Ellie update

Gabrielle is about 21 months old.  She is still very attached to her binki and baby dolls, but lately she is also getting excited about her crib quilt (we're trying to get her used to sleeping with a blanket). She knows her facial features, articles of clothing, and sundry other words.  I love hearing her say: "no poo poo," "read books," "I love you," and of course, Mama (or "ah-ma" as she often calls me).

 Ellie likes to put her fingers in her belly button when she sleeps (please baby, grow out of this before we send you to public school).  When I put her in zippered jammies I usually just leave it partially zipped so she still has access.  Andrew disagrees with this method, but by bedtime I'm usually worn out and I just want everyone to be quiet and stay in bed so I indulge her.

She's warming up to animals.  Her favorite thing to do is feed them (this can be problematic because she tries to give them people food). 

Poor Ellie gets dragged to a lot of stuff for her sisters--pottery, piano, Girl Scouts, and play practice for Liz and dance and swim classes for Alaina.  She's getting tricky to keep entertained/contained.  In our last pottery class a little girl walked in at the start of class and asked if Ellie had tried to run away yet (I'd say she does it about a dozen times during the hour class--I have to be there to take roll).  Below are shots of Ellie during Lainey's ballet class (trying to make a basket--love the optimism--and crying because she can't participate, and yes, she's still wearing her jammies).  I finally signed up Ellie for her own class--Blast Off for Babies--and she loves it.  It'll be kind of fun to have even more one-on-one time with her next year while Laines is in preschool (4 days a week! yikes!).

Lately Gabrielle's been excited about walking instead of crawling up the stairs, folding her arms for prayers, and "scaring" us, usually by pretending to be an animal (or monster) and growling.  She also puts a piece of clothing or a dish towel over her head and makes scary ghost noises.  And sometimes she just wears clothes on her head for the fun of it.  In the pictures below she's sampling the bath bubbles--apparently don't eat bath bubbles is just one of things a girl has gotta learn on her own.

Ellie Belly is a bit of trouble maker.  She loves to run away (and hide) and she's fast.  She also hits, pushes, spits, and throws food and other messy things on the floor on a regular basis.  Ellie wants to sit anywhere in the van but her car seat (hate that stage).  Of course she's quite liberal with the smiles, hugs, kisses, and cuddles so it sorta evens out. 

Elle has just four standard hiding places at home so she's easy to find: under her crib, behind the pillows on Lainey's bed, on top of the toilet water tank in the master bath, and behind the clear shower curtain in her bathroom.  I'd say I have to go find her in one of these hiding places at least once a day.

 She was hiding under there with a couple books.  She's really excited about books lately and fixates on pretty random ones.  Last Sunday she went to nursery with a book of Spanish phrases and in the picture below she's got a children's songbook.  Often the book she attaches to is one of Lizzie's novels.

Ellie often seems quiet next to Lainey, but she's got a big personality.  She loves hats, particularly Andrew's ski helmut and frequently wore it around the house during ski season.  She also loves shoes and often naps with them on, because for me the fight to remove them just isn't worth it.

Ellie's in that fun imitation and do-it-myself stage.  Last week I let her wear a pull-up on top of her diaper because she wanted so badly to copy Laines.  Below she is alternating between wiping her feet (though I'm pretty sure I told her to wipe her hands) and blowing her nose.  Nice.

Gabrielle loves yogurt (she pronounces it "yo-yert") and actually cheers when she sees us serve it to her.  She eats it at least once a day so we go through quite a lot.  Her second favorite food seems to be cheese.

She and Lainey enjoy playing together (in the pic below they are pulling petals off my flowers).  Of course sometimes it seems like they fight just as much as they play and Ellie is often the aggressor.  When it comes to Alaina, Ellie is a bit of a bully actually (hitting and pushing her big sister who often cries instead of fighting back).