More Helping.

She also enjoys folding laundry.

Top Three.

Favorite moments of my day:

1. Ellie's delight at the playground. From the minute she realizes where we're going, she is as happy as happy can be, and will talk about all the sliding and the swinging and the playing she did for the rest of the day. Today she figured out how to climb up one of the little slides, and was mightily pleased with her small self.

2. Having Ellie ask to hold my hand, and then clutch my finger in her little palm as she drags me off to show me something that excites her in this big, amazing world.

3. Rocking her and singing our goodnight lullaby with her curly haired head tucked on my shoulder... until she decided she needed to lean back and give me a big smooch on the mouth before going back to snuggling. I love that girl.

Little Helper.

Elizabeth knows the word "help" now, and will say it when she is in need of aid. It sounds a lot like "Howe," but hey, it's better than having her scream when she gets frustrated in life. She also loves it when I ask her for help. She'll look at me and say "help mama?" She loves to close the door when we come in from the garage, and she especially likes to help me put laundry in the washer or dryer. Today she particularly enjoyed holding up pairs of her own pants and saying "dada pants," as she threw them in the dryer. That's right Ellie, he's also a size 18 months.

Here you can see her helping carry her own diapers to her room. In this case, she's only helping us because we told her she couldn't have any pajamas until she got her diapers put away.

Throw out the First Pitch, Shout a Hip Hooray!

Hooray for the Minnesota Twins today! (super cute cheerleader dress courtesy of Tio Juan and Auntie Nay-Nay, as Ellie calls Renee.)

Nature Walk!

Lulu is obsessed with getting into the nursery - when we got everything set up lo those many years ago, she started sleeping on the changing table, staring out into the yard, guarding the house. We've kept the door closed since Ellie was born, not so much because I worry about the cats hurting her, but baby sleep is a precious thing- I don't need her woken up at night by the cats climbing onto her bed or meowing at her. So Lulu likes to scoot in every chance she gets - normally after naps and during diaper changes. She tries to return to her perch, and then Ellie demands to sit with Lulu. It's about the only time Lulu consents to having the baby touch her. 

Ellie has really been enjoying this Chick book lately - it's a pop up book about a baby chick hatching from his egg, eating, peeping, snuggling with his mommy. She calls it the "peep peep" book, and has been remarkably gentle with it (usually pop up books are destroyed within minutes.) Well, today on our walk we got to see some baby peep peeps, and she went nuts. They were so cute!

Saturday Night Social.

On Saturday we had another party with Ellie's baby friends. They are all getting to be such a fun age, running around, talking, interacting with one another. Funny to think that a year ago they were all just a bunch of lumps, sitting next to each other and only occasionally taking notice of the other babies.

However, they way they are now sometimes feels like 10 times more work. Breaking up fights over the good toys, trying to catch them when they start climbing on stuff like a bunch of angry monkeys, trying to keep them from spilling food and drink everywhere (I caught one of the boys trying to steal my cocktail!) They are busy, busy, busy. The only real way to entertain them seemed to be sitting with a plate of fruit, feeding pieces to the various little birds.

I thought since they were all walking, it would be fun to get a picture of all of them lined up, standing. It lasted about half a second before they scattered.

Ellie was upset - she was in a very "mommy" mode on Saturday.

She continued to be upset even after everyone else was happily settled with an animal cracker.

18 months is a hard age anyways. Fun, but hard. She is constantly testing her boundaries, my patience, and the laws of gravity. Ellie has learned how to climb on things, so she crawls up on chairs, says "big girl sits!" and then refuses to sit down. She understands she shouldn't be doing it, she'll even say "kaboom, ow!" but I feel like I'm constantly after her. She will get grouchy and hit. She can be especially mean to the cats (poor Petunia in particular) and even though every day she reminds me that we don't pull Lulu's tail or bother Lulu while she eats, she tells me about said rules while breaking them. She's smart, but she's disobedient. I am trying to be consistent and firm, and we are doing 30 second time outs - she HATES being taken out of the action, and usually has her act together when she returns to the fun.

Bearducken, THE REVENGE!

It's the biggest summer blockbuster of 2012!