Dora

Saying that Ellie is obssesed with Dora the Explorer is an understatement. She lives and breathes Dora. We try to limit her to 2 or so episodes of Dora a day, but there are days that we need more than that. Ellie becomes a happy, content baby when watching Dora.

As posted earlier, she is learning from Dora. She meets Daddy at the top of the stairs as he comes home after work shouting "abre, abre" while she shakes the babygate.

The video below was from my birthday (a month ago). Daddy made me my favorite brownies for my birthday. He adorned them with candles, including a Dora candle as a joke. Ellie was playing with that candle when it fell on the floor and, as you can see, broke in half. The video that follows is her reaction.

-EM

I need a drink.

Sorry, again, for not posting more. Still too busy. But even if I weren't so busy, I might just be too tired to post... this girl is a handful! Generally, it's a good sort of handful. She can really be fun and funny. However, on the days when she is cranky (yesterday) or the days when she gets up waaay too early (2:30 this morning), it's not such a good thing. But that's OK. As long as she doesn't do anything like Jeffrey Reid, I'll be alright. Yes, sadly, it is people like him that are keeping me from my little one. Sigh.

-ED

Ellie's favorite color. . .

. . . is Green!


She insists everyday that her milk be in her "geen" cups. She is getting better at identifying colors, but she definitely favors green.

BTW- She can count to 10 by herself now (occasionally 4 is missed). It is funny how she went from counting 1,2,3 to all of a sudden counting to 10.

-EM

Nanny's Beauty Shop

Special of the Day: Pigtails!

Nice to meet you.

I don't exactly recall what EM and I were discussing over breakfast this morning. However, somewhere in the conversation we touched on handshakes/greetings and offered examples of such including a "Hi. Nice to meet you" handshake. Ellie saw this and ran with it. So much so that I've lost count of the number of times she has asked to shake my hand today, and the gesture is always paired with "Hi. Meet you."

-ED

Update: Edited to correct my faulty memory.

What's new?

Well, obviously, we aren't posting as much. Too busy. But that's what comes with starting a new business, and tripling my commute. However, Ellie seems to be handling it all just fine.

I guess I'll start with where I left off... the commute. I'm out the door each day by about 7. More often than not, Ellie is still asleep. So I get everything in the car, I put the dogs in their crates, and then I get Ellie out of her crib. It's a rude awakening I'm sure, but she handles it well. In fact, she usually doesn't make a peep until I buckle her in the car seat. She then orders me to "sit," in a sweet but groggy voice. On the drive we sing songs and talk a little until about halfway into the commute when she starts asking for "milk" or "cracker." So we get a little pre-breakfast snack in on the drive over. The last part of the commute has been awful on the days it's not raining. There's this stretch of road where the sun comes in straight through the windshield and there is nothing I can do about it. The first morning was the worst... she cried and cried... for at least ten minutes... and couldn't figure out what to do. In subsequent mornings she has gotten somewhat better about turning her head and/or closing her eyes, but it's still an ordeal for her. Yesterday morning I tried to warn her well in advance of what was coming. She just fussed and turned her head and was generally unhappy. "No sun. No. No." Poor thing.

When we get to Nanny and PaPa's, she's greated gleefully by Nanny and/or PaPa (depending on his schedule). We change her and dress her and then she's ready for breakfast. As I get ready to go she is oblivious to me, although sometimes I can get her attention enough for her to say "bye, bye dada." By all accounts she's doing really well at Nanny daycare (no word on how Nanny is holding up, but I'd say she looks no worse for the wear). Nanny daycare has no specified end time, thank goodness, since my days have been unpredictable. Some days I pick up Ellie on the way home; other days Nanny meets EM and they exchange our precious cargo.

Once home, it's a mad dash to get things done (as it is with most families). This ordeal has been made all the more entertaining, and challenging, due to the "baby crack" that Nanny apparently offers our daughter before daycare ends. I have no idea why, other than perhaps she is overwhelmed with joy to be with both of us, but when we get home our little girl is bouncing off the walls. She spins. She falls. She hops and skips and jumps. She yells at the top of her lungs and laughs and sings and talks up a storm. It's really funny and fun. Eventually the bedtime routine begins which includes a Dora episode, stories from yours truly and cuddling with mommy.

It's only been a short time that our schedules have been different, but she seems to be handling it all pretty well. She's a remarkable baby, and we are very fortunate.

-ED

Bilingual baby

EM and I aren't bilingual. Far from it. That does not, however, alter our understanding that it is increasingly important in our multi-cultural society to have such skills. As such, I was pleasantly surprised tonight, as I read Ellie a Dora book, to learn that our daughter is well on her way to being bilingual.

According to the story, Dora must return her books to the library. After many obstacles she arrives at the library only to find it is closed. But by saying the Spanish word for open - abre - the door should magically open. So tonight when Dora asked Ellie for her help, Ellie chimed right in with "abre." And whadyaknow? It worked.

-ED

Happy New Year!

Last year was wonderful as far as all things Ellie goes (not so great otherwise). It was a year marked by many firsts as was discussed, in part, here. There were so many wonderful firsts: crawling, walking, running, dancing, hopping, spinning, hugging, kissing, talking and the list goes on and on. In fact, contrary to the contributions or prognostications of others, I can only think of one not-so-good first: her first cold. Many of these firsts we simply knew would happen, we just didn't know when.

That said, I'm really scratching my head and wondering what firsts to anticipate this year. I mean I know there will be some, it's just that none seem that obvious. Looking at last year's predictions for inspiration: Perhaps a first haircut? Perhaps a first ear infection (hope not)? I don't know. You tell me.

-ED