Ella is very silly - she makes really funny faces and funny noises and always cracks herself up, even more so if there is a mirror around and she's checking out her reflection. She loves music and dancing. Her favorite songs are ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider and If You're Happy and You Know It.
She likes pretending a lot and will put something on her head and say "I'm wearing a princess hat!" or in the tub put the washcloth on herself and say "I'm wearing a dress!" She's said to me before - "Look! A dinosaur!" and gets more imaginative each day. Her expressions and storytelling are just the cutest things ever. She gets really excited and animated, gets big round eyes and uses all kinds of gestures. She is quite the chatterbox, and her teacher told me that she is hands-down "the class talker."
She's really descriptive about things and so literal. She'll say "my belly is hungry" or "my eyes were crying" or "I burped in my mouth." It's so hard not to laugh because it's just so precious, and she is so serious about it.
She loves reading and has memorized big chunks of several of her books. She knows most of Goodnight Moon, Very Busy Spider, and My Very Own Name. Sometimes she wants to read by herself and will 'read' to me instead of wanting me to read to her.
She is such a love bug and can be heart-meltingly sweet. She'll say things like "I love you so much", "I need kisses and hugs", will rub our faces and give us the best hugs and kisses. Today she told me "You make me happy. Every day." Sooooo sweet.
She doesn't like to get very dirty and likes things to be neat and in their place. If there is something in her room that she doesn't think should be in there, like a toy that she brought in earlier, she'll ask me to get it out of her room before she goes to sleep. This goes for Cory and Nomar - they are not allowed in her room once she gets in her crib.
She loves washing her hands, washing dishes, anything involving playing in the sinks. She has stool by each one and things she has very important business that requires her in a sink several times a day. Sometimes I think she asks to go potty just so she can wash her hands.
She loves to help with chores and she wants to help fold laundry, sweep, throw things in the garbage, wipe up spills, put her clothes in the hamper. However, this love of chores does not apply to cleaning up her toys after playing with them and that always requires us requesting several times.
She's always been pretty good about saying "please" and now is doing really well with "thank-you" and "excuse me" too. Sometimes she'll catch me off guard with her manners and will say "bless you", or "I'm fine, thank you."
She's still about 80% potty trained and we need to commit to transitioning over to underwear. She wears it at home a lot but not out of the house so that is the next step. She used to say "Mommy, go away" or "get out of here" when she was going potty and wanted to be left alone. I explained that wasn't a nice thing to say and so now she says "privacy please" - but it sounds like "pie-a-cy please" - so if anyone doesn't understand what that means, she gets frustrated and yells "close the door." She even expects that Cory understands "pie-a-cy please"!
She is much less of a picky eater than she used to be. She still knows what she likes and really only wants to eat what she wants to eat, but that includes a lot more options now. The foods she eats the most are strawberries, grapes, peaches, raisins, turkey and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, pasta, yogurt, bagels, eggos, corn, chicken, and she'll eat a teeny bit of vegetables with serious coaxing (beans, asparagus, carrots). Her favorites are macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, fries, grilled cheese, pasta, and really any sweets. She is growing so fast - she's a 2T in clothes and just moved up to a 7 in shoes.
She still uses her binky to sleep but we have got to get rid of it soon - eeekk!! I just think it's going to be so tough for all of us so I'm nervous about it. She is also very attached to her blankie and Snoopy, also sleeps with a bigger blanket that she calls "big blanket", Trove, and Tee-Tee. She usually sleeps from about 8:30 pm - 7:30 am, but I wake her up at 7:30. On weekends she usually sleeps past 8, and she is much happier when she wakes up on her own instead of being woken up.
Her naps at school are very hit or miss, sometimes she'll have no nap at all and sometimes she'll sleep for about 1 1/2 hours. Her teacher moved her to a new spot last week because she and one of the other girls in her class were keeping each other up the whole time. One day I asked Ella why she didn't sleep that day and she said "Me and Tess were playin'! Miss Dina said 'lay down guys!'"
It's also a tricky age because she can be such a wild woman and we are definitely in the "terrible twos" stage at times. She can go from the happiest girl in the world to the most unhappy girl in the world within seconds if she does not get her way, and is always testing her boundaries. She does not like me hurrying her, and she is ALWAYS playing - whether it's time to get dressed, put shoes on, eat, head out the door, whatever - she wants to play and go her pace all the time, not ours!
And while she doesn't have actual tantrums, when she gets too tired or cranky she becomes very whiny and unhappy. She also gets a kick out of not doing whatever I'm asking her to do, and her main reasons for time-outs are usually for purposely not listening.
She's also become very clever and has started to use stall tactics when she doesn't want to go to sleep yet. She likes to get tucked in her blanket and she's called me back in her room before because "my knee is sticking out", "my toes are sticking out", "I feelin' sirsty."
Some recent pics -
She is really just the best, it's amazing that she is already 2 1/2!
2 comments:
Colleen, that's exactly LIKE YOU as a little kid. Teachers were always telling us that you were "so social", "so verbal"... to the point of disruption! Karma...
Colleen, terriffic post! 2-1/2 already. Can Ella get any cuter? I'm sure she can and will!!!!
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