Happy Birthday, Ella!

The Beaners is 2 years old! We celebrated with a birthday party last weekend where Ella received many wonderful gifts. She loves anything to do with dolls or domestic life (dishes). She is definitely a little girl who enjoys caring for her babies. She puts them to bed, feeds them, changes their diapers, soothes them, and rocks them. She has the mother-instinct, that's for sure.

She is now speaking in sentences. Her first big phrase was, "Off the bed please, Daddy". Yesterday, Mommy heard her ordering Daddy around - "Daddy, come here. I told you you!". Daddy wonders where Ella's learned the sass from....hmmm.....She loves to ask, "How are you, Mommy?" and there is little doubt what she is trying to tell us now.

Right on cue, Ella has her 2 year old molars. She is enjoying school as she likes to see her friends and teachers.
We will have another little celebration today with a cake. Oma and Papa will come along with Bill and Dar.

It's a cliche, but all we can say is "Where has the time gone?!"

Little Bo Beep Has Lost Her Sheep...

It was fun to watch Ella start to try and comprehend what Hallowe'en is all about. She was unsure as to why she needed to get dressed up but didn't seem to mind it. She was also unsure as to why we kept visiting people's houses. After 3 houses or so, she started to say, "Bye, Treat" (thinking that all of these people's names were "Treat"). Too funny! Oma and Papa came for dinner and we had a wonderful time. Here's the play-by-play:

Carving the Pumpkin!

Getting Ready...(gotta love Bronte as Boo Beep's sheep)

Trick or Treat!

Loving (and Sharing) the Loot!

A Fun Fall Weekend

The weekend started off with the best news possible: Ella's MRI was normal. Her test was on Tuesday and she did very well. She was a trooper as per usual. Mommy found the day quite difficult - thankfully, Oma was there for support (Daddy had post-procedure day duty). After waking from her sedation (and surviving the tube placement), Ella was quickly distracted by a popsicle (a subsequent new love of hers now). The cold treat was just enough distraction so that her IV could be removed and her vitals taken. She had no side effects and went on with her day. By Friday, the results were in and all was well. Mommy and Daddy were over-the-moon with relief and excitement.

We decided to have some Fall fun and went to Brook's Farm on Saturday. Ella saw lots of animals and enjoyed every noise they each made.

She continues to amaze us. Ella is happy and articulate. She loves Smarties and has taken to enjoying boxes of apple juice. She enjoys talking (something her school has commented on). She is quite clear and is starting to use mini-sentences. She has the best memory too - she will remember small details from weeks prior. She continues to love to state all of her colours and is keen in now learning to count. She knows her middle and last name now too. She understands that "E" is for Ella. She loves to sing songs and to dance. She loves tigers, giraffes, and zebras.

As Halloween approaches, we are all getting excited. Ella will be Little Bo Beep and Bronte will be her sheep. Thanks to Auntie Dar, the costume for both Ella and the dog will be amazing. We will post pictures of the upcoming weekend soon. For now, here is the family at Brooks farm. The additional picture is of Ella attempting to ride her new Tricycle (supposed to be a Christmas present, but the little Missy couldn't resist taking it out for a spin).

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a beautiful weekend - lots of fun and family. Ella has been busy with school - and so has Mommy. Updating the blog has proven to be a challenge, especially because Ella has been ill with 3 colds and the stomach flu since returning to school. She is doing well regardless. She knows her colours now and continues to string mini-sentences together. She likes to identify possession (i.e. "Mommy's chair", "Ella's shoes" etc). She is very chatty and bright. Ella has her MRI next week; we are hoping for good results and the doctors are expecting a healthy report. She has been without seizure since July. Her reflux is gone - although we have kept her on a half dose until her MRI is complete (she has to be under general sedation so the meds will help if her reflux flares). Once the MRI is over, we will wean her off the meds completely. We are counting down until next week so that we can hopefully breathe easier. She is tolerating dairy; however, we avoid most wheat as we prefer spelt (and spelt is healthier for her). Ella remains quite the funny little girl. She still remains fearful of most men - she will flirt from a distance but does not like men coming too close to her. Thankfully, she adores Daddy. These pictures are from this weekend - they include Ella in her new rubber boots and her cousins Matty and William who enjoyed the weather yesterday during Thanksgiving.

Feelin' Like Fall

It's certainly starting to feel like Fall today. Ella is ready for heading back to school. She was sporting her new backpack tonight (pink with green fishies - also her initials are monogrammed onto the bag - gotta love LLBean). Mommy doesn't want to go back and she will find it difficult to leave Ella again. The Beaners is now starting to use 3 words together (i.e. "Good girl, Bronte") and loves the colours pink, yellow, and purple. She can count to two and knows C, D, T, and Y in the alphabet (she says the letters when we sing the alphabet). She knows words to lots of songs and especially loves "Miss Polly" - she says most of the words and the movements. Some of the pics are from tonight and the 2 others are from fun time with Mommy and Daddy.

It's Been a Doozy

Summer has been interesting thus far. It began with Ella and Mommy's battle with pink eye. It then continued with a brutal cold (chest infection, strep, sinus infection) for Mommy and Daddy that last 2 weeks. The clincher was when Ella seemed to have another set of febrile seizures. We're not sure what's going on; however, her paediatrician thinks that there's nothing to worry about. We are doing loads of tests to make sure that all is well. Ella's had an EEG, blood work, and a MRI is booked for October. Ella is fine from what we can tell. She's loving, funny, smart, etc. All remains the same. It's been a bit of a scare - sheesh, we've had a few with this kid. She's had more procedures in her little life than most have in a lifetime. We also had the dentist last week and a regular check up this week. It's fair to say that Ella is over having all of this medical attention. She remains a strong trooper regardless.

Let's turn to happy news - Ella's milestones. She's off and running. She is really doing well with putting two words together (i.e. "Mommy, more"). Her vocabulary is expanding. Unfortunately, she loves to say "butt" and "shoot". She loves her baby dolls, Sesame Street, and Oma. It's fair to say that she is obsessed with her Oma. They are very cute together. She loves playing with neighbour Lexie. She especially enjoys playing with bubbles. The above are pics are of her playing with playdough for the first time along with playing outside today (splashing with water in her wagon).

She is doing well with eating. She remains a huge fan of hamburgers and now pasta (with meat of course). Her favourite dessert is chocolate chips. She will often call out chocolate after dinner. We recently went to the zoo with cousin Alex and William. Here is Ella and Alex getting ready to visit with the animals. Let's pray for good health as the summer continues on!!!

Finally, it's Summer!

Sorry for the delay in the updates - Mommy has been busy with end-of-the-year teaching tasks (summatives, exams, etc). Alas, she made it and now it's time for summer fun with the Beaners. We could not have survived without Ella's teachers at Montessori. We said a sad goodbye last week (as she gets a new set of teachers in September). Lori and "CeCe" were awesome. Here are some pics with her beloved teachers and friends (Cheryl wasn't there - she was super awesome too).

Ella is a walking machine now. She continues to develop great vocabulary. Yesterday, it was "hamburger" - she previously used just "burger" but has since graduated to the full word. Also, she likes to put a few words together. For example, she loves to shout "All Right!" when she's excited about something (it's accompanied with arms up in the air in excitement). She also says, "No, Mommy!" and "Please, Mommy" (or "Daddy"). We usually understand her requests now as she has the ability to use the terms for most things that she desires. If she doesn't know the word, she will point and say "that".

Her obsession with Elmo continues to grow. She wakes up talking about him and goes to sleep talking about him. She is also thrilled with Ernie and Abby Cadabby. We're grateful that Sesame Street has a great website were Ella can get her fix of her favourite characters. She seems to have little use for other programs; however, The Wiggles and In the Night Garden seem to be entertaining for her. She continues to love books and could enjoys sitting in our laps and listening to a good tale. She's starting to enjoy colouring with her markers (she loves to say "marker"). Did we mention the temper tantrums? They have begun. It can be quite funny to watch the meltdowns. Mommy sees that dealing with a stubborn toddler will be a challenge this summer. She is quite the little helper too. She loves to put things away when asked or get things when we need them (she understands our requests which still seems remarkable). Here she is helping Daddy fix the freezer - she likes the tools too! She thinks it's fun to yell "helpin'"! We're looking forward to a busy summer!

Bathing Beauty and Pop Kid Culture

Gotta love a little one in a bathing suit. Gosh, it's been mighty hot here.

Ella really enjoys singing her favourite songs. She loves to say "E-I-E-I-O" of "Old Macdonald" and she especially loves to sing "Beep, Beep, Beep" and "Town!" for "Wheels on the Bus". She likes to make all of the hand movements too. It's quite cute to see her do the "wipers" going "swish, swish, swish". She is thrilled to hear those tunes.

It turns out that Elmo may become quite popular around here. She's watched him 1-2 times and yet she seems to know who he is. Last weekend, Oma asked who was on the cover of a book that she had, Ella replied, "Elmo". She was correct. We tested her later and yes, Ella knows who Elmo is. We figured that she must have learned of his existence at daycare but that wasn't the case. She must have remembered him from watching Sesame Street a few weeks ago. We had no idea that she knew who he was then. I guess we will be hunting for some Elmo episodes in the future. It's amazing how she picks things up.

Speaking of which, we have to be very careful of what we say now. She can say "shoot" - thankfully, Mommy and Daddy have been very careful to avoid worse forms of cursing. She is a true parrot. Last night, she said "towel" after her bath. She's listening all of the time and declares knowledge of words when we least suspect them.

Mommy is home with a sick Ella today. She has been coughing at night for a week or so. Her appetite is down and she has been off a bit. Daycare noticed it too (although she remains quite content for the most part). She's been waking at night a bit so she seems quite exhausted....Mommy too. We're off to the clinic today to see if anything is up. She has a bit of fever so perhaps she's fighting another virus.

First Road Trip

The family headed up North to Sudbury this weekend for cousin Matthew's baptism. The drive was long (made longer by Papa and GPS - haha) but Ella did so well. She played and slept throughout the ride (there and back). She enjoyed going to Church and to the party afterwards. She loved to make new friends. She continues to be extremely social and loves to say 'hi' to everyone. She got to see "Maa" (Matthew, aka "Buddy" for Ella), Uncle "Dew" (Andrew) and Auntie "Ly" (Lisa). Auntie Lisa bought Ella a shirt that said, "My Auntie is my BFF". We will have to get a picture of that one. Ella also spent lots of time with her beloved Oma. She also learned to say "Wayne" (Lisa's father) and even permitted Lisa's brother Mark to hold her. She practised her walking - although, it's clear that she wants to run now instead. She is a true social butterfly and is no longer the shy girl she one was. We were amused by her all weekend.

Here she is, having her first sit on a Harley. Matthew didn't seem too happy riding in the back. Both kids were really content yesterday though. It was a busy, but fun couple of days.