Well Ellie is just growing and changin everyday. She loves to read. Her favorite books that we usually read at least 5 or 6 times a day are "Thomas the Very Useful Engine" and "Wynken, Blynken and Nod." If any kind of music comes on like even a little jingle in a commercial on the radio she starts dancing immediately or just bobs her head. When we sit down to eat together she puts her silverware (oh yeah she is also eating with silverware now and wants no help) and puts her hands out for us all to pray. At night she lays her head on my shoulder while I pray and then when i lay her down she puts her hands together and we say "Now I Lay Me Down...". The past few months after we put her to sleep for the night she lays in bed and talks up a storm to herself and even giggles and laughs for sometimes a whole hour. She is quite the talker these days. SHe says "keech" (ch like a "k" sound) for cat and "dooooooog" (say it making an "o" shape with your mouth) for dog. She says "moo" for a cow and "shesh" for fish. She would probably talk even more if we could get that damn paci out of her mouth...she has become more addicted. She has a new favorite blanket that she all of a sudden can't live without. It's referred to as "snuggles". She also has a baby that she has to take everywhere with her. The baby has all kinds off ribbons hanging off her and Ellie likes to rub the ribbon in between her fingers. She is very attentive and aware constantly. If a door is left open or a light is left on or the fan is left on or the car window is down when the car stops she says "oh, ooooo, oh, oooooo, oh, oh" and points to it. When we're getting ready to leave she tries to lock Maggie up and when we come home that's the first thing she does is run over to her cage (Maggie does not like Ellie). Connor has finally accepted her and doesn't growl at her anymore when she touches him. She loves to give him hugs and pats and scratch his belly.
We still have her on Almond milk. I'm going to wait until she turns two to switch her back to cow's milk. I can't handle another diarrhea fest like that again. So between the three of us we buy 3 different kinds of milk. Oh and there's two different grocery stores that we have to go to to get them...frustrating. She eats everything pretty much. She loves green beans and broccoli and cauliflower. She eats almost 2-3 eggs for breakfast many mornings and will eat as many pancakes as me on Saturday mornings. she enjoys toast for a snack or a box of raisins (she loves eating out of the little box). She also eats as much oatmeal as me. She has decided that she is a vegetarian though, with the exception of turkey bacon and turkey sausage. No fish, chicken or beef of any kind. But she gets her protein in many other places. She is a super healthy eater and I am so blessed by her eating habits. I sure worked hard for them. I think that she get's her good eating habits from the homemade baby food with fruits introduced much later and unfiltered all natural apple juice watered down mostly. It was a lot of work but so much cheaper and totally worth it. I figured I probably saved a couple hundred dollars easy in those few months. She has grown so much in the past few months. I buy 2T clothes for her now. Her 18 mo apt was yesterday (2 months late) and she weighed 28.8 lbs and is 32 inches tall. She's developed some tan lines already as we can't keep her inside. She loves to play in water and will sit in the tub until the water is cold or in the pool until her toes look like raisins. Every time she sees a flower she leans in and wrinkles her nose and says "hhhmmmm," even if it's in a book! It's adorable. She files her nails and brushes her own teeth even! She helps put dishes away and has even started to try and help fold laundry! Sesame Street and Super Why are her favorite shows of all time (it's also the only TV that I let her watch). She doesn't cry anymore when we drop her off at nursery for church and she loves to say "da" all the time, seriously all the time. She sits down on the floor with me while I stretch after a run and stretches with me, it's seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen. She laughs constantly and cries a little here in there due to lack of communication skills but we're working on that. She understands pretty much everything but just can't relay what she wants to say. She starts school (a 2 year old class)in august where she will learn all kinds of things...guess who else is starting school...muah. Hopefully at least. I'm looking into the Tech school here for some culinary courses. I will know by the time i get back from CO if I'm doing that or not. I can pretty much go for free...call me if you want the details on that. So this is a really long blog post...
So that about wraps that up. We're headed to Colorado for a few weeks for a wedding that I'm in. Ben flies out a week after us and we'll be super duper busy. Ellie will get to hang out with my Dad and Lisa a little and it sounds like Brittany found a really cheap ticket and is flying out for a few days too! I am so pumped to see her. I haven't seen her since her wedding which was almost a year ago! So keep an eye out for those postings in the weeks to come. For those of you in CO please call me I'd love to see you, probably somewhere off 25...I'll be back and forth between Castle Rock and the Springs the whole time. Pray for safe travels and a little sanity here and there when needed. Lots of Love!
Cami
