Hi! My name is...

It's amazing to watch kids develop when they're really little because they have big milestones like sitting up or crawling... but I think it's almost as amazing to watch Ellie develop now. It's especially interesting to listen to new words that she breaks out. It's seems like we're getting a new one almost every day now, and the one she blurted out on Sunday was "purple". I've been working on red, yellow, blue, and green, but she chose a color out in left field and went with purple. Then I wondered what she would say if I asked her what her name was. I'd never thought to do that. She pointed at herself and said "Eeh-yee". Those L's are proving difficult, but I was still impressed that she knew what I was asking her. She also added the words "bird" and "up" this weekend. She's really into talking on Lee's cell phone now. It's not on, but she holds it to her ear and says "Hi! Hi! Hi!". She was doing this on Saturday while carrying around my purse, so I went to Toys R' Us at lunch on Monday and bought her her very own pink purse and a baby stroller too. As you can see, they were a big hit. Her other new trick is that she learned to put her dirty clothes in her hamper. Next we'll work on dusting and pouring mommy a glass of wine.



Ellie played with so many friends this weekend. Mom, Ellie, and I went to The Heldebrandt's house on Saturday morning to visit with Henry, who is 9 weeks now. Grace is 3 and Ellie has so much fun with her - mostly emulating what she does and trying to eat Grace's play food. Ellie also has a thing for babies now and wasted no time giving Henry a kiss. She was pretty good right up until she bopped him on the head. She also tried to give him a drink from her sippy cup.


After the briefest of naps, Ellie and I went to to the mall so I could buy her some new fall shoes. We went to the sale at Nordstrom's and that's where I saw the cutest girl shoes I've EVER seen. They're shiny hot pink ballerina flats with a little strap across the top of the foot. Had to get them. That night we met our friends, the Hardemans, for dinner at Zushi Sushi. It was sort of slow at the restaurant, but that was good because it meant they didn't have to sit anyone within a 15-foot radius of us. It's always nice to go to dinner with other parents. They came back to our house afterwards and put Cooper to sleep in a pack and play in our study, but not before Cooper and Ellie had a bath together. Then we all watched Florida beat Miami. On Sunday, we celebrated Grandparent's Day by taking Ellie's grandparents to Lakewood for brunch. Unfortunately, my dad couldn't make it because he was traveling for work.




I've discovered the key to getting Ellie to eat vegetables - blend them up and put them in mashed potatoes. On Sunday, she had broccoli, spinach, and cheese mashed potatoes and loved them. I'd like for her to just the broccoli and spinach by itself, but it's not going to happen. And finally, Ellie is 100% paci-free now. I'm really glad I just did it. I was dreading it, but it turned out to be a case of me building it up in my head too much. Since I last wrote, she hasn't had any trouble and is sleeping through the night. But I may take it on our upcoming plane trip just in case...