Here Comes The Sun...

Spring has come to remind us that Life goes on. The seemingly dead trees and plants are being resurrected by the warmth of the sun, the rain, and truly amazing cycle of the seasons. Elie and I have begun to explore the changes in earnest, finally breathing air outside of the cave-like home! 

She enjoys finding bugs, smelling flowers, and playing in the dirt. I'm thankful we have a little nature child in our family! (How could she NOT be, right?)

Holding a dead hornet

Showing the camera her hornet

Dancing with her hornet

She is alternately wonderful and frightening... having snuck out of the yard once, hidden from me once, and nearly given me several near-fatal heart attacks in the process. I exaggerate, but just barely. She tries to "help" mama sometimes, which results in early bath times. If I don't pay attention to her, then this can happen:

"Uh oh! Baby eye, owee!"

"Uh oh, mama. Baby uh oh." That's a lot of dirt.

We've had our good days and our bad days. Lately, they've been trending towards being more difficult, with her pushing a lot of boundaries that we've previously set up. Her growing vocabulary has become a weapon she wields when she's angry. She's not even a teenager yet!

Yesterday, after we had a little stand-off over her behavior, she came upstairs (where I was cooling off by folding laundry) and told me, "NO 'I wuv you,' mama! NO 'I wuv you!'" Ouch. Year of the Dragon, indeed. I'm going to need therapy and a lot more wine to get through these years, aren't I? I suppose it's a good thing we don't have much wine in the house. To save me from myself!

I'm very lucky to have Keith, who comes home after a long day of teaching (dealing) with other people's kids, and takes over for me when I really need it. Still, we also have some good days here and there...

The sunny side of life!

Learning to pour with actual water in the teapot.

More tea, mama!

Here are a couple photos from Easter, since I didn't post anything then... Elie had a wonderful time at her Nana's house, and thought Uncle Easter Hop was Da Bomb!

Looking precious for a rare still moment!

She never stopped moving, so this is as good as it gets!

Our Little Learner

So, yes, the Terrible Twos are still happening, to a lesser degree. Also, we actually have days where there are no tantrums at all, so I'd say that things are definitely improving! Or at least, we're heading into a turn on this crazy roller coaster of life, and just watch out for what's around the corner...

Elie has been sucking up her ABCs like they are made of chocolate. She loves letters, and is also picking up numbers. (So far only one, two and three. Nothing else exists to her.) She loves to play her alphabet applications on the old iPad. When she sees letters anywhere (sweatshirt, box, magazine) she's quick to point out the letters she knows. "B, 'baby'! M, 'mama'!" And so on. She knows A, B, D, E, I, J, M, N, O, and W. She also knows K is for Keith, but says, "K, 'dada!' " which is also what she says for D. We're working on the alphabet, still. I have to remind myself, She's just two! when I realize that I'm pushing her a little bit harder on identifying them correctly. Still, she takes it all in stride!

She picks up new words almost every day. We don't always notice that it's the first time she says something, because it's happening at a rate that's hard for us to absorb. Later on, we'll say, "I think she said, '(whatever the word is)'... have you heard her say that before?" She's just a sponge sucking up the world around her, and squeezing it back out, a little at a time. Pretty wild!

Here are a few pictures from Christmas that I never got to post...

This was actually from her birthday, a couple weeks before

Elie also had a birthday in December that I never posted. She had two little parties this year, instead of one big one. We had a small celebration at home, on her actual birthday of Dec. 9th. Then we had one that her Nana hosted that weekend... She got to blow out a few candles!

Blowing out candles at our house

Blew out candles at Nana's house!

Advertising her age

Playing with her magnet faces

My favorite of Elie's creations

I'm going to try to be better about posting... but I don't know if anyone is still checking to see if there are any new blogs from me! It's been a while, I know. Sorry about that! I hope that everyone is well, and that you'll get to visit us out here in PA soon! Elie would love to see family and friends!!

The Terrible Twos

Well, we're here: The Terrible Twos. Our darling daughter, Elison, has learned the Power of No. She uses it like the tiny tyrant that she is. She has learned how to throw a tantrum that sends the cats scattering to the winds in about the space of time it takes a person to exhale. She frightens with her sudden outbursts of frustrated screaming as much as she enchants with her sudden smiles and kisses. 

Photo Booth time!

She has learned that she sometimes needs a "Time Out," and must sit on a chair until the timer goes off... usually set for one to two minutes. She nearly always apologizes after her time out is completed, if not before. She has actually requested to do a time out all on her own... which seems to defeat the purpose, but what the heck? We did it anyway, and she seemed to enjoy it. It hasn't reduced the power of the required time outs, either. 

Because of her emotional intensity and propensity for getting into trouble, I don't have time during the day to do much more than prepare for her next meal, our meals, some house cleaning (more to keep things safe and me sane around here) and watch a little self-indulgent TV. She occupies the rest of my time. I am just so grateful that she is still napping so I can shower and maybe read a little. It's nuts around here.

Needless to say, I love her dearly anyway! She makes me crazy, but she also makes me laugh, smile, giggle, and run around the house saying, "Boo!" She is learning to express herself better, though she still hasn't the words for, "Get out of my face, parents, I am melting down right now and nothing you can do or say will stop me." I think it will take another 11-12 years for her to learn to say that.