It's all part of having a scooter.

Well, I guess spring is officially here, even though it is going to be in the 40s tonight. We have been enjoying the park more regularly, leaving the Benadryl out on the counter, and putting the kids to bed in broad daylight!

As the season has changed, so has our Ellie... again! We had this brief window where we could go places for longer amounts of time because she was only napping once a day. She still only naps once a day, but when I am flying solo with the kids, I know my minutes are numbered... at least until Ellie can walk! She is no longer content to sit in the stroller and watch as Joshua stays busy and active. Nope, Ellie wants to participate! I can't blame her for not wanting to be strapped the stroller, but I also can't let her mop the floors of every public building we enter! (or the concrete at the zoo, for that matter!) I have memories of the knees of Joshua's pants getting worn through during his crawling months just in time for him to start walking. Still, it is one thing for some rugged little cords to have holes in the knees. It seems entirely different to wait as Ellie's sweet springy dresses and onesies turn brown on the bottom! So far, Shout has been working, and she has a pair or two of "park pants." Hopefully we will make it to walking without ruining too many cute things!

Cozy Coupe Garage

I have mentioned Joshua and Ellie's car several times recently, but I have to do so again. We use it all the time these days! And I do mean "we;" Ellie throws fits when she doesn't get her fill. And I don't think she has gotten her fill yet. And she doesn't realize she isn't completely self-sufficient as a driver just yet. It started out being so sweet because Joshua would push her around in the car and it was fun for everyone. Well, now Ellie feels very entitled to her never-ending turn, and Joshua practices his use of the pronoun "my," and before long, we all take a break from the cozy coupe by putting it in the garage... also known as Mommy and Daddy's bathroom. It fits quite nicely, and I get it out again when I have the patience to deal with it! (And I promise, I am not complaining! I am simply remarking on how these stages of our kids lives are coming and going so quickly! Joshua's new bed is in pieces on our living room floor as I type this... EEK!!)

Let the dressing up begin!

Our camera's memory card is full, and I have missed several fantastic photo opportunities today as a sad result! I will still share a couple of stories...

When I was little, I played dress-up. I don't know when it started, and I don't know if you would say I played it a lot. Having a 14 month-old little girl, I had not yet asked myself when she might be interested in such things. Well, I found out today that she already is! My friend told me that her girl has always liked to play with her clothes. She said her daughter would happily sit among the clean laundry piles. We wondered if this was a boy/girl distinction because Joshua certainly never did that! Whether it is a girly thing or not, I don't know, but Ellie has shown that she, too loves to play with clothes.

They are using a generator to work at our neighbor's house, so I can't hear anything from one room to the next. Today, I poked my head out of the kitchen to make sure I wasn't missing any shrieking. Ellie was making a beeline for me with one of David's t-shirts around her shoulders. I thought, "Oh, that's cute. I wonder if she did that or if Joshua did that." As I watched her, I realized she was kind of showing off. It was almost as if she was trying to strike a pose! Later, repeat these actions with my pajama pants. She had trouble getting them on her, so I put them around her shoulders. Ellie then requested a plastic bucket on her head, and she proceeded to play this way until nap time.

A growing vocabulary

Ellie has begun the incredible process of English language articulation. I continue to be fascinated as I watch and listen to Joshua's speech develops. Not only am I a proud Mommy, but a lover of linguistics and self-professed nerd! :) Ellie has learned a few signs, but she has also really surprised me with her new words. Her list of verbal achievements includes (no, I am not trying to be obnoxious, and yes, I know that maybe I am being obnoxious! My defense is that I want my kids to read this blog when they are older!):

• car
• bye bye
• hi
• da da
• ma ma
• ya ya (Joshua, not as certain, but I think that is what she is calling him)
• ball
• book
• cracker
  
• no
• more
• head

Also part of Ellie's verbal achievements... much yelling. She is obviously aware that we have constant conversation with Joshua, so she has taking to shouting and protesting until she gets the audience she desires! :) No, this is not the first time we have mentioned her yelling, but now there is a new intentionality to her noise!

Cuteness

Enough said!

Making Memories

I think Ellie may have loved her hot dog more than anyone else. She kept eating and eating and eating!

Last week, David got the idea to go and eat hotdogs outside. As we did it, I thought it would be one of those things that was a nicer idea in theory than in practice. It was a bit colder than we thought, and it was extremely windy, and, well, Ellie is 14 months old TODAY, so she is not all that proficient at eating a hotdog while sitting on a bench! However, we have the pictures and Joshua's enormous smiles in those pictures that prove that a little... or a lot of wind and awkwardness are worth it from time to time!

Christmas trees and the Christmas season

Why am I posting about Christmas in March? Well, that is kind of the point of this post. Joshua was really impacted by Christmas this year on many levels. I shared about how fun it was to tell him the story and watch his interest. Well, there were a few other things that really struck him during Christmas... I mean, the Christmas season. For example, Joshua asked about seeing Christmas lights for weeks after most people had taken them down. If you are familiar with our area, you might know that can find a green porch light here and there, and Joshua refers to those as Christmas lights. He continues to talk about the museum Christmas tree almost every time we enter the building. It was a large and impressive show, and it actually did remain in tact well into 2011. I wondered if it would ever come down, and I wonder if Joshua will continue to picture it until it reappears next winter.

It's funny how we work out our theology as we try to explain things. The reason I stressed the Christmas season is because we didn't want to imply that Christmas ever ends. We are always celebrating the birth and life of Jesus. So Joshua and I have the same conversation each time we go to the museum, only now he explains to me that the Christmas tree is not there any more because the Christmas season is over for this year.

Still another example of Joshua's intense interest in the more secular/cultural side of Christmas is the fact that he ALWAYS builds Christmas trees with his blocks. I really don't think he has ever told me that he is building a house or even a tower... just a Christmas tree. Today, he built a Christmas tree for Ellie. He gave it to her, and she promptly broke it into pieces.