Trampoline

 

We bought Ellie a trampoline off of a friend of a friend a few weeks ago.  Ellie was very excited when we started to move all the parts to the backyard.  I had no idea that it came in so many pieces, but Ellie didn’t care.  She started helping me move the parts around the yard, and was putting flowers (weeds) into the screw holes.  The springs and screws also when inside the metal legs. (We still can’t find one of the springs.) As I was attaching the matte to the frame, Ellie was trying to jump on it and didn’t understand why she wasn’t bouncing. 

Christmas

On Christmas morning Ellie woke around 7.  We read a Christmas book in bed then headed downstairs to see if there was anything for Ellie. The reindeer’s carrot had bites taken out of it and Santa ate half of the cookie.   I can report Ellie must have been a very good girl with the amount of gifts she received.  She loved opening presents and playing with her new toys.  All the presents wore her out and she had an extra nap in the morning before opening more presents, visiting with friends and swimming.  Victoria baked delicious apple and cherry pies for dessert.

Merry Christmas

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Poos

We have started down the potty training road.  Ellie knows to tell us if poos are coming, but she doesn’t really care about sitting on the potty.  Today was Wednesday, daddy’s morning, and I was busy playing with Ellie and the Little People’s house since it was raining on and off outside.  Ellie said to me “poos coming” and I ask if Ellie need the potty, she responded “no”.  She then kept saying “Poos coming” and I kept asking her if she needed the potty.  Still the answer was “no”.  Then I realized that she was pointing to the Little People’s house and the chicken was sitting on the potty.  “Daddy, poos coming”.   I guess I still have lots to learn.

Summer Hat

 

Ellie was checking out her new summer hat on a walk to get the mail. Apona, the neighbor’s horse, traded a hat compliment for some grass on our way back to the house.

"E"

Ellie’s Elf on the Shelf arrived at our house on December 1st along with the Elf on the Shelf book.  Ellie named her Elf “E”.  She knows that “E” moves every night, from his trip to the North Pole to see Santa, and she has to find him every morning. (I am not really sure she understands the Santa part yet, but Victoria and I keep explaining it to her.)  Ellie will get to the bottom of the stairs and call out “E” just like she does for the cat and will walk around looking and calling for “E”.  Once she finds him, she gets all excited and points to him and says”E, E, E”

Ice Cream

It was a beautiful sunny day last Wednesday. Ellie, Victoria, and I went to the beach. Ellie enjoyed swinging for a very long time and a walk on the sand looking for shells. Ellie was a “Good Girl”, which she calls herself even if she isn’t, and as a treat got an ice cream cone. She still doesn’t understand how to eat one, as the ice cream was dripping down the cone and then a short time later decided to take a bite out of the cone.

It’s Hot

The last few days here have been hot, really hot. Ellie has been spending time in the baby pool or her friend’s pool keeping cool. But at night, she can’t get to sleep. We have been leaving her window and door open and the fan on, but still no sleep. Last night, Ellie’s cat decided to help Ellie sleep. Ellie started talking and I found the cat sleeping in her cot. Next, Ellie was calling out because one of her dolls accidentally fell out of the cot and somehow landed across the room. She finally went to sleep one and a half hours after we put her down. Does she look like she is sleeping in the picture?

Baby Toys

Ellie’s friend Susie has a baby brother that is 17 weeks old. The girls love playing in the baby gym when he is napping. This is Ellie now playing in the gym compared to a picture when she was 4 months old.

Goggles

“Goggles Daddy”. Ellie will go into my closet and find the goggles. She now knows how to put them on and will walk around the house wearing them. Sometimes the goggles go missing, but Ellie knows they are hiding.

Tunnel

Tunnels rank third on Ellie’s outside toy list, after swings and slide. She loves climbing through the tunnel and will even bring a doll or teddy bear with her. Spike also likes Ellie’s tunnel, but Ellie is not very happy when Spike is laying in it and will ask for Spike to be moved.

Ellie's Pool

Ellie has a small blue pool that we can easily fill up on our deck on hot days. She will sit, lay, swim, splash, drink, and transfer water from one bucket to another while playing in the pool. The little people are also included in the pool actives, sorry little people. She will wash, sink, feed and help them drink and then take them out of the water as shake them to get all the water out of them. After the pool Ellie will bring in a little person / little horse in the house and will shake them again, putting water on the floor and then say “Messy”.

First Fireworks

Ellie got to experience Fireworks for the first time a few weeks ago to celebrate Guy Fawkes day with our friends. Ellie seemed to really enjoy the sparklers, but when we lit one of the bigger fireworks, Romain Candles (I think) Ellie started to move away and said “Bye Bye”. We stopped lighting the bigger ones and stuck to the small one after that.

More Babies?

It is that time on the farm when baby birds are learning how to fly. Yesterday, Victoria spotted a small bird on the ground and proceeded to get close to see if it was hurt. It didn’t appear hurt, so she carefully picked it up and moved it to a safe place with tall grass to hide. The next minute we see Spike, Ellie’s cat, stalking something. It was the bird Victoria just moved. I moved in, jumped a fence and caught Spike before he attacked the bird. Inside he went (so much for “Meow outside naughty”). Then 10ish minutes later Spike reappears and was trying to find the bird again. He must have figured out that he could go through the doggie door. This time he finds another little bird. The mum and dad bird are making tons of noise to scare the cat away. It wasn’t working, so we moved in again and caught Spike. This must have been funny to anyone watching as there was the two of us chasing the cat while trying to keep him away from the area with the birds.

Today we found two more little birds, one Victoria moved after another close call with Spike. He is now stuck in the house during the day, with two rocks securing the doggie door. Victoria felt sorry for the bird so she fed it a worm. I tried to get close for a picture and the bird hopped away. Then Victoria goes towards it and the bird stopped and turned to Victoria looking for another worm. Good thing she had another one.

Finding a Christmas tree

Today was the start to our Christmas holiday season. We went to find Ellie’s Christmas tree at a Christmas tree farm just over the hill from our house. We walk between the trees looking for the perfect one. There was one tree that Victoria and I liked and when we asked Ellie if this was her tree and she said “no”, so we kept on looking. Finally we came upon one that we all agreed on and Ellie call it “Ellie’s Tree”. Ellie and I sat by the tree to save it as Victoria looked around in case there was another one that we should look at but there wasn’t. Next, Ellie pained the trunk to mark it for us and we put a sold sticker on it. We will be back in a week or so to cut it down.

On a side note, the lady who owns the tree farm use to own the farm that once included our property. She was the one that moved our house to its current location and then sold it. She said she has pictures of the house being moved and will show us when we come and pick up the tree.

Mealtime is serious business

Ellie doesn’t take mealtimes causally. She will use whatever means possible; fork, spoon, or fingers to finish her meal. If there is something she doesn’t like on the plate she will leave it till the end and distract us by playing peek-a-boo or acting tired so she doesn’t have to eat it. Too bad we figured out her game.

Caterpillar

This is the first art project Ellie has done with the nanny. She is very proud of it and will show it to you and tell you that she “drawing” (coloured) on the top on the caterpillar’s back.

Swimming Update

On Sunday at swimming lessons, for the first time ever, Ellie ran off the mat and jumped into the water without holding on to my hand! Sorry no picture, hopefully next Sunday.

Ellie's Cardboard House

We finally cleared out our storage unit in the states a few months ago. It took a while for the boxes to arrive and now they are unpacked. We have converted one of the boxes into a house for Ellie. She loves it. Victoria even created a door and a window that opens and closes. Ellie has been able to decorate it with Crayons and chalk.

That's Not Ellie

It might look like Victoria is walking with Ellie, but Ellie was by my side when I took the picture. I thought how funny and had to take a picture. You can see in the second picture how similar the girls looked!

Don’t worry, the girl was following Victoria, and yes, Victoria knew it wasn’t Ellie.

Grandma's Visit

Ellie loved all the attention from Grandma during her visit. Ellie even took Grandma to the zoo to show her Ellie’s hippos. If you look in the upper right you can see hippo ears.

Playing with Friends

We had Ellie’s friend Sienna and her parents over for dinner a few weeks ago. The girls love playing with each other and after dinner we were all treated to a show of Ellie and Sienna pushing each other around and around the dinner table in the doll’s buggy.

First Sentence

Today was the first day Ellie put multiple words together. She said “Kitty outside naughty” then a little later said”cereal”. This all started when the Spike, naughty cat, jumped onto the table and started eating Ellie’s cereal. Ellie got upset at Spike and waved her arms, but he just kept on eating. Then Victoria put Spike outside for a timeout.

Halloween

Ellie was all dressed up as a good fairy and she even wore her wings (which until now, she could not stand). We headed for the zoo early, so we could see a few animals before having to leave temporary as they prepared for ”Boo at the Zoo”. Victoria made a picnic dinner that we ate in the back of the car as we watched hundreds of people try to find parking. After dinner we headed back into the zoo. Ellie had the widest eyes all night looking at everyone dressed up. She was even able to see the hippos taking a bath.

Preparing for Halloween

In New Zealand they barely celebrate Halloween and there is no trick or treating. Victoria has found an activity to help Ellie understand the meaning of Halloween, American style. We are taking Ellie to “Boo at the Zoo”. Where there are scary things and special “Boo” stops with treats.

Walking the Cat

This is not the way to walk a cat! It is a very good thing that Spike is calm around kids.

Tired

Ellie and I were on one of our afternoon walks in the paddock giving Mum time to prepare dinner. Ellie was getting tired, stopped to rub her eye, and asked for Mama.

Helping Grandma in the kitchen

My mom was preparing “Jan’s bun” (a breakfast bun) and Ellie was busy helping. She was able to mix the egg and butter into the flower and then pour the cinnamon mixture into the pan. Ellie wasn’t able to have this for breakfast, but she did get some for a midmorning snack (second breakfast) and she really enjoyed it.

Warning

Be carefully around Ellie when she is hungry. She had finished her sandwich and I had just finish making my second one, when Ellie spotted it and wanted “more, dada’s, more”. All I can say is; I lost my sandwich.

Quite Reading Time

Granddad and Ellie were having a brief moment of quite time, reading.

This shot was not set up. Ellie pulled the stool over to the chair herself, opened the paper, and proceed to read. She has been doing this lately with the paper, ads, and magazines around the house. She will sit and slowly turn the pages like she is reading.