Summer Fun with Eleanora

This girl…I tell ya, she is the best thing. This stage she is in has been so fun. I guess this is an Elle update since I haven’t done one in a while!

We have made it out of a trying stage that lasted a few months…it hit right about the time my sister was getting married in March. (Yeah, perfect timing there kiddo!) She grew up overnight in February, jumped out of her crib, started understanding/ talking a lot more, wanting to ONLY feed herself, etc…We did it all, including potty training. I knew it was early to start when we did early April, but honestly I was afraid that if I didn’t it would be so hard later. You know, strong willed child and all. She’s headstrong, and I love it. Still, that doesn’t mean certain things are easy for her to learn. So we went for it and I felt like I lost my sanity a few times (ok, maybe a million!) but after a month she stopped having many accidents at all and I can say we are officially trained…except most #2…that is a different beast. It was a few months of lots of choices for Elle. Example: You can get a spanking (sad voice) or you can obey Mama (excited, happy voice)! She was getting so big and testing all her limits. But we tried to stay consistent and we did make it through…even if both of us were barely hanging on by the end of the day. The new big girl bed was a success, but getting her to actually stay in it…that is a whole different story. Gone were the blissful days of 2 hour naps 2x per day! (Ah! The glory days!) Now it is always a struggle, but the Spring was especially bad as we transitioned from 2 naps to 1. It wasn’t pretty. So much learning for such a little miss! Of course all of this happened in my busiest season, but it taught me a lot. I was constantly exhausted, but I learned how to lean on Christ’s strength in a way I never had before. It was sweet, and trying.

Elle-isms from the Spring:

• “I see ____ ” whatever was exciting at the moment, i.e. ball, room, bed, Beary, etc.
• “Pretty!” about just about everything
• “Uh oh!” and purposely drop something
• Counting: “one, two, nine!”
• “Night night” for milk
• “No, no, no, no, no!” at the top of her lungs
• “Noooooonaaaaaaa!!!!” when she’s looking for our dog Luna
• Chanting “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy” when we pull up to church
• “Go fast mama!” in the car…not sure where that came from! ha!

Favorite Things/ Memories:

• Chalk everything
• Running everywhere…all the time…and never wants me to grab her.
• Coloring in her books…and on my furniture, the hardwoods were a big favorite
• Looking for the birdies every morning…”I see birdies!”
• Climbing on everything and saying “SOOOOO BIIIIIG!”
• Playing the harmonica all the time and booty dancing
• Starting to play Hide-n-Seek, covering her face in plain sight
• Throwing a fit because she can’t have ALL the balloons at Publix…every. single. time…
• Learning how to buckle herself in her car seat
• Yogurt…everyday.
• Flower walks
• Singing on stage during band practice
• Stealing my smoothies
• Little Einsteins and Winnie the Pooh…always and forever.

This Summer…oh this Summer! I have my sweet Elle back! Now that we crossed the potty training chasm and got past a lot of the sassiness, I end most days with sanity intact. Maybe it’s something about OFFICIAL twin big girl bed that magically transformed her. She wakes up super early now (cue alarm at 6am) but overall she is a much happier little lady. Toddlers and their emotions, right? I think she had an almost 2 year old crisis. I LOVE THIS STAGE! She understands so much and loves learning. We explore a bit more every day. She spouts off new sentences and surprises me all the time with things she says. We’re still VERY VERY busy with her, but she’s such a fun little person. We still have our limp noodle on the floor tantrums, but she gets over them much more quickly these days. We color lots of circles, make pictures of Daddy, race, make diner together, sing lots of songs, and generally have fun in our days together. She LOVES for Jonathan to sing The Itty Bittsy Spider and tickle her. We may have to put her back in bed 1000000 trillion times at night because she has to lay on the floor behind her door, looking out, incase she misses something…but we love our adventurous, affectionate, curious and vivacious little Eleanora Rose. She lights up our days.

Elle-isms from the Summer:

• “I hiding mama!” and “I go Mama” (Where’d I go mama?)
• “How ’bout…..NO!” this one has to be the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard! Ha!
• “Beary (super high pitch excited voice) LOOK! My crown!!!” Her reaction when I made her a pipe cleaner crown! Ha!
• “Moon…ARE YOU?” (said in her little sing-song voice) she loves the moon and looks for it every night
• “No, not yet” when I tell her to do something
• “Oh no! Beary (or whatever she wants)!” said when she wants something and doesn’t have it
• “Nope!” and “Yeah, I did!”
• “How ’bout that house? No, not that. How ’bout THAT house? No, not that one.” when we play our game of looking for our house.
• Counting from 1-10! (I’m so proud! Ha!)
• “Spin! Dance! One, two, SPIN!!!” kiddo has moves!
• “How ’bout some-fing BLUE?” when we are playing eye spy
• “Mama, play show!” when she wants to watch Pooh or Little Einsteins
• “I sleepy mama” or “Beary sleepy” “Mama sleepy” – lol at that one!
• Trying to “sing” along with songs…it’s the cutest!
• “Yay bath!!!” or “Yay pool!!!” we love water
•  “Mama….poop…oh no!” this one is obviously my favorite…
• “Ready, set, GO!” and then runs away
• “Play house mama”
• “CHESES PLEASE!” said while pulling on the fridge, crying…
• “Excited!!” when anything excites her…even undies
• “I tee-tee big potty!” peeing on the big potty
• “See mama, I big!” cue tears on this one!
• “See mama, cute undies, RED undies!” all her undies are cute…and she loves to pick them out
• “Color CIRCLE! Color DADDY! Color GREEN!” or whatever she’s coloring
• “I read…Pooh, Tiger, Piggy, Owl…etc…” when she “reads” her books
• “I obey mama, ohtay.”
• LAST but NOT least, “I love you Mama, Daddy!”

Favorite Things/ Memories:

• The park, swinging, sliding by herself…doing all the things by herself
• She refuses to eat a lot more now, so we tell her “Ok Elle, you need to eat your chicken and then you can have broccoli!” Cue her shoving fistfuls of chicken in her face…haha!
• “Bouncing” on everything…oops!
• She loves taking care of her friends…putting them to bed when they’re sleeping, giving them breakfast, reading them books, etc…it’s adorable!
• She likes to pick out her shoes…and goes for the same pair every time, at least I like them! She can even put them on all by herself! We’re also opinionated about bows…
• She likes to help me pick out my clothes too, and gets offended when I don’t comply with her suggestions! Ha!
• Bubbles are still huge, so is our new kite!
• She stil loves picking every flower she sees
• Still steals my jewelry and exclaims, “Oh pretty!” when I find her and she knows she’s in trouble
• She pretends a lot more now and comes up to me with a tea cup or whatever she has “made” for me to eat…”Mmm! yum yum Mama!”
• She likes to greet our cars and house…in Charleston we saw a Ford F150 like Jonathan’s and she exclaimed, “Look, Daddy car here! Hi Daddy car!” and whenever we leave my SUV she says, “Bye Mama car! Hi house!”
• She loves to boss Luna around, “Luna, ‘mere. Luna, sit! Luna, sleep! Luna eat!” and the list goes on…
• Every morning she wakes up early and comes in our room or the living room where I am, groggy-eyed, carrying paci, Beary, her blanket and another friend or two and says “Hi Mama!” in the most cheerful voice. It’s hard to be upset about how early it is when she does that.
• “Mama, hug! Mama, kiss!” she loves hugging and it’s my favorite.
• Sometimes I find her in her basket of toys when she’s supposed to be napping. She usually exclaims, “Oh no!” like it just happened by accident or something…ha!