COOKIE!

Ellis just turned 18 months and he has changed so much in these last few weeks. His vocabulary is getting bigger and bigger but he really is not :) I took him for his check up and he is only 19 lbs and 4 ounces but he is in the 45% for height. Still not on the charts for weight though! Someday right? I did get "permission" to turn him around even though we did that a few weeks ago.

You never know what words are simmering under the surface. I was grabbing a cookie for Clara and Ellis heard the crinkling in the pantry. He came running over screaming COOKIE! with his hands in the air. He was practically breaking down the pantry door to get one!

He has been learning words at lightening speed. Chin, Cheeks, Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Teeth, Ears are ones on my face he LOVES to label. He is more than willing to try out new sounds and is such a word sponge. I just love teaching babies how to speak.

Ellis' ability to sing Twinkle Twinkle is changing everyday. His favorite time to sing it is in his chair after eating. He will sing it over and over again and he is learning more words of the song. He can say twinkle, little, star, up above (his all time favorite). Most of the time he just babbles to the tune. It is really quite funny and ALWAYS in tune.

Ellis has rediscovered cars. We "found" the figure eight track and the Cars container in his room. He plays with them non stop. And he is always so serious and quiet about it when he plays with them. He can play by himself (if he is not hungry or tired) very well. He likes to line them up, knows most of them by name (as in, which one is Luigi but he does call Mater, Mamee), and can play with them forever.

Ellis has his molars coming in right now. His top two are about half way broken through and his bottom ones just broke through in the last couple of days. He has been really crabby over the whole thing. I tried these teething tablets but not have had much luck with them. I must say that he is eating MUCH better than he has in the past. The kids actually eats MEAT! He started with roast beef, moved on to salami and even housed chicken the other day. It is amazing. He actually sits down to lunch and dinner. It is like a whole new world of pleasantry. Though he is currently boycotting breakfast and I need to find a fix for that. My current fix is a fruit bar but I don't like giving them to him. I miss the days when he would eat a whole banana at breakfast.

Clara has been a crabby toddler the last couple of days but I think we are past that. She was a little off her potty schedule which makes a crabby constipated girl. She has been really into making faces on paper and handing them out to people. She is more than willing to create art for ANYONE. Today she gave one to Dr. Sam and the cleaning lady and any one else she sees have been spammed with her art. I bought her a egg notepad (after Easter clearance) and she likes to rip of a page, draw a face on it and line them up. I asked her the other day what it was and she said it was a customer. Where did she even learn that word!?!?! She is too funny.

Clara is obsessed with wings right now. She even sleeps with them when she can get away with it. She wants to wear them all day long and wants to fly away. She got a fun new pair from H&M this weekend and she was outside with them declaring how the wind was going to take her away and she was going to fly. If only that were true! She would love that.

Every night before Clara goes to bed, she insists on drawing whales. This all started when she discovered Matt's wipe off board in his office. She stands on a stool and draws and draws and erases and erases. She mowed through two dry erase markers already! She likes to bang them and make polka dots so she completely ruined the tips. She just loves it. Her drawing repertoire is expanding but whales are still her favorite. Basically it is a circle, with eyes, and a mouth and a LONG tail. She makes them in all shapes and sizes and sometimes they turn into other animals by accident. Camels and birds have been surprise creations. And every now and then she will write a letter by accident and gets excited about it. She really seems to be showing an interest in reading. I don't want to push it on her or anything but she will point to a word and ask what it says. I did a "test" to see how many lower case numbers she knew and she did know most of them. So Heather suggested that as I read a book, I tap on the word as I go to show her the flow of everything. She is very sure that you read EVERY word in each book. Her obsession with book is ... well an OBSESSION! She loves the Berenstain Bears, Harold, Angelina and Dr. Seuss books right now.