18 Months

 

Picture courtesy of Whimsy Photography

Wow. Eighteen months. Crazy!

Eighteen months is a big deal to us for one reason: NURSERY! And I have the most shocking news to report. (Yes, shocking. I'm going for dramatics here.) We officially took her to nursery for the first time this last Sunday and guess what?

She loved it.

No crying. No nursery leaders coming to get us because she was freaking out. No heartbreak over leaving our wailing kid alone with strangers. Kevin dropped her off, and she walked straight to the toys and didn't look back.

It's amazing how two kids can be such polar opposites, isn't it? I was so sure Ellie was going to hate nursery. She's always been such a mommy's girl, never wanting to leave my side. But during the last couple of months, she's had this crazy burst of independence. And Sadie was so independent...all the way up to a couple of weeks before nursery. And then she wouldn't let me out of her sight.

So, there you have it. Mission Nursery: successful.

Here are some of the fun things Ellie has been doing lately that are constantly making me grin, laugh, giggle, and/or snort as I'm trying to hold back a laugh...

Her new-found love of Elmo and all things Sesame Street. Every time she sees Elmo on a book or the TV she yells, "Meh-mo!" and starts giggling and clapping her hands.

When we visit Kevin at work, she yells (literally yells - at the top of her lungs), "da! DADDEEEEEE!" until we find him.

When you tell her to dance, she seriously gets her groove on. She bounces, waves her arms, and even twirls with her arms above her head, just like her ballerina sister.

Her favorite game is hide-and-seek. She loves to "count" (which consists of putting her hands over her eyes and saying "eee....yo....ah...deeeee!") then emerging with a big grin. And she also hides (which consists of running around the corner and standing there in an oh-so-sneaky manner until someone comes to "find" her).

The other day, she started saying her first (kind of) phrase:  "ding dong...hi!" I don’t know if that really counts as a typical two-word sentence…I say it does! Every time she walks in a doorway, she says it. Cracks me up.

When she's feeling silly and wants to be tickled, she actually says "tickle, tickle, tickle."

For the most part, she really likes when Sadie’s at preschool because she gets free reign of the toys. But when it gets close to the end of the two hours, she starts walking around the house saying, “Day-dee? Daaaayyyy-deeeeeeee?!” When I finally say, “should we go get Sadie?” she immediately runs for the front door.

She thinks it’s great fun to style my hair. So when Sadie and I sit on the living room floor to do Sadie’s hair, Ellie can always be found standing behind me, doing my hair.

Basically, the girl is tons of fun. And tons of trouble. (Let’s just say she has a sixth sense about where to find markers – permanent markers, especially. And she has no problem coloring on whatever medium happens to be within reach.) We still love her. ;)