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.