So long, mullet!

Ellie desperately needs a haircut. It's hard to believe that I have gone 21 months without ever cutting her hair, but that's the shameful truth. So far, I have been attempting to disguise her mullet with cleverly placed ponytails. No more. I am taking her this weekend to one of those fancy kid's haircut places in the hopes that they can do something with the mullet.

In other Ellie news, the kid is a little anal when it comes to cleaning. She definitely doesn't get this from me. If she sees any trash lying around, she will rush over to scoop it up and throw it in the garbage. Unfortunately, what she considers garbage isn't always what I consider garbage. Like the Netflix DVD that I left lying on the coffee table so I wouldn't forget to put it in the mail. Ellie mistook it for garbage and tossed it in the trash. Or maybe she just isn't a fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Life without children?

Chas posted a story about a cousin of hers who married a guy who did not want children (the story was much more detailed and interesting than that, but that is the part that got me thinking). Anyway, it made me wonder...if Tom had told me that he did not want to have children, would I have still married him?

I have always known that I wanted children. When I was little and people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would always say, "A mom!" Now that I actually am a mom, I know that is something I would never give up. However, due to religious differences, I made some pretty significant sacrifices when I chose to marry Tom. It wasn't an easy decision, but when I tried to live my life without him and even attempted to marry someone else, it just didn't work. So...if Tom had told me back then (before I had actually experienced the awesomeness that is Ellie) that he never wanted children, I probably would have still married him. Because he is Tom.

What about y'all? Would "no children" have been the deal breaker?

Tales from the crib (part II)

Last night, long after I had put Ellie to bed, I heard her yelling in toddler language. I walked into her room to see what she wanted only to find her straddling her crib rail. Visions of her falling over and breaking an arm (or worse!) flashed through my head. I promptly placed her back in the crib and swiveled the crib around so it was facing the wall. At first, she thought the little ride was great fun until she realized what I was doing. She was trapped! She then screamed loud, angry protests for the next 5 minutes until she fell back asleep amongst her many stuffed animals and spare pacifiers.

I am so not ready to convert this crib to a toddler bed! I know Ellie will spend the whole night playing happily in her room if not trapped to the confines of her crib. As it is, she already insists on taking a book to bed with her (just like her mommy!).

He will be missed...

Gordon B. Hinckley

June 23, 1910 - January 27, 2008

Weekend pics

Tom's mom stopped by last week with two Elmo outfits and a backpack for Ellie. Feeding the obsession. But Ellie was thrilled. All weekend long she wanted to wear her "packpack."
In addition to her Elmo gear, Ellie also always wants to wear her "boots." She has been really into boots since her hot pink cowgirl boots phase.

This last picture cracks me up. Ellie has taken to arranging her Elmo dolls on pillows and covering them up. She will then pat their backs and sweetly say, "Nigh nigh, kay? Nigh nigh."

Scene from Ellie's room this morning

I'm chasing Ellie around her room, trying to put her shirt on, while she laughs and giggles like this is the most fun game ever. I finally manage to wriggle the shirt over her head when she turns to me, pointing her little finger in my face, and says, "Mommy, no. You been bad."

Oh, what a day

So...remember when I was dying? Well, I stopped dying, but I am still sick. I have like a never-ending cold and to top it off, I managed to lose my voice. Try teaching unruly high schoolers all day when you don't have a voice. I found that if I pitched my voice really low, I could manage. Of course, my students couldn't stop laughing at my new manly voice. To make matters worse, I was being evaluated by my certification program supervisor today. Within the first 15 minutes of the observation, I had the worst coughing fit. I'm talking tears streaming down, red faced, and gagging. I had to actually walk out of the classroom to catch my breath. Who do I run into in the hallway? My principal. He asked me if I was okay, but I couldn't respond, what with the coughing and gagging and all. Anyway, the coughing fit effectively eliminated what was left of my voice. Then, after my supervisor left, the principal came in for a 15 minute walk-through. So basically, I was observed twice on a day that I felt like crap and had no voice.

/whine

The time-out chair

A few of you were curious about the time out chair mentioned in my last post. It usually works like this. Ellie throws a screaming fit about not getting something she wants. I give Ellie the option of getting up off the floor or going to time out. Half the time, she ends up in time out. She then sits in the chair for 1 minute. Afterwards, I sit her on my lap and briefly explain why she was in time out. Then I give her some loves and send her off to play. I have to say, I think the chair thing works. I find myself needing to use it less and less. This weekend for example, she has only been in the chair once. Rock n Roll Elmo, on the other hand, has been excessively naughty.

Bits and pieces

I'm having a serious case of blogger's block. I mean, I find Ellie absolutely fascinating, but it doesn't really translate well into blog format. Here are a few not-so-interesting tidbits from la casa de Ellie:

We have been putting the time-out chair to good use lately. It seems to work pretty well.

We have cut Ellie off from Elmo. When I was sick (read: dying) I pretty much let Ellie watch Elmo all day. But then she got a little too obsessed. Like the TV had to be on at all times or else she would start crying and whimpering "Elmo" while fumbling with the remote control. So, ever since Saturday, we have not let her watch any TV at all. Elmo is toddler crack and we are going cold turkey.

Ellie has started answering her own questions. Like tonight, for example, she was looking for Tom and she asked, "Where Daddy?" Before I could respond she nodded her head and said, "Daddy work." So cute.

I was letting her eat pretzels in the car today on the way home from the store. I heard her from the back seat saying very firmly, "No, Kolby, no. Bad." Um, Kolby was not in the back seat with her. In fact, she hadn't even seen Kolby in like a week.

Ellie at 21 months

• She is a happy-go-lucky kid with a mischievous side


• She still loves to cuddle and give hugs


• She greets me each morning with a sweet "Hello, Mommy!"


• She weighs 27 pounds, 2 ounces


• She loves to play with her mega legos and puzzles


• She also loves to color and insists on saying "Color!" over and over while she is doing it


• She loves to dance and can get down with the best of them


• She won't watch anything other than Elmo


• She is most ticklish under her chin


• She loves to ride her "bike" outside


• She wants to eat everything with a fork, even bread. When she says fork, it sounds exactly like a bad, four-letter word starting with "f."


• When she is mad, she will tell you, "No! Bad!" or "No! Go back!"


• She can identify and say almost every letter in the alphabet.


• She is the most amazing kid I have ever met and I am always marveling at how I got so lucky.

Drama mama here

That monster cold I had? Turns out to be the flu. Fever, aches, chills, pounding headache, sore throat...yeah, I am totally dying here. I dragged myself to school the past two days, no doubt causing a mass epidemic among my students. But no more. I am taking a sick day tomorrow. Because, like I said, I am dying.

A case of the Mondays

I spent another 3 hours at the Pediatrician's today. Ellie has been running high temps the past few days, but acting completely fine otherwise. They tested her for strep and the flu. Both came back negative. Her ears looked fine, so they did a urine sample and discovered she has a urinary tract infection. That's a new one for her, she usually just sticks to the basics like strep and ear infections. I have a monster cold, so spending my afternoon dealing with Ellie at the doctor's office made me even more cranky then usual. I did have to hide a smile, though, when Ellie pointed to the doctor and firmly told him, "No! Bad!"

Happy New Year and a little marathon talk

Happy New Year everyone! We had a few friends over and stayed up way too late playing Guitar Hero III. I was the party pooper who crashed first at 2:30am. Ellie shocked us all by sleeping in until 9:00! That is almost two whole hours past her previous sleep-in record. It was awesome, yet it made us late for the marathon. No, Tom and I weren't running the marathon (although Tom has run the Houston Marathon twice), but my two brothers were. And Rosie was doing a half-marathon. By the time Tom, Ellie, and I drove the hour drive to the marathon site, everyone had already crossed the finish line. Daniel took first place with a time of 2:47! Can you believe that? My baby brother won the marathon! And Mark took 9th with a 3:25. I was very proud of them both. And of Rosie, who totally rocked the half marathon. Since I didn't get to see anyone cross the finish line, it was basically like we drove an hour to take Ellie to the park.

And I didn't get any crossing-the-line pictures, but here are the two runners post-marathon. We can just pretend that my big sis there in the middle is Rosie. Congrats, y'all!
I still need to do a family reunion post. It was pretty fun. I took second in the pickleball championship. That's just as cool as running a marathon, right?