Ellison- 2 Years

Ellie is TWO!!!  She is changing and developing so fast now, it won't be long that I will no longer look at her as a baby or toddler, but as a little girl.  With a big sister she acts like such a big girl as well.

She is still the silliest girl, and every where we go people comment on how happy she is.  She is so full of energy and giggles all the time.  She is certainly a handful to take care of.  Her vocabulary, language and memory is incredible for a two year old.  I'm not just saying that because she's mine, but because it's true.  If it were opposite I'd tell you that too.  She loves to read books.  She can sit and look at books by herself or have you read to her.  Her favorite books right now are the Llama books and a children's Bible.  She loves to paint, color, cut and do play doh.  She loves Barbies and dolls, and she will take all their clothes off.  Every baby or doll or anything with clothes has to be naked.  And speaking of naked, she is in a naked streak.  Big time.  At home, she loves to be naked.  I imagine with how busy she is, is how she stays warm.  If she's not naked she has to wear pajamas.  Throughout the day she is either naked or in pajamas.  I can convince her to wear clothes to leave the house, but she has to pick out her outfits and she does make some interesting choices.


She sleeps well at night.  She generally sleeps about 9-7.   Some nights she likes to rock a bye or others she is just ready for "sweet dreams".    She loves to have her neck or back tickled to settle her down.  It puts her in a trance and she practically passes out.  She is in that phase where she thinks she doesn't need to nap.  She usually does nap every day, but there are days where she can go without one or just a quick nap in the car.  I prefer her to not nap, because then she is ready for bed early.  If she does nap, it is around 2:30 and I don't let her sleep longer than 1 1/2 hrs or much past 4:00, whichever comes first.  She is still in a crib and doesn't climb out, but she will be getting a big girl bed tuesday.  I think she will do okay with it.  She does know how to turn doorknobs and open doors, but I'm not too sure she will come out at night.  Hopefully I don't eat my words!

She eats well and will eat most everything.  She likes to get hot dogs out of the fridge and just eat them cold.  Gross, but whatever.  Whitney went through that too.  She loves her milk, chocolate milk that is!

She weighs about 25lbs and is about 32in.  I'll get official stats next week. Wears a size 6 shoe, she seems tall and has outgrown 18-24 month.  She is in 2t clothing.    Her hair is a shaggy mess.  I don't want to cut bangs, and she won't let me put in pony tails or clips.  She still has the clumsiness of a 12 month old.  She does not pay attention to what she is doing, has no sense of caution, is always moving.  I swear her nerve endings don't work and she has almost no sense of pain.  The amount of head injuries she has had, and still gets, worries me a lot.  It can't be safe.

She is potty trained.  About six weeks ago she decided she was done with diapers.  I had been thinking she could probably handle it, but didn't want to get started with it yet because she is so GROSS about everything.  She has to touch everything.  Meaning every inch of a public toilet, we started using a potty seat and then she would put the seat over her face and look through it, or put it on her head like a crown, and then there were usually pee dribbles on it.  yuck!  I would ask her to please wear a diaper.  No.  And she started out pooping in her pants.  That lasted about 3 days before she finally figured out to ask us for a diaper.  She will not poop in the toilet.  After four days of her potty training herself I figured it was time to go with it and get it done with.  She has done great. We go out without pull ups or diapers. We have gone swimming without swim diapers, AWESOME!! no swim diapers this summer!!!  She naps without a diaper.  She stays dry at night about 5 of 7 nights.    We went to Iowa last weekend, a four hour drive, and she stayed dry there and back.

Right after Thanksgiving, so just after 21 months, I took away her pacifier.  I didn't have any plans to do it, all of a sudden one day I just decided to see what happens.  With how attatched to it she was I was expecting the worst.  It did start her not wanting to nap, but she did fine at night.  I couldn't believe how easy it ended up being. 

She has started watching cartoons, whoop whoop!  free baby sitter!  Her favorite is Diego.  Diego is her boyfriend. She also likes Dora, George, and Wild Kratts. 

that's all I got for now!