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When Ellie was born I expected her to go through different phases as she grew up. For example, the phase as she learned to talk where “No” was her favorite word. This wasn’t as bad as I had expected, probably because we thought it was kind of funny when she would yell “NOOO TANKYOU!” or “STOP IT!” at us. And I fully expect that at some point I’ll probably be the meanest person she knows and I won’t understand anything. And I’ll take that as a sign of being a good parent.

A phase I didn’t expect for some reason is the “Ellie do it!” phase which she seems to be in now. She wants to do everything. It doesn’t matter that the 40lb bag of softner salt weighs more than she does and she can barely drag across the floor it much less get it over the baby gate and carry it downstairs. If you say you’re taking it downstairs she screams “ELLIE DO IT!” and throws a fit when you pick it up after she’s spent three minutes pulling at it and has moved it half an inch. It also doesn’t seem to matter that there are some things that she really can’t do. If I tell her I’m going to the bathroom she yells “ELLIE DO IT! ELLIE COME TOO” and ends up lying on the floor crying outside the door when I don’t let her come with. I think my favorite times, though, are when she really is able to at least think she’s helping. For example, when Janette gets home from work and changes her clothes Ellie “helps” by lifting Janette’s legs up out of her pants. For some reason I don’t seem to rank high enough to get that help.

I’m sure some day I’ll be glad that Ellie is independent, and assertive, and likes to help. Until then I’ll just keep reminding myself that she means well, and that’s nice.

This past weekend, Ellie was invited to a birthday party for a little boy she knows from daycare. It was at McDonalds. I had never been to a party at McDonalds prior to this, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew, of course, that it would be in the play area (which we have only recently introduced Ellie to) and that it would be a chore to try and convince her that eating was the thing to do when there was much playing to be done…

All went well…and in the end, she had the best time of her little life. There was only one occurrence of someone having to go in after her…Thanks Heather. In my present state, there was no way I was climbing in after my crying child…although the thought did cross my mind for a brief second…and while Nathan was deciding whether she’d stop crying on her own or not, Heather ripped off her shoes and climbed right in. Thank goodness for moms who worry when they can’t see crying children, just like I do.

I’ve also decided that I need one of these things for my house. One, look at the joy on her face when she came down that slide…

and Two, think of the containment factor.

This could be the answer we all look for. Just close off that sucker and let her play in a nice, plastic enclosed space. Sounds like a winner to me, after a very long winter with very few outside play days!

So, this has become one of my favorite pictures of Ellie in the recent months. You can tell by the date that it was the day before her second birthday, so we’re going a little out of order here, but i just got these pictures from my mom. My lesson of the day – start carrying my camera everywhere i go. Blogging just makes me want to take pictures of everything!

We were having brunch with Grandma and Grandpa at Dave’s in Charles City…and I got Ellie a french toast stick with a little bit of syrup in the bowl as “dip” (my kid has to have “dip” on everything, and everything serves as dip!) You can see which part of that breakfast she liked the best.

I’m proud to say she got every last drop…except the ones that were running down her chin.
You can also see in the background, her partially eaten donut (and it’s mostly frosting that’s gone)
Love that girl!