"Can we go to one more house?"

Our fairly, little princess did a great job with halloween, and had a great time in the process. But, as was mentioned in the prior post, we'd been working with her in preparation of the festivities and I think that's where the credit lies. Also, props to Nans for the costume - I think if we had let her, Ellie would have slept in her wings and tutu.

Things kicked off Friday at the church with a halloween party. There was food and games and trunk-or-treating. Ellie enjoyed the food; the cupcakes, in particular. She didn't give two cents about the games. Then we wrapped things up with trunk-or-treating. Ellie didn't shy away (as is her tendency around people she isn't overly familiar with) and, in fact, went up to many trunks and said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" with little to no prompting from us.

As for halloween night, Nans and Pa came over to "help." So after dinner and taking care of a few premature visitors, the five of us headed out around our new neighborhood. Ellie's timing was a bit off in that she said "trick-or-treat" many times before the door opened, but she did a great job nonetheless. And there were several times when we were ready to end it, only to have her ask "can we go to one more house?" All in all, a huge improvement from last year.

-ED

Practice

We have been practicing our trick-or-treating. Each night this week we have taken Ellie outside, let her knock on the door, one of us opens it from the inside, she then holds out her bag and utters the magic words. The best part is when her and I split the candy afterwards - surprise, surprise. Anyhow, this is all done in the hope that we will avoid any similar problems to those experienced last year.

-ED

Quote of the year?

"Daddy, I love you. You make my heart feel super happy."

Oink

Tonight at dinner, Ellie was telling each of us which character - from the show Super Why - we are. The characters consist of Super Why ("with the power to read"), Princess Presto ("with spelling power"), Wonder Red ("with word power"), and Alpha Pig ("with alphabet power"). So when she got to Nanny, she said "Nanny, you're the pig!" Needless to say, Pa, EM and I had a good laugh at poor Nanny's expense. Nothing new. Right, Nans?

-ED

ABCDK

Ellie has gotten pretty good at her ABCs. Most times she skips from D to K. If you pay attention to the video she actually says all the letters this time.

The smartest girl in the world

Last night-

Me: "How do you spell your name?"

Ellie: "Ellle"

Not to bad for a 2 year old. I was pretty impressed. Shortly after that conversation I spoke with Nans and Papa. Turns out Ellie and Pa had been practicing spelling her name that morning. I may be partial but I think she is incredibly smart.

-EM

Daddy daycare...

...is back in session! At least for today. For the first time in a long time I didn't have any court cases scheduled so I decided to give Nanny a break. We had a nice morning followed by visiting mommy at work for lunch. Ellie fell asleep in the car on the way home and is still napping as I type. I enjoy time with my little one, but I enjoy work, too. But most of all, I enjoy knowing that Nanny has generously given of herself so that EM and I can work while having the peace of mind that she is well cared for... it's as if daddy daycare never really ended.

-ED

In the garden

This weekend was spent redoing the landscaping in front of the new house. Ellie had a great time helping us. She spend a good bit of time entertaining herself with my big bucket of soil. She would get a shovel full and put it in various spots throughout the yard. One time I turned around and Ellie had put about 5 shovelfuls of soil on Spunky. He just laid there and let her do it.

Yesterday afternoon Ellie went on a bug hunt. She took a small handheld mirror, held it up to her eye like a magnifying glass, and yelled "If you see a cool bug, yell cool bug." She was on a mission all afternoon.

Quotable

Ellie's favorite TV show is Wonder Pets. As it relates to the show, her favorite thing to do by far is sing the theme song. However, she also quotes some lines and tells some stories that are derived from the show. Today, out of nowhere, she says "I need a hug, big guy." It was pretty darn cute and pretty darn funny. I know the "I need a hug" language comes from the show's character Tuck, the turtle. I don't know where the "big guy" comes from. Not that it matters.

-ED