19 Months

AHHHH! I am VERY ready for a vacation without Elly. My baby is officially a toddler, with a major attitude and everything. I'm learning a whole new level of patience. She throws fits any time she doesn't get what she wants which means...she throws a fit when she gets dressed in the morning, when she's eating, when she's tired, when she's...ya know breathing.

No, it's not really that bad but sometimes it sure seems like it. Maybe because she's got two molars that have been trying to cut through for about 2 months. Anyway, we're getting an anti screaming routine going to help save my ears. For example, when she doesn't want to get dressed in the morning we play "Clothes Monster" where I drape her clothes over me and sing "I am the clothes monster, so you better run. If you don't, then I'll put clothes on your bum." I do have to chase her down that way but at least once I catch her she'll let me dress her. Another example, when she doesn't want to come inside to play after we've been on our walk/just playing outside I can bribe her with a good game of Ring-around-the-Rosie. She recently learned that one and LOVES it. She calls it "wing" for ring, which I sometimes confuse with swing (because she says them the same) but she grabs my hand and makes sure I know what she means. Smarty pants. Oh on a cute side note, there HAS to be three people in our circle. If it's just Elly and I at home then she'll grab a stuffed animal and they'll join our circle.

Ella's attention span is increasing a lot! We can actually read an entire book together now! Wahoo! She also is sitting through more movies. She still won't sit through an entire movie which is fine with me but she sits through enough to know which is her favorite. And her favorite is...Toy Story!!! Thank heavens there are three of them because several times a day she grabs one of them off the shelf and asks "Buzz, Buzz, Buzz? Yeah?" Until I put it in. And luckily she doesn't care which one I put on. She knows the characters and everything though Buzz is the only one she actually says.

Ella is getting better with names. She's learning a ton! She talks about her friend Molly all the time. Which is funny since they've only played together a couple of times but she goes around saying "Molly?" All the time. And yes, she says everything like it's a question. She also says my name now too! Hooray! Unfortunately she only says it when she's saying "No, no, mom." Other than that she either just squeals at me or calls me daddy. Not sure why...

Ella is getting so big. It amazes me how quickly she's learning and getting into mischief. I'm definitely going to be in shape for the next year or so. In shape and tired...but with this face, totally worth it!