"All By Myself"

Recently, Elyse has been wanting to do everything on her own (which I should appreciate right now, but sometimes is just too much). One such thing that I appreciate is when she goes potty. She now successfully takes her pants and undies on and off and climbs up onto the adult potty by herself and does the entire bathroom routine without us. Today, however, brought a twist. After going potty she decided she did not want to put her jeans back on. Therefore, she proceeded to do something else she wants to do on her own, pick her clothes out and get dressed. So she went into her pajama drawer and picked out her summer pajama pants that don't quite fit her (look like leggings now). Plus as you can see, she puts them on inside out. (At least she color coordinates well.) The picture was taken right after her running downstairs saying, "Mama, look, new pants and no socks" :) Needless to say, I don't think we are going out in public the rest of the day. She brings so much joy and smiles to my life.

And so does this happy boy.

Things They Say

As parents we tend to capture our children saying things that we would never expect. It generally falls into the categories of being humorous, emotional or embarrassing. Well this weekend, Elyse stated two of the three. I just love unforgettable moments like these!!!

#1: Nate and I were in Lowe's looking at doors (need to repaint our front one) and they had samples on the wall for windows. They were in the shape of a cross and so Elyse runs to it looks at me and says, "Mama, look Jesus" she then continues by singing, "Jesus Loves Me". Nate and I look and smile. My heart was full of joy.

#2: I turned the news on yesterday to check the weather for today and a commercial was on. Hopefully you have seen it, if not it's a police ad for drinking while driving. It shows how driving while drunk is completely obvious. The part Elyse saw was when the policeman opens the door of the man sitting inside the car with alcohol all around him. Right after seeing it Elyse says, "Look Mama that man is swimming in pee-pee." I laughed so hard!

Of course a post wouldn't be complete without a random pic of Elyse

Story of the Missing "I"

To start off this post I have to recommend the toy I am about to talk about. The Leap Frog's Magnetic Letters. This toy not only keeps a child busy while us moms are in the kitchen, but I swear they helped Elyse learn her letters so quickly. It's a wonderful toy and even though it is recommended for a 2 year old, I say start at 1. Okay for the story of the missing "I".

For just about two months now Elyse has had to play with her magnetic letters as they are on the fridge. All 25, that's right, no "I". Randomly one day it went missing and I swore I was going to have to write into Leap Frog to buy another one. Well, yesterday, I see my daughter running into the kitchen smiling and carrying a little red "I". That's right, she found it. She found it in her washer/dryer toy set. I rotate toys every 3 weeks and so she hasn't seen her set in over 6 weeks, and that's why I haven't seen the "I". Well being so structured and an orderly person, I was going crazy with it gone and now that the "I" has returned, I can finally feel fulfilled that her magnetic board is complete.

Hydrophobia

Today hit 89 with tons of humidity. Therefore, Nate and I thought Elyse would enjoy playing in the cool sprinklers. She loved watching Nate go through. While her attempt to walk through them to get to Nate started strong, it ended in tears. She tends to cry a lot when in the tub and now sprinklers, guess Elyse may have a hydrophobia (fear of water), only time will tell. By the way, there was no child neglect or harm in the making of these videos. She was completely tear free as soon as the camera was turned off.

Toot

Two things before the story, first, Elyse HATES getting her diaper changed. I don't know why, she just tends to fight it every time. Secondly, she recently has been saying, "Toot" and has learned that they sometimes are stinky.

This morning Elyse had just finished doing a #2, as I can tell by her disappearing act to her hiding place, the grunting sounds and the smell. Well once she was finished, that smart little girl came up to me, gave me a kiss, pointed to her diaper and said, "Mama, Elyse toot" and instantly turned around and ran. As if I would think she just tooted and that's why it smelled and so she wouldn't need a diaper change. Oh funny girl. She just cracks me up so much lately. It's stories like this that make being a mother so wonderful and entertaining.

I'm **uck

So this morning, Elyse woke up a little earlier than normal and besides singing she was happily saying two things over and over again, "Mama" and "**uck". Since I was eating breakfast and she wasn't crying, I left her in her crib in hopes that she would fall back asleep. Finally I went to go get her out and while I tried to lift her up from lying down she began yelling, "STUCK". I thought the entire morning she was saying "Duck" because we usually look at them out her window in the morning. My bad! So Elyse successfully got her foot/leg stuck between the metal bar that lowers the crib and a crib railing. The crib is set at regulation safety width, guess widths are not as close as the FDA thought they should be.
Elyse's new spring coat, thanks Mom! Suppose to hit 70 this week!

Bad Baby

So before you watch the video, you need to read the following plot: Yesterday, Elyse was trying to put her baby into her toy train. Unfortunately the baby's head weighs a little too much and so the baby kept falling out. She then picked up the baby and said, "No". She then proceeded to get up and head for the stairs going into the family room and her time out area. As she was going, I asked her, "Elyse, where are you going." She responded back with her gibberish talk. I then said, "Are you taking baby to time out?" Just then, I got up grabbed the camera and captured this...

Got the Right Idea

Elyse LOVES to take out my dirty underwear from the laundry basket, carry it around and then put it back in the basket. Well today she thought she would put it back somewhere else instead. I guess she figures she sees Mama wearing these on her legs when she goes pee-pee so I bet they go in there too :)
The one time I don't put the lid down, serves me right.

#1 Twilight Fan

Nate and I listen to books on tape while we travel, and for the past year we spent much of that time listening to the Twilight Series. We really enjoyed every book and look forward to going to see the movies. Well, for the past few month we tell people that Elyse has got to be the #1 biggest fan, because who else has only vampire teeth? :)

I have tried to capture a picture for months, and today while I was doing her baby book I came across this one her Aunt Kim took in IL and it captures her vampire teeth perfectly.

A week ago she got the bottom side tooth and finally as of yesterday her left top center tooth broke through. YEAH!

Where's Waldo?

Glasses are on behalf of Uncle Steven :)

Noisey Little Trouble Maker

So I have heard from many parents that when they don't hear their child they are most likely getting into something they are not suppose to. Well, like I have mentioned before Elyse loves to not be the norm...Elyse was playing in her room so I figured I had a few minutes to go put away some laundry in our bedroom two doors down. I continuously heard her talking and singing away, so I assumed she was fine. However, I realized her sounds were a lot louder than they should have been. So I put down the laundry walked to her room and was stopped in my tracks. There was Elyse getting into the toilet and toilet paper while still singing and talking away. I then decided I was going to have the "that's not a toy" discussion after I went to get the camera to capture my little trouble maker.

Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack

So as I previously mentioned in the other blog, Elyse's bath duck quacks and she loves it. I think she has grown to love ducks and I believe it started way back in November. Elyse's Uncle Steven and Aunt Kim bought her this duck that plays the chicken dance song. Right away she loved it and now she does her own imitation of the duck while it sings. Nate and I HATE the chicken dance (Steven and Kim knew this too), but we play it anyways because we LOVE watching her get so excited.

Blog post is dedicated to Uncle Steven and Aunt Kim :)