Eric Carle Animal Flash Cards

A while ago, when Ellie was still an infant, I bought her a set of Eric Carle Animal Flash Cards. They are made on sturdy cardboard, great for younger kids who don't quite understand how to play gently yet so things can be used over and over again. Eric Carle is the author of awesome, classic children's books such as "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do you See?", "The Grouchy Ladybug", Ellie's favorite "10 Little Rubber Ducks" and so many more. He has a very distinct way of illustrating his books and children and adults love his art. On one side, the flash cards depict animals from his wonderful stories which are, of course, illustrated in the same manner. On the other side of the flash cards there is a fun, brightly colored background with a capital and lower case letter to match the beginning letter of the animal on the opposite side.

We have been showing Ellie these flash cards for months and months. Recently, we have been showing her the letter side first and saying the letter, then, we have her repeat the letter shown on the card, hand her the card which she then eagerly flips over to see the animal, and then we say the animal. We repeat this through the whole deck, multiple times. We add in animal sounds and motions where we can too!  She really gets a kick out of the fact that I say "EW!" to the snake and the vulture. That little stinker has even been known to find one or both of those cards (even when we aren't playing with them) and chase me around the kitchen showing me the vulture and the snake pictures. She cracks me (and herself!) up!

This morning I decided that after our typical routine through the deck I would push her a little and see if she could pick out the animals I named if I laid them out for her six or so at a time. I couldn't believe it but she nailed every single last one of the animals-- even the weird ones like quetzal, xolo, and narwhal! Unprompted, she even told me some of the animal noises or made the movements of the animals. We very rarely ever do the cards in alphabetical order, but even if she knew all of the animals through memorization, I'm pretty amazed. Or, even if she didn't know the animal I named but rather used deductive reasoning that "I know that is a monkey, that that's a giraffe, that's an octopus, that's a turtle, and that's a rooster, so that one has to be a quetzal" then consider me impressed! I didn't know she had it in her! This is an early lesson for this mom to never underestimate her child's abilities! I made a mental note to see if she could repeat the same skill with the letters on the other side at a later time.

At her request, as we were going through the deck again, (after she had just named all of the animals) she insisted on carefully laying each card out, one by one, with the animal side facing up so she could see all of the animals around her. She was pretty pleased with her display until she stood up and realized how much her effort really looked like a big mess and said "oh nooo!" and squished her cheeks together in dismay. So, we made it into a game and she helped me clean up by bringing me scoops of cards at a time and then the stragglers one by one as I said things like "can you bring me the duck card?" She is so eager to please, always observing people's reactions to her actions. It makes me wonder if this is a personality trait or just the age. Maybe both? Regardless, I think it's a pretty great characteristic-- awareness is a good thing in all stages of your life, and to a certain degree being a people pleaser can be a great thing, too.

Ellie's Second Snow Day

It finally happened! On Wednesday, March 6th, 2013 we got a snow day where both Randall and I got to stay home because school and work were closed! We got about 8 inches total. The snow started on Tuesday night and continued all day long on Wednesday. Randall got Thursday off too but I just got a delay. We thoroughly enjoyed the surprise day off in the middle of the week where we got to spend every minute with our EllieBelle.

While we certainly wanted to take her out in the snow again (for me it would be the first time in the snow with her because I had to work last time it snowed) we had to wait until late afternoon for the snow and wind to lighten up. By then it started to rain/sleet and get yucky-- but we tried anyway! Ellie wasn't as impressed with the snow this time as she was last time. Perhaps she wasn't liking it because it seemed to be getting slushy very quickly. Randall was shoveling the driveway and I tried to start making a snowman with Ellie but she kept running back into the garage. She took up a sudden interest in the jogger that has been sitting in between the cars all season. I really tried to coax her into playing out in the snow, but she wasn't having any part of it.

I eventually gave in and Ellie and I went inside and watched daddy from the bay window. Randall build an awesome snowman-- or should I say "snowgirl" with the likeness of Ellie due to the sprig at the top of it's head to resemble Ellie's new hairstyle. Ellie thought this snowperson was pretty cool. And who knew Randall was such a good snowman-builder? I guess it makes sense since he's known to his family as the Snowman because he was born during a blizzard. I should have known :)

The next morning when Ellie woke up she ate breakfast and then as if it were on her mind all night she ran to the bay window threw open the curtain and squealed. I was still cleaning up breakfast and Randall was upstairs at the time. She ran back to the kitchen to get me and excitedly ran back down the hall, opened the curtain, smiled, squealed again and pointed to her snowman as if to say "Look, Mommy! It's still there!!!" I love the sense of wonder and excitement she has--it's so pure!

With the snow quickly melting as temperatures climbed we noticed that the snowgirl was in need of repair. Randall and Ellie went out to perform surgery. On Friday morning Ellie rushed to the window again to check things out. Our snowgirl was becoming much thinner but Ellie was still happy to see it out there. By Saturday, there was no snowgirl to speak of, with 60 degree weather she was gone, gone, gone!

If You're Happy and You Know it

Ellie learned a new song at daycare! It seems that all of the songs she learns there have hand motions and other movements that go along with them, the newest song, "If You're Happy and You Know it" is no exception! I can't exactly remember how we learned she knew this song-- I think I just started signing it to her a few weeks ago and she surprised me with her accompanying motions.

We have since learned that when you sing "If you're happy and you know it (fill in blank)" she will do anything you sing for her to do. It reminds me of the movie Anchorman where Will Ferrell plays Ron Burgundy and he will read literally anything that is displayed on the teleprompter during his news reports. We've had her spin in circles, pretend to sleep, shake her hands up high, jump up and down (which is really her just pumping her little legs up and down one at a time because she hasn't mastered jumping yet), and give hugs. But, our favorite trick is to sing "take a bite" when she is having a particularly stubborn night and doesn't want to eat much of her dinner. She's finished a few grilled cheese sandwiches this way!

Her favorite part is when you sing "then your face will surely show it". She loves to push her little pointer fingers into those perfect chubby cheeks, smile and sway her head side to side like a metronome. It makes me laugh every time! Sometimes I just can't believe this funny little girl is really ours! We are so lucky to be her parents-- Ellie, you make us happy every day...and I hope you know it (you little ham!) ;)

Ellie's Going to be a Big Sister!

Well, we can't believe it but it's TRUE! Ellie is going to be a big sister in September! Randall and I are absolutely thrilled and can barely keep this little secret in until the first trimester is over. We've been good about sticking to our rule to "keep it off Facebook and not tell the whole wide world until March 27th." It's been hard since we just want to shout it from the rooftops but we know we need to be smart and wait til it's safe to share with everyone.

Now, this doesn't mean we haven't shared with tons of our closest friends, family and a lot of great friends at church- but at least it hasn't been put on Facebook yet! Another reason we are determined to wait is because I don't want my work to find out before I have my one-year evaluation (April 10th). I know legally UMW can't and shouldn't be influenced by my pregnancy, however, knowing my supervisor, I know it would influence his evaluation. While it's unfortunate, it's just the way it is. I think we can safely put it on Facebook without UMW finding out for two more weeks...I hope!

I found out I was pregnant on February 4th and quickly made an appointment with Dr. Mercado's office for February 6th. At the appointment, they took another test to confirm the pregnancy and told me their ultrasound tech was booked for the day and I could come back later for a "dating" ultrasound to see how far along I was. I told the nurse I was flexible and would be happy to come back at any time. She left to check the tech's schedule and came back with a huge smile saying they could take me right then because another patient had cancelled. I got to see our little baby for the first time and it was breathtaking. I wasn't sure how I would feel seeing the our second baby. My pregnancy with Ellie was so highly anticipated that we held our breath every time the phone rang with test results or an image appeared on an ultrasound- we longed to see a baby and a heart beat.

With this pregnancy being a total shock (although we were certainly trying we NEVER thought it would happen naturally without having to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist again) I didn't know what I would feel or how I'd react because it wasn't preceded by 2 years of emotional roller coaster rides. But seeing that baby on the monitor made this pregnancy real, until then I couldn't really believe that I was pregnant. It just didn't seem possible after what it took to get Ellie that this could happen naturally for us. When the image appeared and I saw that heart beat for the first time my eyes filled with tears and I laughed- I was overcome with complete joy! This baby has its own incredible story and is just as special to us in its own right because to us this pregnancy is just as amazing. I believe both pregnancies and children are our gifts from God- true miracles. I left that appointment and kept the ultrasound photos to myself- I knew it would be an awesome gift to give Randall on his birthday about a week later. I just told him they confirmed my pregnancy but they couldn't fit me in for an ultrasound and left it at that :).

We decided to wait until the following Tuesday to tell our parents. It was Randall's 30th birthday and we had our parents and Hunter over to our house to celebrate and make ice cream sundaes. As we planned, we waited for everyone to arrive and then we acted as though we forgot to put Ellie in her party outfit. Randall rushed upstairs and changed her and brought her back downstairs for everyone to see our news spelled out on her shirt. It took just a few seconds before everyone knew just what we had been hiding...and the excitement and tears flowed! Happy day!

In the Kitchen with Ellie

For Christmas, Ellie got a new play kitchen. It's a "play and grow" kitchen that can change shape and actually get taller as she grows. It's a 50 piece set with grill, stove, oven, microwave, dinnerware, and food. Nanna and G-Diddy bought this gem for her and along with her Christmas stocking gifts from them was a Krispy Kreme paper hat. This hat has become a staple for her kitchen play. In fact, I've had to make a few trips to Krispy Kreme to get replacement and backup hats because they are just that important! This kitchen has provided hours of enjoyment for the whole family, not just Ellie! One of her most favorite games is to knock everything off the sink/stove, or drop cupcakes through the window (as if she's a short order cook) and then squish those adorable cheeks together and say "OH NOOO!"

 Ellie loves to serve her cupcakes. On her own, she has decided that mommy always gets the pink cupcakes and daddy always gets the blue ones. Not sure how she knew or decided about the blue for boys and pink for girls, but its pretty cute, and very consistent. She loves to offer coffee to anyone who visits and is also perfecting her pretend eating with an irresistibly cute "nom nom nom" noise she makes. The kitchen play has helped reinforce and continue to teach manners like please, thank you, more please, no thank you, all done, and cleaning up after herself (ok, so we still have A LOT of work to do with cleaning up).

As a side note, One area that Ellie is really good at cleaning is her hands. When she's eating in her high chair, or anywhere, she does NOT like for anything to be stuck to her hands. She won't eat another bite until her hand has been wiped clean, even if she's just going to get it messy again with the very next bite. Her eating will stop, she will hold her little hand out and patiently wait for you to come to her rescue with a wipe. If you don't notice she will prompt you by saying "uh oh" and if you still don't notice she gives up and uses her hair as a napkin. Yes, I said her hair. Talk about going from one extreme to the next!

Anyway, back to her kitchen, she loves to serve people. When my mom and dad were babysitting one day my dad dropped a few hints that he loves hot dogs, soon enough Ellie had found her hot dog and the bun and presented it to Grampy with pride. The set came with two pizzas, each with four slices. She enjoys using her pizza cutter to slice and serve each piece. She also likes to feed her stuffed animals, baby dolls, and Minnie Mouse. She can be very nurturing. It's a joy to watch her decide who is going to eat what, and if she thinks it's funny she isn't shy about bringing it to our attention! We love that she likes to share her silly thoughts and playtime with us. Even at this young age I swear she is a wonderful communicator, especially to her mommy and daddy. I pray that this open and natural communication continues to grow and strengthen as she grows.