A little about Ella

My two and a half year old is lovely, completely endearing, and extremely challenging. She is bright and curious about everything which is a trait I try to foster... not always easy to do as this usually involves pulling things apart... she's a lot like Curious George come to think of it. Well meaning, bright, funny, but her middle name should be disastrous, not Celeste. If only I handled things as well as the man in the yellow hat. Yesterday, after approximately three melt downs in the space of two hours (my melt downs, not hers), I decided it was time to go get safety features for our door knobs and drawers as I was tired of them always being "explored". Here are some fun examples of Ella's explorations and experimentations:

1. Yesterday she decided strawberry yogurt would make good finger paint and proceeded to make art work out of the kitchen table, her clothing, and the floor. We also bought color wonder finger paints at the store yesterday after this little escapade.

2. She calls Polka dots "toke-a-pots" and she loves anything with "tokeapots, butterflies, ruffles, flowers, or glitter." She says, "oh mommy, it's BEAUTIFUL!"

3. She "helped" me clean out her drawers Friday by pulling out all of her and Little A's diapers and spreading them all over the house... that along with other misc. items she found while exploring her room... random toys and dress up clothes. It was a joy to clean up her "cleaning."

4. She thinks "listen to me" is another way of saying "completely ignore me and do the opposite of what I say," or at least it would appear so by her actions.

5. She says "no thank you" after you tell her to do something like shut the refrigerator door or put her toys away. It's funny that she thinks these are things she can elect out of doing. Hey, at least she uses her magic words when she says it, even if sometimes she's yelling it in her not so magic voice.

6. She knows all of her A,B,C's, can count to ten, and knows her primary colors too. She likes to "read" to herself in bed. She remembers what we've read and I hear her talking to herself at night about her ABC book or her new "sisters" book I got her. I know this is a pre-cursor to reading and I'm very excited that she's so developmentally appropriate, if not a little advanced... I have to boast.

7. She's become very choosy lately about what she wears and often wants to wear her princess clothes all day which is completely fine by me. After all, she is a princess to me and always will be. I love this little munchkin, as much as she may try my patience and my housecleaning skills, I cant wait to see what her tenacity will do for her as an adult. I think she'll be a strong leader who will go far in life, especially if she learns the fine skill of actually listening in between now and then.