Happy 2nd Birthday Ellie!

Ellie is 2 years old today and I just can’t believe it. These past 2 years have absolutely flown by. She is a fantastic daughter and everything Chris and I wanted-and more. We are so proud of her and feel blessed that God chose us to be her parents.

I thought it would be fun to share some things that make Ellie so special.

Ellie’s Strengths
She’s definitely a social butterfly and always brings a smile to your face. She has a personality that can fill the biggest room. She is also really good at following directions and doing what she is asked to do.

Ellie’s Learning Style
Ellie is probably a little bit more like me in her learning style. She definitely learns more by playing with her hands and singing songs. She isn’t too keen on flash cards, but will tolerate them if you put in some sort of songs. She also loves playing on the computer. All these signs point to her being more of a visual learner.

Ellie’s Socialization
Are you kidding me? This girl is a social queen. She just LOVES being around people!! Although she likes being around kids her age, she prefers to be around adults…maybe it’s because she gets more attention. Her best friends are our neighbor, Marin (she wants to do everything Marin does), and her cousins Peter and Andrew. We have been pretty active in our play group since she was about 1yr old so she is very comfortable being around kids.

Ellie’s Communication
Ellie has come a long way in her communication skills. We understand about 80% of what she says. We can pretty much carry on a conversation with her now. Some of the cute things she says are “Aw, man!!”, “I’m fine.”, “Whatcha doin?”, and “Thanks Mom”. It’s so fun to experience her learn new words every day.

Recent Changes in Ellie’s Life
Mother’s Day Out is the biggest recent change. She is adapting fairly well but we’ve only gone to “school” a couple of times. She is attending Stonebriar Church Pre-School Pals in Frisco. Her teachers’ names are Mrs. Kristen and Mrs. Wendy. There are 10 kids in her class; 5 boys and 5 girls. I know that she is going to learn so much about God here. We are so happy that she is in this school.

Favorite Activities
Jumping on a trampoline or in a bounce house, playing outside on her swings, going to the putting green with Daddy, watching her favorite TV shows (Sesame Street and Wonder Pets), dancing and singing, playing with choo-choo trains, reading or looking at books and getting piggy back rides.

Things that interest Ellie
Horses, books, Shamu, helping mommy cook, and anything that daddy is doing.

Ellie’s favorite ways to be recognized by doing things well
Clapping and saying “Yeah!”, ‘Good Job” and getting a high five.

Ellie’s Fears
Big furry characters in costumes. It also takes her a little bit to warm up to animals.

Best ways to calm Ellie down when she’s upset
Taking her away from the situation and comforting her, holding her and telling her it’ll be okay, and lollipops work well too. :-)

Ellie’s Self-Care

Dressing

She can put her shoes on by herself but they don’t always make it on the right foot. We’re still working on clothes.
Potty

I think she’s ready for the potty but I’m not sure that I am. She’s done the pee pee in the potty a few times but we’ll buckle down and get her potty trained by Christmas…I hope.
Eating

Ellie does pretty well using her fork and spoon most of the time. She still prefers to pick up her food with her fingers especially when she’s hungry. I mean who really needs utensils anyway? We are constantly reminding her to use her fork/spoon but it’s still a work in progress. She recently started drinking water from a water bottle. It can be a little messy but she loves drinking her water that way. I think we’ve graduated from the booster seat and the high chair. Those will go up in the attic this weekend. Her favorite foods are: spaghetti, apple sauce, grapes, cheese, beans, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, peas and cupcakes
Favorite Drink

apple juice

Other fun things about Ellie:
She can sing her alphabet, count to 10, can recognize a square, circle and triangle, has inherited her daddy’s vertically leaping ability of approximately 3”, she loves playing ring around the rosy, she likes to exercise with dad, she’s very loving, will say “please” and “thank you” most of the time without having to be reminded, and “she likes boys” as she likes to say!

Our little girl is just AWESOME!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ellie!! Mommy & Daddy love you bunches and bunches and bunches!!!!