. Then it's just final touches, final payment, and starting to think about whether or not we do the bathrooms before or after Lambeau. While I'd like to have them done before (and Glen thinks he can get them done) I am mentally exhausted at the idea of picking things out and putting them in again. We'll see how I feel after I get a chance to mop the house and have it be clean for more than 14 hours.

Stone Cold Awesome.

The granite is in! I am in love! What more is there to know?

Welcome home, beautiful!

Night time beauty

In the morning light

Christmas Train!

This week looks to be our busiest in December, and we kicked it off in festive style tonight with our second annual trip to the Christmas Train at the Irvine Park Railroad. We got the tickets through a mom friend, and figured it would just be the three of us (because it's sort of out in the middle of nowhere, and it's not the best place to try to coordinate a meet up... lots of waiting in line, and so if your friend calls and says "oh, we're 20 minutes out" I'd be inclined to just get on the train and ditch them, HA!) But as we were waiting in the incredibly short line to board the train, behind us came our pals Lexi and Whitney. BEST CHRISTMAS SURPRISE EVER!

Also, I think having friends there helped keep me from throwing Ellie from the train, because there was some SERIOUS whining when we boarded and it did not immediately jet out of the station. Even worse on the other end of the track, ugh.

But in between, she was remarkably good. Did NOT like Santa, but was pretty good waiting in line, sharing her treats, and playing with her friends. She whined right beforehand, but then seriously hammed it up when we stuck her face through the display holes for photo time. Which ended up being the best photo of all three of us all night (and as you can see, Tim is acting like a loon.)

Afterwards we had a cookie and a decaf coffee and the girls had a little dance party. Whitney is only 11 months but already walking, and we joke that she's doing it to keep up with Ellie and Lexi. There are worse examples in the world, I guess.

On the way home, I sat in the back seat with Ellie, which I don't normally do (I wanted her to eat a banana to make sure she was topped off before bed.) Once the banana was done, we pretended to hold our hop hops and our binny pigs and pet them. Then we threw balls of all colors back and forth to each other and high in the air. And then she spent a few minutes just letting me stroke her cheek and hold her hand, and it was the best night ever. Because even if she is a whiny little horrible turd sometimes, when we put her in her car seat and loaded up, she said "thank you for riding the train wid me, mama and dada."

Going so fast on the train!

Waiting patiently in line, with the help of some Goldfish (aka: the crackers of instant silence)

I DO NOT LIKE THIS. THIS IS NEITHER MERRY NOR BRIGHT.

Husband, this is why we can't have nice things

Thanks for a magical evening, Christmas Train! See you next
year!