Update on Ellie

Elianna is almost 11 months old now and louder than ever. Favorite words this week are 'Bah' which, for some reason, means 'up' (we make Ellie say 'up' if she wants us to pick her up instead of encouraging her insistent whining. Man, can this girl whine. It's a gift.) and 'ffffffffffffffffff owr!' for flowers. I got some Gerber daisies from a friend and Ellie's quite happy about them. Sure ways to get a smile out of Ellie these days are to 1. show her a ball (or a balloon, or a round light fixture...anything round is 'baow'!) 2. give her crayons and some paper 3. show her another baby. She can't get enough of them. Yesterday we had our neighbour's baby, Hayden over, and Ellie was actually trying to jump she was so excited (this is the kid who hated her jolly jumper because she couldn't bend her knees). Sure ways to make her scream in fierce anger are to 1. wipe her face 2. wipe her nose 3. clean her ears and 4. leave her hat on in the carseat so it ends up covering her eyes.

Here's Ellie playing peekaboo while doing her favorite past time - walking. We've resorted to wrapping a folded blanket around her torso save our backs. I know I'm not the only mom to testify that this "I want to be moving but can't do it yet so I want your help all the time, please" season seems like it takes an eternity. The nice thing is that anyone with two fingers for Ellie to hang on to is a dear friend of hers, so we can pass the joyous duty off to anyone who's willing.
In other news, I've found a part-time job for when my maternity leave is up...and it's a total answer to prayer. I'll be doing after school care for a 12 year old girl with Cerebral Palsy, as well as occasional Saturday afternoons. This is super exciting for me, as I was starting to feel the 'special needs' void in my heart, and as I am allowed to bring Elianna along, if I like (although I have a friend who's offered to babysit for free!) This girl is a real sweetie, as well as quite mischievous, so I'm probably in for a bit of an adventure!

Spunky Lil' Cowgirl

Saturdays

Saturday mornings in this home are 'pancake' mornings, thanks to Rob. He's developed quite the skill, but has recently decided to venture into the fabulous world of WAFFLES. Here's our 20 dollar waffle iron from Liquidation World. What a beaut. Look how serious Rob is about his duty: he even read the manual. What a guy.

Ellie 'helps' in the kitchen with her own pots and magnets and spoons
(i.e. she plays happily so we can get stuff done)

Just Random Photos...

Ellie spitting at the camera.

Naked time! (yes, there was pee on the carpet after, but it was oh so worth it...it made Ellie's entire week! :) Oh,and for those of you who are wondering...naked time seems to be the quickest and most effective way to cheer up a grumpy child. We aren't so brave with our carpet very often. Anyone know of a good steam vaccuum company close by?

Ellie's favorite way to get rid of the food she doesn't want.

Bath time! Ask Ellie if she wants a bath, and she starts chanting 'ba ba ba!' and leads you straight to the bathroom.
p.s. for those of you who care (i.e. Papa and Grandma Balfour) Ellie's cutting two teeth on top...one in front, one right beside it. She's still missing her middle right one. :) She does a lot of things backwards.

Peekaboo!

Uh, yeah, that IS a breastpump.

Ellie begins to creep!

Two weeks ago I took Elianna to the chiropractor and he told us that her hip, shoulder and elbow were 'out', so it was no wonder she wasn't crawling yet. Since then she figured out how to move around...backward. She started by pushing herself into things (see above) and moaning and complaining the entire time like we're working her WAY too hard for a 10 month old...

...but has moved past that to actually pulling herself forward (using her clammy hands for grip). She can go about three feet before giving up. And she still complains. She'd rather grab our fingers and run like a little ostrich (faster, cleaner, and you can feel the breeze in your hair). Anyhow, we're proud of our slow, whiny little creeper. Any day now we'll be forced to install that shiny new baby gate....any day now....

The Hat Basket

A couple weeks ago Ellie and I spent one of the minus gazillion degrees
wintery days warm and snug in our pjs in the house...

...and when we ran out of things to do with the toys, we pulled out Ellie's basket of hats...

...and well, this is the fun times that resulted.

That took care of about 15 minutes. :)

Hide and Seek, Mama!

Ellie's newest game she LOVES to play is "Hide the Anything." You know, hide the jar of baby food in the pot, hide the wooden puzzle pieces in a book, hide my face under a blanket...
Well my all-time favorite was the other day when I was getting Elianna ready for her bath. I had given her a couple of objects to play with on the floor by the bath mat while I went back and forth to the bedroom getting her stuff ready for her bath. Suddenly (from the bedroom) I hear Ellie doing her notorious fake-sounding laugh, "Ha ha ha ha ha!" Curious, I go back to the bathroom and see Ellie quickly pull away from where she had been bent over by the bath mat. She looks up at me with a huge grin and goes, "Hahaha!" As I get down on her level to see what's so funny, she throws the bath mat back, and hiding underneath is my DEBIT CARD. (I hadn't realized she was playing with that.) Good thing she thought it was so hilarious or that would have been the second time I would have had to cancel the thing in a month! She's got this THING for that debit card. No other card has the same effect. I pull it out at the grocery store and immediately Ellie pulls herself straighter, opens her mouth wide and goes, "Ah! AH! AHHH!" If I give it to her to hold she fake laughs, "HAHAHA!" and tries to swipe it. Or holds it out to strangers. The cashiers love it. They also love it when I hand them a debit card dripping with saliva. Anyhow, like other fun toys (baby wipes, the phone, Rob's shoe) the novelty will probably eventually wear off. Hopefully sooner than later.

She's a talker!

As of this weekend Ellie has two more new words! "Ya ya", usually accompanied by a emphatic nod that emphasizes her double chin (when she wants something or is excited about it), and "Nana" (banana). She continues to think the apples, oranges and cantaloupes in the groceries store are 'baw's (balls). Now if only she'd learn to crawl...

Ellie Graduates

This week Elianna began riding in style...in her big girl car seat! Unfortunately it still needs to face the back, which drives Ellie a bit nuts...but not for too much longer.