Snow!

Saturday 10-29-11

There was supposed to be a Halloween celebration in town today.  It was canceled due to inclement weather.  Yes, it snowed today! 

Yesterday, we took pictures in the colorful, Fall background.  Today, those orange leaves are covered in white!  Ellie loved the snow.  She giggled when I tossed snowballs in her direction.  She enjoyed more running.   Ellie is a noisy runner.  Every step is another sound, “Ooh, EE, Yeah, ung…”  it is like a soundtrack to her movements. 

Daddy, Mommy and Ellie.  (Mommy is wearing Daddy's boots.)

Petco

Friday 10-28-11

The little girl we watch during the day announced this morning that we had to go somewhere, where were we going today?!  Well, we have been to the library two days in a row, so that was out, it was too cold to go to the town’s playground or the neighbor’s swing set, so… we went to Petco.  In the next two weeks, I would have had to go, anyway to get more dog food.  First stop at Petco was the cats for adoption.  Ellie LOVEs cats, so that went well.  Then, the fish, assorted reptiles, guinea pigs, rats, hamsters, gerbils, mice and finally the ferrets, two of which were taken out by a very nice employee for us to play with.  After all that, we headed back to the dog food so I could load 200 pounds (you get a discount) plus one free bag.  With 8 bags on the cart, baby boy in the sling, Ellie throwing mini fits because the little girl who was only trying to help her up off the floor, kept bumping her back onto the floor; we slowly managed to make it to the front of the store.  As I struggled to push the heavy cart through the obstacle-course  que to the registers, several people cut through the obstacles thwarting my attempt to check out quickly and load up the car.  I am glad we do not have a picture of all of us struggling outside to the car!  All-in-all, the adventure was a blast, we got home in time for a late lunch which meant straight to naps, do not pass GO, do not collect free play time. 

After the kids left for the day, Ellie, Daddy and I went out to play in the driveway with her new Super-Bounce ball – one of those 25 cent coin machine balls.  She drops it and it bounces down the slope of the driveway and Ellie runs for the FIRST time!  Yeah!

Library Dress-Up Day

10/27/11

Ellie is now 17 months old!  I know it is cliché, but… where does the time go?  How did our little baby get so big??  Ellie puts her shoes on (and off) by herself.  If I see that they are on the wrong feet, I say, “Remember, the big flower goes over the big toe.”  She will look down, sit down and switch the shoes!  She does not like me to read to her, but she will sit at the bookshelf and read to herself, “Ladder, laddle, lotta, laddle.” 

Today was dress-up day at the library, so all the kids dressed up for story time.  This evening, we went back to the library for a character show and trick-or-treating.  This was a practice run for Ellie.  We picked up a plastic pumpkin a few days ago, she has been carrying it around, but this was the first time someone took it from her, loaded it with a handful of candy and gave it back.  She took the pumpkin, looked inside, looked back up at the man and then looked inside again with this enlightened look, so THIS is what this pumpkin is for!!!!  I am a little concerned that she will start carrying it around, expecting everyone to put candy in!  If you plan to visit, bring CANDY!!!!

The Transition

Wednesday 10-26-11

Ellie slept in her toddler bed for both naps!!!  OK, the first nap was spent on the floor after screeching and banging on the door that we had to brace shut, but the second nap was very calm and Ellie understood exactly where to rest.  So, after the second nap, the kids and I took down the crib and I packed it away into the attic.  A little sad to see it go – me, not Ellie… now, her room has a whole lot more space and she LOVES the toddler bed.  I (and sometimes Daddy) rest on the floor next to the bed at night until she falls asleep.  This transition took less than a week!  Wow! (And sleeping through the night to boot!)  Can this little girl really be only 17 months old?!

Playing

Tuesday 10-25-11

Went to morning mass and then played in the playground while Jeff attended Eucharistic Adoration for an hour.  Ellie climbs the rubber-hose ladder and transverses most of the play set by herself.  She enjoys the big-kids’ swing and going down the slide (always feet-first on her belly.)  The ladies at the Outreach Center work on Tuesday mornings getting the Center ready for business, so they were coming and going and chatting with us.  This week, one of the ladies brought out 4 stuffed animals for us.  After that, we spent the rest of the hour sliding the animals down the slide!

This afternoon was beautiful, and since it is supposed to rain tomorrow, we broke out the sidewalk chalk and covered the driveway in pictures and then narratives of what the children were doing, dictated by the little girl we watch.

Rearranging

Monday 10-24-11

The house painter came by today to look at what all needed doing.  The window sill outside Ellie’s room needs some work, so he plans to come back Wednesday to work on it because the weather is supposed to change.  So, I decided to move Ellie’s room around a bit, putting the toddler bed in the spot where the crib is and moving the crib in a temporary spot until we can safely and confidently remove it from the room.  She is still exclusively taking naps in the crib.  I am not ready to tackle that challenge.  Anyway, the rearrangement was a disaster and Ellie (and I) spent another sleep depraved night together.  Up at 11pm, 1am, 3am, 5am, 6:30am.  Somehow Jeff always seems to sleep through the night!?

Ellie knows how to get her shoes on and off.  She seems to like shoes... a lot.  She is always trying to put on whatever shoes are strewn on the floor (usually Mommy's.)  At Walmart, she found an errant sock (new, not old).  She immediately sat down, removed her shoe and tried to get that sock on her foot.  When I finally dragged her off the floor, she found a pair of pants that looked like they might fit.  She sat down, removed her shoes and attempted to get them on.  Then, it was a pair of union style pajamas.  I thought we would never leave!

Pumpkins

Sunday 10-23-11

A little tired, we headed out to church, returned for a LONG naps for ALL and then drove down to Mount Jackson to get our traditional $30 a wagonful of pumpkins!  Sadly, the late rain this year rotted most of their pumpkins and we went home with 5 tiny, gourd pumpkins and 1 green medium sized pumpkin.  Then we went to the corn maize, where we enjoyed the slides and never went into the corn.  On the way home, we picked up some pumpkins from Walmart (they only had medium-sized ones) and then stopped off at the farmers’ market to get large pumpkins.  After paying, I noticed the Indian Corn and remembered how fun my sister’s kids had using tools to pry the kernels off the cob, so I picked up two and went back inside to pay.  I only set Ellie down for a second, right beside me… taking my eyes off her for the millisecond that it takes to pull out my wallet.  When I looked back down at her, she was already 4 bites into a lovely, yellow apple.  The owner was very nice, thought Ellie was cute and let her keep the apple free of charge.  Sure, this is how it starts… an apple today, the National Treasury tomorrow!

Again, Ellie opted to sleep in the toddler bed, but this time… she slept though the night!!!!

Working Day

Saturday, 10-22-11

Bright and early, we headed out to the car dealership to get the oil changed.  I do not know why it takes over an hour to change the oil… anyway, I took a picture of Ellie in the same chair that she sat in as a tiny baby.  There is a BIG difference!  Then, we meandered through town until 10am when Michael’s was having their decorate a T-shirt project.  The plan was to make a T-shirt for Ellie, but they only had a few adult sizes and we were the first ones there… so, we made a shirt for Daddy.  The hand prints are supposed to make the legs of a spider.  The drips and drops are from Ellie struggling to get her hands ALL over the shirt while I directed her to only get the one area with open hand and not her fist and the spider web transfer to the other side of the shirt was from the wind blowing as we balanced baby, bag and shirt venturing into the Fall air.  But, you know how a Daddy is… he will wear that perfect shirt well after Halloween! 

When we returned home, the farrier was at the barn, so we joined him and made pleasant conversation as he worked.  Ellie walked up and down the driveway carrying her new favorite toy, a plastic pumpkin… wait until she finds out what goes in it on the 31^st! 

Tonight, I asked Ellie if she would like to sleep in the crib or the bed, she very clearly let me know bed.  Jeff didn’t believe she could make that choice until he watched.  Ellie has never had a problem letting us know what she wants!  She was only up once, but it took a little bit to get her back down and I finally just stuck her in the crib at 3am.

Apple Picking

Friday 10-21-11 We all went apple picking!  It was fun!  I pulled Ellie out of the car, first, and set her on the ground.  She immediately picked up an apple off the ground and began eating it – Thank goodness it was a fairly clean apple.  I pulled the other two children out of the car; the older one was very helpful in picking apples, the younger helped by sitting in the sling while I picked.  Ellie never moved from her spot.  Daddy even tried to get her to pose, move, anything.  She definitely got the apple-picking concept. 

1. Go to farm.

2. Pick Apple.
3. Eat Apple.

We came home with 1 ½ bushels of apples.  Now, I need to find the time to make something with them!

The Eating Continued in the Car.

 Tonight, Ellie chose, all on her own, to sleep on her toddler bed.  I have had both the crib and toddler bed set out for about 3 months thinking she might have to transition when I started watching my friend’s children, but the baby would not sleep in a crib – he sleeps in the stroller, so I didn’t need to transition Ellie.  Tonight, she pulled her two special blankets from the crib and let me know she wanted Scout, too.  Then, she snuggled on top of them in the toddler bed.  I didn’t think it was serious, so when Jeff asked if I was going to let her sleep there I said no, she can play for a bit and then I will put her in the crib.  She fell asleep, so I decided to leave her.  OK, she was up at 1am, 3am, 5am and then 6am when we decided we might as well start the day; but… she did it!  Ellie slept in the toddler bed (most of the night)!!!!

Horses and Kites

Thursday 10-20-11

Thursdays are Books and Babies’ Day at the library, so we went back today and played in the little, cozy hut in the childrens’ area before joining the other children for story time.  After lunch and naps, we attempted to fly the kite, again.  It did better today and attracted the attention of the horses, so of course we had to stop every thing we were doing to visit with the horses.