A Dog's Life

This picture was taken this past week. It was sunny and almost 70 degrees and Dewey was totally lounging in the sun on the screened-in-porch. It is December. Welcome to the south old boy! Enjoy.

Dance Party

Ella and Cousin Caleb dance, dance, dance!!!

Grammie helps take the party to the next level.

Ashes, ashes, they all fall DOWN!!

Text-to-Life Connections

This one's for all the reading teachers out there...

Ella towards the end of dinner:
Ella--Can you turn on music please? I want to dance?
Me--We're still eating. We can turn it on when we're done.
Ella--Dewey, can you turn on the music?
Me--Dewey's upstairs, and besides he can't turn on the music. He's a dog.
Ella--(now kind of frustrated) Carl turned on the music?
Me--Yes he did. You're right (WOW). And they danced too. (Where'd that come from?)

By Carl she meant, Good Dog Carl, who "babysits" a little girl and does in fact turn on music for her. Next we'll conquer the reading skill and literary tools of fact and fiction.

Responsibility

Ella got a goldfish and a snail for her birthday. Grean Beans and Woodrow. You can bet this picture is the last time I do anything for this fish. This is about responsibility big girl. Responsibility!

Well, since their aquarium is higher than you can reach I guess I'll feed them.

A Guest Blog from "Aunt" Anna--Part Two

(Anna spent all of Kelly's labor and Ella's delivery with us two years ago. She was one of the first people ever to meet our girl and she'll always be one of Ella's best friends. Thank you Anna. Thanks for another year of thoughts about our girl)

It's hard for me to refrain from feeling sentimental on December 18 (and if you need proof of that, feel free to revisit Ella's 1st birthday). Being present for Ella's birth remains one of the most amazing moments of my life.

As I write today, though, I am more struck by the incredible person that Ella has become. She's brilliant, and sweet, and wonderful beyond words. Her parents say this often, and I can assure you that they do not exaggerate. She's creative and talkative, and visiting her world is delightful. This weekend, I loved watching her play with her new stuffed-animal dog, Sierra, who she named herself and took on several walks around the living room (using a plastic bag to clean up the pretend dog's mess, no less!). I loved hearing Ella sing Christmas carols, loudly joining in with her mom whenever she knew the words. I loved watching her take care of her babydoll, oddly named "Baby Jesus" (and I can assure you that she bestowed that name as well). I loved watching her move around the house, so excited to be doing whatever she was doing that she combined skipping and running to get there faster. It is as if her feet are constantly too happy to merely walk. Ella is so clearly adored, and it shows in her joy, her confidence, and her willingness to love others. Her birthday, no doubt, is as much a celebration of Kelly and Zach's parenting as it is her own life. Watching them with her, from before she was even born through the past two years, continues to be inspiring. I am so happy that they have Ella, and so grateful that she has them.

As I was making Ella's cupcakes yesterday, I was thinking about how it should be a tradition, on birthdays, for everyone to have candles so that they can make silent wishes on behalf of the guest of honor. I did not have a candle in front of me yesterday, but I have a million wishes for this precious little girl. I could only begin to sum them up by saying, Ella, I wish for you a life that is full of joy, safety, adventure, laughter, good naps, fish cakes, locopops, Dewey, and all of the good things you have yet to discover. And I wish that you one day have in your life a little girl to love, just like I love you.
Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet Ella Bella Boo! I can't wait to see where this year takes you.

The Joke's on Dewey

O Christmas Tree!

A guest blog from Mommy (since Daddy wasn't home): Ella and I decorated our Christmas tree today. It's a nice one... in Ella's words, "It's really big! And it has a towel on it!" (actually a blanket around the bottom) It's taller than Zach and looks great next to our fireplace. To get the decorating party started, EHP spent almost a full hour unpacking our ornaments and meticulously sorting and arranging them on the yoga mat all by herself. Here's a peek into a brilliant and logical almost-2-year-old brain:

The bears all go together, and the reindeer and elephant go next to them because they're also animals.... except for the dog...

...which goes all the way across the room next to the real dog.

Wait a minute, Ella, what the heck do a Maryland blue crab and a little green elf have in common? They were both deemed "scary" and exiled off the yoga mat.

Unsolicited Love

Often I say, "Ella, when Daddy or Mommy say 'I love you' you should you say 'I love you too!'" Sometimes that works. Most of the times it doesn't. We understand. She's learning and her language and emotions are developing rapidly and randomly. Even if we could get her to say it regularly what would it really mean, right?
Well, the other day as we put coats on and walked out the door Ella gave Dewey a special pat on the head and a kiss on the nose and then as we walked towards the door she turned back to him and said, "I love you, Dewey. See you later." Clearly he didn't say it first. She just really wanted him to know and she meant it!
Good job, Dewey. You win!

23 months

Ella's 23 month birthday came and went before Thanksgiving. Now we're almost to two but I'm going to pause here for a moment to share a little of what life with our 23 month old is like. In a nutshell it is non-stop fun, an unmeasurable pleasure, and wondrous at every turn.

Here are some of the more interesting highlights:

On Thanksgiving morning Ella and I watched some of the Macy's Parade. At one point I said, "Those are some elephants at the parade!" To which she responded, "Those are just pretend elephants." Thanks for the clarification shorty. Good thing she's half Jewish because we might have a hard time convincing this 2 year old that Santa Claus isn't pretend.

On our drive home from Thanksgiving with Bubby, Zaida, and Double-Bubby, Ella was singing unprompted blues from her carseat. "I bumped my head...in my crib...it was so, so bad. Oh I bumped my head...in my crib...it was so, soooooo bad!" Where did that come from?

This morning Kelly and Ella were talking about our friend and the baby in her tummy. Kelly was explaining that the baby will come out of her but in some animals the baby comes out of an egg. She asked, "What comes out of eggs?"

Ella, "A bird"

K, "What kind of bird?"

E, "A chicken."

K, "Where does the chicken go when it comes out of the egg?"

Pause...a nest right?

E, "My esophagus...and then my tummy!"

Right.

All that brilliance and she's still got those cool eyes. We love you Ella B! Can't wait for the big T-W-O.

Autumn Fun

Don't worry Ella, there's plenty more fun where that came from. We'll be having this kind of (homeowner with a yard) fun for weeks!

The Happy Itsy-Bitsy

The Angry Itsy-Bitsy

How dogs say hello...

Will the Real Dewey Please Stand Up!?

The sugar high is over, the painted nose has rubbed off, the streets are quiet again, and Ella and Dewey are asleep. Happy Halloween! Ella dressed up like Dewey this year and had so much fun on her first trick-or-treat adventure. We ran into some trouble with a few scary masks but we fought through the fear, met some nice not-dressed-up people, and got some candy.

Thanks for the great Dewey Costume, Mom!

Ella begins to understand the real pleasure behind Halloween. Hello bag full of CANDY!


Which one is the real Dewey? Hmmmmm?

Just like last year, Halloween ends with a tired Ella.

I Don't Like Pie (Usually)

Much is made of my frequent proclamation that I don't like pie. Over the years I've made some exceptions but in general I just don't really like pie. Some members of my family find my claim to be ridiculous. They ask, "How could you not like pie? Everyone likes pie! Pie!"Well, now I like pie. If this girl asks you if you want some pie how could you say no?Yes, baby. Of course I'd like some pie. Thank you.

Losing Daylight

As it is already October we are really starting to lose our daylight evening hours. Ella hasn't gotten to play outside in the dark since last April. Clearly she's enjoying it!

Hat

Ella needs a new hat. It is starting to be cool here in the morning and as the sun goes down. Clearly my hat is not the best option. She disagrees that it isn't the best option.

EllaAndouille's Tea Party

Pure Smoked Joy

Today on my way out of my office I bumped into a big pre-historic bite of heaven. Me, Fred Flintstone, and Ella were thrilled with our dinner tonight.


8 years ago (next week) I had my first taste of a smoked turkey leg. It made me very, very, very happy! It is big, it is tasty, it is kind of wierd but really fun to eat. Basically you attack it!
It is the highlight of any street festival, fair, or other gathering with vendors. The street outside my office was closed today for a Harley Davidson festival and the turkey leg truck was parked right outside our door. Brilliant! As you can see, Ella enjoyed her first attack on a giant turkey leg. If anyone is interested, join us for the NC State Fair in a few weeks. We'll be hitting a turkey leg encore.

Cheers!

Ella and I went out for drinks on Monday night. 7 sips of milk. 7 sips of juice. And 7 sips of water. All from a sippy cup. 7 + 7 + 7 = 21, and that's how we celebrated Ella's 21st birthday. 21st month that is! What a nice 21 months it has been.
The weather is beginning to cool here in North Carolina. We had soup for dinner tonight! We've been able to spend more time outside with less bugs and a lot less sweat. Ella loves to play with her ball. She'll kick it and throw it and is beginning to learn to catch it. I'm beginning to think more realistically about buying a new car, and new flat screen TV, and a trip around the world, as my confidence grows that she'll be the recipient of a full soccer scholarship to UNC and saving for college won't be totally neccesary.
At 21 months it is really Ella's language that is most amazing and still changing dramatically everyday. Just a few months ago she was transitioning from words to sentences by saying a jibberish sentence and ending it with a familiar word. Now she speaks in full sentences and never speaks nonsense. Everyday her sentences get more complicated. She's learned to pronoun switch rather than repeat directly after us:
Me: Ella is petting Dewey.
Ella: I am petting Dewey.
She's learned to turn a request into a better sentence or even two sentences:
Me: Say goodbye to Bubby and Zaida
Ella: Goodbye Bubby. Goodbye Zaida. I love you!
She's starting to be polite without prompting. We love this. This makes months and months of asking and reminding, "How do you ask nicely?" finally worth it. I wasn't sure it would ever net anything.
Part of her literacy shift is that she loves to read by herself now almost as much as she loves to read with us. She'll sit quietly on the porch with a book and turn the pages with a smile almost everyday. She's memorized large parts of many of her favorite books and starts reciting them as soon as she picks up the book. It sort of looks like she's reading even though we know she's not. Or at least we think she's not. I've taught a lot of children to read but this would be outrageous.

And finally, at 21 months, Ella is just a really nice little girl. Tonight Dewey had a seizure. I picked up Ella so we could give Dewey some space. She looked concerned and said, "Dewey is sad. He OK. He has a seizure." Then she repeated, "Dewey OK," over and over. When he was done and starting to feel better she said, "Dewey all done. I give him a kiss now." She got down gave him a kiss, turned back around, and said, "Ella hungry. Up please." There's time for loving Dewey and then there's time for dinner. Luckily for Dewey there's time for both.
The other night we went out to dinner with some friends. Oddly, half of our meals came out a good 10 minutes before the rest. Ella's was among the second shift. She couldn't have possibly been more patient or pleasant in that situation. She sat and looked around and occasionally asked in a pleasant voice, "Where's Ella's dinner?" Her patience outlasted my patience as I got hungry and started complaining. I had to check myself and learn some patience from my almost two year old.
And that's how we roll around here at 21 months. It couldn't be more fun as Miss Ella Bean Boo couldn't be more wonderful to be around. We love you so much and can't believe that two is around the corner. We're excited to see what 22, 23, and the big 24 months brings. We can only imagine it will bring a few more NOs and a lot more fun.
Cheers! L'Chaim! Happy 21 months my little friend.

Frozen Bananas

What would human beings do without the invention of the chocolate covered frozen banana? Really?

A Week at the Beach

We just got back from family vacation at Newport Beach. Can I just say that it is so nice to spend a solid week on vacation at the beach. We did a whole bunch of nothing as the whole family piled into two floors of a beach house. We ate, swam, walked, ate, slept, sat on the beach, played some semi-pro wiffle ball, and ate a little more. Besides the part where we brought a stomach flu out west with us and shared it with the whole house, this was another perfect week in Newport Beach. Until next year here are some of the highlights...
We got to hang out with Uncle Brendan a lot. At least I think that was Uncle Brendan.
We had a fancy, dress up, girl cousin dance party. Don't I look Mahvelous?!
Ella had a lot of fun with her cousin Morgan. Here they are drinking juice and playing with Play-Do.
Every morning we woke up early, went to the pier and fed the birds. Today was Frito Day.

Thank you to everyone for a wonderful summer vacation! See you next year.

A Long Day at the Pool

Sometimes a long day in the baby pool or running through the sprinkler takes a toll on a toddler. Sometimes you just have to get those sunglasses off quick and take a nap.

Macaroni and Cheese

It is really hot here this week. I mean hot. I guess it's hot everywhere so nobody wants to hear it but I'll tell you anyway. It is hot!
To beat the heat we bought some ice cream and cones at the store on Sunday. Ella was with us and she helped us pick it out. Then Ella didn't really eat much dinner on Sunday and so she didn't get to have ice cream afterward. That didn't make her particularly happy but we'll call it a teachable moment--and don't forget her mom and dad are teachers.
On Monday she devoured her dinner as if she had learned that lesson to perfection. She was ready! Right? Here's a transcript of the post dinner conversation:
Parents: Ella...you ate all of your dinner tonight. Good job, big girl.
Ella: Yeah.
P: You at it all up. You know what that means right?
E: (feet kicking. getting excited) Yeah!!
P: You get to have some...
E: (eyes bugging out. getting really excited) YEAH!!!
P: You get to have some...
E: (eyes bugging out. huge smile. legs kicking. arms waving in the air. She yells with glee) MACARONI AND CHEESE!!!

Ok. I guess you could have some mac and cheese. But we'd really like some ice cream. Oh well.

Big Shoes

Today Ella was seen with my size 13s on (backwards), walking slowly towards the front door saying, "Ella go get Bunny Crackers" over and over again. Apparently she was hungry for the crackers we'd left in the car earlier. And I guess it was just easier to get my shoes on by herself. Not easier to walk though.

19

Ella's 19 month birthday passed with barely a whisper. I guess 19 just isn't such a cool number--not so much worth stopping for. At 18 you're one-and-a-half. At 20 you're no longer a teen-baby. At 21 you can drink...2% milk instead of whole milk. 22 is a member of the much overrated even number club and it will also be cousin Ezra's first birthday. At 23 months you're almost two and that's worth noting. But 19 is just 19.
But the truth is a lot has happened. At our latest doctor visit Ella weighed in at the 50th percentile for height and weight and got to visit the big-girl stand-up scale. As usual, her head size is a laughable 90th percentile. And this time the doctor appreciated my jokes. Ella has started to go to a new daycare and loves it! More and more of her sentences include more and more real words. Mom cut her bangs unbelievably short and crooked--as if we just wanted to have a funny bang cutting story and we'd just get it out of the way early (you won't find any pictures here). We're doing good and having fun!
I guess 19 is cooler than I thought.

Ella and Some Ducks

Someone's about to get bit and I wouldn't be so sure it isn't the ducks instead of Ella.
NOTE: No ducks or toddlers were harmed in the taking of this picture and nobody got eaten either.

A Baby Bird

Over the weekend when Grammie and Poppy were visiting and working in our yard (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!) they spotted a bird's nest just over our back fence with two beautiful shiny blue eggs. We showed Ella and promised to come back each day to check for babybirds (not to be confused for our dear friend Babybird). Last night, just before our day came to an end, I walked over to check on the nest and I peeked through the leaves literally just as the baby bird was cracking through the egg. I'll admit to being a little bit shocked by what I saw but I pulled it together for the sake of good parenting and a teachable moment. I ran back to the house to grab Ella and we quietly snuck back to the nest to take a peek. Ella did a great job staying quiet even though she was VERY excited and the mamabird must have left for a moment to get the baby it's first food (worms I presume) so we had a straight sightline at the babybird. Just as we peeked it lifted its head and opened its beak wide, as if getting ready for that first meal. It was COOL and that is a severe understatement. Today mamabird has been sitting in the nest all day. Maybe the second egg didn't hatch yet or maybe they just sit there a while. I would.

Yesterday and today we feel blessed to have chosen to move out of the city a bit and feel lucky to share these things with Ella. Hooray for a backyard!

Here's Ella demonstrating what we saw the babybird doing right after it was born:

A Wet July 4th

Many of you know that I am not a huge fan of the 4th of July holiday. I have my reasons. Neither does Dewey! He has his reasons too. But I will admit that I enjoyed my 4th of July Holiday this year and I enjoyed to whole Holiday weekend.

Why? Because everything is more fun with Ella and everyday 95 degrees and above is more fun with water

Here's a tour of some of our wet and wild fun!

Even Dewey got into the action for family kiddie pool time

Our new neighborhood had a 4th of July Parade. We got Ella's stroller tricked out in red, white, and blue and joined the neighbors for a raucus march around town. At the end of the parade we were plenty hot. To our pleasant surprise, the next neighborhood tradition is that the firetruck opens the hose on the crowd. Here's Ella and Poppy after playing in the spray!

Are you catching on to our theme here? Here's Ella and Poppy playing in the sprinkler at our new favorite spot in town, Duke Gardens.

Here's Ella strutting her freedom loving stuff right before the parade. As you can see our weekend wasn't quite as much fun when we were dry!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! Thanks for a great weekend, Grammie and Poppy!

Stringing it Together

A few weeks ago Ella began using the structure of a sentence as she attempted to put words together in a series of longer than one or two. It was clear that she was beginning to understand the sentence, what it should be, and what it could be but she wasn't using her words quite right. She would say, "Aba Deeba Inga feeba cheese please," or, "Illta gonga tota tinta rooba Dewey." She was using sentence cadence and length but still just using a few words at a time. She knows a ton of words, she just wasn't ready to put them together quite right...
...Until tonight. After dinner we offered her the option to wash her own hands with the washcloth. We said, "Would you like to wash your own hands?" To which she replied in a very quiet voice, clearly only timidly trying on this new skill, "I wash my hands all by myself." Well, yes m'am you do! Go right ahead Miss 7 word sentence (one of which is a compound word)! You can wash whatever you want!
Of course this was followed by a classic 2-word sentence, "Up Pease!" and then followed by another odd string of sounds ending in a real word.
Baby steps. Toddler steps.

Landed

All,
Just a note to say that we've safely landed in our new home. It is wonderful! I planned on taking some pictures to share today but it was raining all afternoon. We're still unpacking and settling in but we're getting very comfortable very fast. We especially love our screened in porch. With the fan on it is at least 10 to 20 degrees cooler back there. We love to play soccer in our first backyard. We love to park in a driveway. We love the big trees. We love to listen to the birdies every morning. We love to look for bunnies on long walks (one of us would like to catch one--hint: woof, woof). We love our friendly new neighbors. We love our friendly new neighborhood. We love our new friendly part of the country and remember daily why we've hoped to get back to the South all this time. We love that we live near family again. We love that we have so much more to discover in and around our house and in and around our new neighborhood and city.
More updates are on the way, pictures included. For now enjoy the view of the one place in the house with no boxes...The view up our stairs...

You can see Ella enjoys our new steps quite a bit!!!

Big Smile

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Happy Ella from May 2005.

Still Happy! Same old smile. Happy Ella from today.

The Joys of Summer

With our move 700 miles south our entrance into summer was made much more abrupt. It is much hotter here and more humid. But the joys of summer are more available here and in some cases just more neccesary. As you can see, we're enjoying it...heat, humidity, and all!

Popsicles on the porch. Red! Better off without even a bib. Just a bath!

All done. Time for that bath.

And some locally grown Farmer's Market corn to wash it down. Yum!!!

Happy Summer to Everyone!!!

One-and-a-Half

Ella just turned 18 months old. Otherwise known as one-and-a-half. Otherwise known as really, freaking old. Otherwise known as creeping towards her teen years. Ok, now I'm getting carried away, but all of the sudden our little peanut seems like a really BIG little girl!
Her vocabulary is enormous and growing every day. Her word recognition and repetition has quickly turned into word connections. If she says Aunt Sharon (which she loves to say these days), Uncle Joshua, Caleb, and Ezra aren't ever far behind. Bubby Always comes with Zaida, Grammy always comes with Poppy and O Brendan. And of course two comes with three through twelve. She is also starting to use the language structure of sentences. Now instead of a quick word or two she'll babble a sentence that ends with a real word or two. As if she's realized the importance of the sentence pattern but isn't yet ready to put it together. It won't be long before the babble turns into whole sentences of all real words.
Always a fan of jumping, Ella has finally caught air!!!
Finally, talk about a pleasant little lady! There isn't a more pleasant 18 month old around. As a testament to this we are now on day 15 of total chaos and she is none the worse for wear. Through packing, moving, and unpacking Ella is as happy as can be. She is happy to fill and empty boxes, climb on and in boxes, and explore every corner of new and old space to keep her busy. Last night at 4 am the makeshift blind/big beach towel fell off of her window, woke her up, and freaked her out. After 30 minutes of sadness and an unwillingness to return to her crib, Kelly finally brought her to our bed to sleep the rest of the night. She hasn't slept with us since she was still nursing. She was always so distracted and such a bad sleeper. But she just put her head down and went to sleep right next to me. It was very nice and a sure sign of being almost a grown-up.
We know it must be coming but she still doesn't really test us. She still gives up easily and doesn't ever fight to the toddler finish. In return for the occasional snuggle, milk, and time outside she stays on the sunny side of the street almost always.
I am sad to be giving up my flexible grad school schedule with Ella for a real work schedule soon. I am blessed to have the next two weeks off to spend with Ella and it is sooooooooo fun! Then I'll reluctantly pass the part-time torch. Ella, you are so wonderful right now! This is definitely hardest time to give up the extra time with you. You should know that after you go to bed every night we talk about how beautiful, brilliant, and bubbly you are. We love you lots and continue to impatiently wait for the coming days, months, and years with you while we gloat on the ones that have just passed. So far it has only gotten better.
Happy year-and-a-half, Ella-Bella-Boo!!!

Sometimes instead of smiling for a picture I just have to keep practicing my counting.