Two!
Ellis turned 2-years old on January 14th. And her teachers at daycare made a sash and crown for her. They said that no other kid ever kept the crown and sash on, but Ellis loved them, wearing them until bedtime. We celebrated Ellis' birthday while Kackie and Pops were in town. Our plan was to fill the day with all of Ellis' favorite things, so we went to the Natural History Museum, played with puzzles and ate falafel and cupcakes. [Warning: This is a super long post as it is a chance to log all of Ellis accomplishments and interesting parts of her personality so that we don't forget anything about this wonderful stage in Ellis' life.]
Ellis got several great presents from her grandparents, including books, puzzles and donations to her college fund. Ellis loves puzzles. She often insists on playing with them and will turn down TV, music and sweets. She is serious about her puzzles. Sometimes she gets frustrated when she can't makes something fit, but we encourage her to keep trying by saying "you can do it," "try again" or "can you help Daddy?" She responds by trying while whispering "can do it," "try again" or "help Daddy."
Here Ellis is showing her babysitter, Jenny, her favorite puzzle, which is similar to this one. It is a 26-piece wooden puzzle made up of animals whose first letter spells each letter of the alphabet. We need to get video of her putting it together because it is not easy and, yet, she does a great job.
Ellis just had her 2-year appointment with the doctor. Ellis, who is usually very shy, took to Dr. Sage very quickly and talked up a storm. The doctor was quite impressed with her verbal abilities and declared her "advanced." She also agreed with us that it is time to start potty training. Ellis now declares when she needs a diaper change, sometimes before she soils them, and likes to go to a different room when she feels the call.
In the picture above, Ellis is wearing her new PJs and decided she wanted to wear sunglasses, just like the monkey (and like both of her parents). She even asked to wear contacts. She is also wearing a new pair of shoes that we bought yesterday and that have been removed only 2 times since -- once for a bath and once (under great duress) after they got wet from splashing in puddles. Yes, that means she slept in them...3 times, so far. She woke up in the morning and the first thing she said was "pretty shoes, cool shoes."
Our little 2-year old is an impressive kid. Some facts and stories about Ellis at 2...
Ellis got several great presents from her grandparents, including books, puzzles and donations to her college fund. Ellis loves puzzles. She often insists on playing with them and will turn down TV, music and sweets. She is serious about her puzzles. Sometimes she gets frustrated when she can't makes something fit, but we encourage her to keep trying by saying "you can do it," "try again" or "can you help Daddy?" She responds by trying while whispering "can do it," "try again" or "help Daddy."
Here Ellis is showing her babysitter, Jenny, her favorite puzzle, which is similar to this one. It is a 26-piece wooden puzzle made up of animals whose first letter spells each letter of the alphabet. We need to get video of her putting it together because it is not easy and, yet, she does a great job.
Ellis just had her 2-year appointment with the doctor. Ellis, who is usually very shy, took to Dr. Sage very quickly and talked up a storm. The doctor was quite impressed with her verbal abilities and declared her "advanced." She also agreed with us that it is time to start potty training. Ellis now declares when she needs a diaper change, sometimes before she soils them, and likes to go to a different room when she feels the call.
In the picture above, Ellis is wearing her new PJs and decided she wanted to wear sunglasses, just like the monkey (and like both of her parents). She even asked to wear contacts. She is also wearing a new pair of shoes that we bought yesterday and that have been removed only 2 times since -- once for a bath and once (under great duress) after they got wet from splashing in puddles. Yes, that means she slept in them...3 times, so far. She woke up in the morning and the first thing she said was "pretty shoes, cool shoes."
Our little 2-year old is an impressive kid. Some facts and stories about Ellis at 2...
- She knows her alphabet, though continues to skip "e" and "l," which confounds me since they are the first letters of her name and she can recognize and sign both letters. But apparently, they ruin the flow of the alphabet. She can also recognize about 20 letters when written down and accurately signs about 14 -- letter signing is not easy.
- She can also count to 12; however she does not recognize numbers yet. She has a new puzzle and Eric Carle book that should help her get familiar with the numbers.
- She knows lots of words to lots of songs: Let's Go Fly a Kite," "Somewhere Over the Rainbow, "Rainbow Connection," most every song from Annie, Baby Signing Time and Singing Time.
- Advanced is a fair description of her speech, though hardly a surprise considering her mother and grandmother. It clearly runs in the family. Ellis often tries to speak in sentences, though struggles with pronouns and tenses and drops a lot of articles. Some of her most used phrases include "See you tomorrow," "Mommy, read a book," "Want to play with puzzles" and "I need help." The last phase is something we told her to say rather than fussing, and so she did (we can't believe that worked).
- Frankly put, Ellis enjoys narrating life. She will direct you to "put on gloves and hat" or will state something she wants us to say, like "I'm going to get you" when she wants to be chased. Last night, she hid in the closet and yelled, while peaking to see if anyone was looking for her, "I'm hiding!"
- Ellis knows most of her colors. She sometimes has trouble identifying black, but otherwise can ID and sign any pure color. Once you get into the lime green or fuchsia, she gets confused. but who doesn't? When she wears a colorful shirt, she will often refer to it as a rainbow. She also loves pointing out polka dots.
- This is a really cuddly kid. She gives hugs when asked and sometimes just on her own. This morning, she woke up at 6:45. So Mom got into bed with her, they snuggled up and slept for another 90 minutes. When we got up, I asked her if she liked hugging on me (Beth), and she said, "Yeah, like cuddling with Mommy," and gave me a hug.
- Speaking of sleep, these days Ellis goes to bed between 9:00 and 9:15pm and wakes up between 6:30 and 7:30, depending on a whole host of things. She also takes a 2-hour nap from about 1:00 to 3:00pm.
- Ellis eats when she is hungry and not otherwise. She is not picky but is a moody eater. Some days she will wolf down beans, and other days she will have nothing to do with them. She loves pizza, empanadas, hummus, olives, yogurt and granola, French toast, and sausage. Ellis is learning to drink from a cup and does it pretty well. When she uses her sippy cups with straws, she has to be reminded to keep the cup down in order to get the stuff at the bottom, which we do by telling her to "hug her cup." Other times, she will just let the cup dangle from the straw as she uses her hands for more important things, like climbing.
- She still adores books and fixates on new ones. So instead of reading 3 books before bed, sometimes she asks us to read the same book 3 times. She got a new book on Friday called "Sounds Like Smelly," which she adores, from her pediatrician who gives out books with every regular appointment to encourage literacy. And our little girl takes full advantage. By Sunday night, after reading it to her about 8 times, she took it out of our hands and started reading it to us.
- Just recently, she has become interested in stuffed animals and dolls. As it turns out (and quite by accident), we have four teddy bears. One night, Ellis insisted that they all be put together in a rocking chair and called them a "family." She also will hug, kiss, cradle and pat her teddy bears to sleep.
- Lately, Ellis has been putting her little hands on each of my (Beth's) cheeks and then she'll give me a kiss, talk to me or just giggle. I absolutely love this. It is the sweetest thing.
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