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!

What A Day... And It's Still The Morning

Yesterday was a dreamy kind of day... Elie was in a great mood, being very loving and falling in line with our regular daily schedule. I was feeling like the luckiest mom in the world! Elie ate all her meals with joy, took all her naps on cue, and didn't cry once! She played independently, and also with me. Cuddly and cute.

Napping sweetly

Learning to use chopsticks at lunch

Doing a darned good job!

Playing with her glow worm

And then there's today. Which started extra early, and with a little bit of an attitude. It wasn't a big deal that she wouldn't finish her breakfast, though it's normally the easiest meal to feed her. She typically finishes it with no problem. Not today. Then she was especially clingy, wanting me to be at her side instead of doing dishes or cleaning up. Okay. I can deal with that... there have been other days like this, too.

Day before yesterday (had to share 'cause she was so cute)

Then came nap time. It was actually my fault... I usually nurse her and hold her until she falls asleep, or almost asleep... but I had to go to the bathroom, urgently! So I put her down before she was ready and she started to cry. I went to the bathroom, and heard her in her bedroom screaming. She didn't stop. For forty minutes. I watched her on the monitor as she cried, paced her crib, then threw her lovey onto the floor, making her cry even harder. She wasn't going to fall asleep this way. So after forty minutes, I tried to nurse her again and instead of getting sleepy, she seemed more awake. She kicked her feet around, grabbed at my face, kept trying to sit up... so I finally gave in and stopped "nap time" for the time being. I now have her downstairs, and it's 11:49 am, and she hasn't had a nap yet! She's actually finally calmed down, and is sitting down looking at her books. Earlier she had some kind of crazy energy, and was climbing onto the sofa, over my body, back down to the floor, and around again. And again. Until she slid and tripped herself up and fell, which caused a big cry.

Let's hope she goes down for her next nap quickly and easily... I have a bit of laundry to finish up, and I was hoping to take her to the grocery store today, but won't attempt it if she hasn't had a nap! That's just asking for a melt down! Wish me luck...

Our Daredevil Child

I'm the first to admit that certain qualities that Elie possesses are entirely her own. She was born with them, and they continue to manifest in interesting ways.

She's quirky. She does things for no apparent reason... like her behavior in the grocery store, ha ha. Who knows why she does this when she rides in the carts with the child seats.

This is how we realized we needed gates

She's a daring explorer. As soon as she could walk, she was climbing up the stairs and trying to climb up onto boxes, stacks of books, anything to get herself up higher.

Climbing up the end table to see Jimothy

This was before she could actually walk, 3rd floor window

She's pretty fearless when it comes to climbing, heights, etc. Her dad is a little afraid of heights. Her mom is not, but I don't think I was climbing anything when I was her size! Who knows, though. My mom doesn't really remember those kinds of details about me. I was climbing trees and fences around 6-7 years old, though. That I DO remember. I climbed a 50 foot rock face at about 9 years old, with my friend and her rock-climbing father. We were harnessed, and all that, and I had a BLAST. Sooo... maybe she gets it from me? Is that trait genetic?

Trying cottage cheese mixed w/flaxseed oil & cayenne pepper, and liking it.

She's an adventurous eater. She didn't get this from me... As a child, I wouldn't eat much. The list was short. I remember hiding cauliflower in my dinner napkin until I could dump it into the toilet. I remember bartering off my meals with my mom & sister. Or trying to, anyway! Elie wants to try everything on my plate, and Keith's. She pretty much decides on her own what she likes or doesn't like. We now have to be careful what we eat in front of her... no potato chips, highly processed foods, or alcoholic beverages! She wants to try it ALL.

She's also a sweetheart, though! She's not ALL intensity and terror-inducing (for us, her parents.) She loves her pets, who are more like big brothers... and Jimothy, at least, loves her back! Beckham is still holding his reservations. 

Jimothy getting a bite of E's cucumber

Jimothy enjoying a belly rub from E

Going down for a kiss

Blissed out next to Jimothy

I know that these two will be close for years... Jimothy Boo has always been so patient and loving with E. She refrains from screeching at him, though she lets loose around Beckham. (Probably one reason he doesn't hang out when she's up and about!) 

This is Elie sliding off our tall bed, all by herself. 

When she gets off our bed, by the way, she has to drop blindly to the floor, as you can maybe tell from the photos... and sometimes she loses her balance and falls onto her butt. But she does it again and again, just the same!

It's amazing watching her grow and make connections... the changes are happening so quickly every day. It's hard to even mentally catalog all the new things she figures out every day, or says, or seems to understand. This blog definitely helps me to share those things, though! (Right at this moment, she is standing on the other end table, by the sofa, no, she's now next to me, pulling my arm to go with her somewhere... better go! She's hard to resist...