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.