Two Year Old Ellie

I'm a little late on this update since she turned two nearly two months ago, but better late than never.  

Gabrielle continues to be cute, sweet, and sassy.  She still uses her binky, naps once a day, and wears a diaper (we've begun to work on the diaper and binky situations).  She's 50% for height (I forget the exact measurement) and nearly 90% for weight at 29.5 pounds (I think Lainey is about 33 pounds).

Ellie loves doing stuff with her sisters and has lately began copying them a lot.  She also likes to hug them.  Sometimes when Gabrielle hugs Lainey it turns into a tackle.

Her love of shoes continues, though she prefers her sister's shoes to her own and often runs around barefoot outside.

She responds to her name, but usually won't say it.  When we ask her what her name is, she usually says "my baby" or "name."  She knows her sisters names and her body parts.  Her hair is often in her eyes because she removes whatever I put in her hair.  Often she has an Ikea chip clip in her hair (thankfully it kind of looks like a giant barrette).  My brother used to use chip clips to hold his daughter's hair back at breakfast and I thought it was silly that he was too lazy to go upstairs and get a rubber band.  Now, I'm doing the same thing at breakfast and once it's in her hair it usually stays in all day (sometimes she fishes them out of the drawer and asks me to put them in for her).

She likes to climb on and hang from things she shouldn't be on.

Ellie likes to dance (normally involves running in circles or placing her hands on her hips and swaying her upper body back and forth).  She also likes to do this:

Seriously, she seems like my naughtiest child so far (but I'm unsure if she really is naughty or that's just my perception because I'm so old and tired).   She hits and pushes Lainey, snatches toys (and runs away), throws stuff, spits (really it's more of a raspberry), and sticks her tongue out.  If she has something she knows she shouldn't have and you make a move toward her to get it, she'll throw it.  A couple days ago she left the table with a bowl full of cereal (no milk, thankfully).  I told her to come back, she refused, I took a step toward her, and she tossed the bowl aside, as she raced to hide behind a chair.  Cereal literally covered the carpet I had just vacuumed moments before.  She's also thrown my phone, my iPad, cups of water or milk, and other food items along with the usual array of toys she swipes from her sisters.

Elles is a messy, but usually "good" eater.  She particularly likes cheese, yogurt, bread with honey on it, and fruit (apples, bananas, strawberries, and oranges).  She likes to do stuff by herself now: retrieve things, buckle the top of part of her carseat, put on her own shoes (always on the wrong foot).

Ellie calls cats "meow meows" and horses "he hes" (below she's trying to ride a stuffed one, but she also loves our stick horse).  So far she insisted attached to any toys at bedtime like Liz was/is, but she really likes her Spanish phrase book and has certainly taken that to bed with her.  She also likes to sleep with a handful of all her binkys (and of course she still puts her finger in her belly button).

Lately Ellie has been pretending to be a dog.  She crawls around on all fours and lets her tongue hang out.  She doesn't bark, she just pants (and sometimes she tries to lick people).  She also likes to color, pretend to read, and sing songs.