Waiting for Daddy

Every morning, after every nap and every time we pull in the driveway/garage Ellasen asks me Daddy? Titan? She wants to know if they are going to be there when we leave her room or go in the house. Obviously I almost always have to say "Daddy's at work, but Titan is here". In the afternoon/evening when Tim is on his way home he calls me. Ellasen knows the song my phone plays when it is Daddy so she always knows it is him. When I get off the phone I tell her "Daddy is coming home...he is on his way!" Many days she will sit on the top step with Titan and wait for Daddy to come through the door. So cute!

Easter

Ellasen - Easter 17 Months Old

Ellasen - Easter 5 Months Old

Boy how things have changed! I didn't get to take a lot of photos this year on Easter. Tim had to go into work in the morning, and as soon as he got home I had to go to work. Ellasen had on her beautiful Easter dress (Thanks to my Aunt Di) most of the day. I cooked a nice dinner that night, and we opened her Easter basket while Skyping with my parents after dinner. We had really nice afternoon that included a family walk and strawberry shortcake! Yum!

17 Months!

Well, we are back to Rochester and back to taking pictures in the big brown chair. Ellasen really grows and changes every day. She is always doing something new. Right now she is getting into pretend play. She likes to walk around with a baby doll, put her hat on her and a blanket around her. She is really into giving kisses and hugs and "nuzzles" as Tim calls them. I remember them being called Eskimo kisses (where you rub noses with each other), but that is probably not very politically correct anymore. Ellasen gives kisses, hugs and nuzzles to Tim and me and all her toys. Ellasen has always liked older kids, but now that we are spending more time with the girls I nanny for she likes them even more. She sits in the car while we wait for Brooke (the 4th grader) to jump in and whispers "big girl, big girl, big girl" over and over until Brooke does jump in the car and then she shouts "BIG GIRL" with a squeal. It is really cute. Ellasen is in love with our animals. I don't think she really noticed them before we left for Florida, and now that we are back many minutes are spent chasing cats while YELLING "CAT" and pointing. We are teaching her the names of the animals in our mini zoo, but she still can't quite tell Wednesday and Hunter apart. Titan on the other hand is easy to spot. She regularly asks about Titan and Daddy when she wakes up in the morning, gets up from naps, and when we pull into the garage. Titan was a bit skeptical of our new edition for a long time, but he is getting really good with her, and she is really careful not to step on his toes or tail anymore. She is so smart. I am sure I think this just because she is mine, but she knows probably 100 words and uses them regularly, and she can pretty much repeat any simple  words you say. This is great fun for the girls I nanny who enjoy making her say long sentences one word at a time. She is starting to put together some two word sentences now: Mommy up, Daddy cracker, etc. One of her favorite things to do is to go to my drawers in the bathroom and pull out my products and try to mimic what I would do with them. So if she pulls out some lotion she pretends to put some in her hand and rubs them together. If she pulls out the hairspray she will rub it on her head etc....sometimes she gets confused though. Today she pulled out a tube of antibiotic ointment and said "butt paste?" (For those of you that don't know Butt Paste is a brand of diaper rash cream that she accidentally learned the name of...a story for another day).  She has also been known to pull out my contact solution and say "baba?" (Her name for a sippy cup) She always knows when she doesn't have it quite right...she guesses, but she knows it is probably not quite right. She loves Sesame Street characters, and she can name them all, but she isn't too into watching them on TV. She is the best little girl, and her daddy and I are proud every day that she belongs to us!

We had a check up a few days ago and here are her stats:
Weight 19 lbs 10 oz (3rd percentile)
Height76 cm (16th percentile)
Head 45.10 cm (19th percentile)

This video is silly and long, but I thought I would put it up here anyway. We were just talking after I took her monthly picture, and I thought I would take a minute to record her showing off!

Easter Egg Hunt

Our friend Catherine invited Ellasen and I to an Easter egg hunt at her church this past Saturday. We had a great time. Ellasen had been practicing finding eggs around the house so she was really pretty excited to put her practicing into action!

There was also a pancake breakfast and a teddy bear band. Ellasen did her best dancing while the band was just talking, but she did some more when they actually played. The other girl in the video is Catherine's daughter Kinsley. All in all it was a really fun morning!

Michigan

Ellasen and I flew to Michigan on April 1st while Tim drove the 20 hours to my parents' house to meet us. We left their house on Tuesday to drive the final leg of the trip to Rochester. We had a great time at my parents', and it was a nice little break in the long journey.
We celebrated my aunt's birthday with a family get together. Ellasen had fun playing with her cousins.

My mom and I took Ellasen on the carousel at the mall the next day, and she had a great time! 

Ellasen, my mom and aunt all had a nice visit another day.

My dad and Ellasen

My dad and Ellasen decided to hang a bird house in my parents' back yard. My dad told Ella he would watch for birds and send her pictures of their bird house. So cute!