Happy Third Birthday, Ellie

Wow, both Victoria and I can’t believe she is 3.  It is amazing how much she has changed, yet looking back at the old pictures how she still makes the same expressions.

Ellie loves to draw, paint, and stick stickers on paper.  She is singing the ABC’s (using “Zed” instead of Z), counting up to the teens (and finally including 8). She enjoy watching rocket videos, books, baby dolls, games, and playing with a marble run (marbling).  At night, she will select a book or two to read to her dolls or any other stuffed animal that made it into bed.

She will tell you she is a big girl, not a baby and that she is a dolphin!  Dolphin is the short version; today she was a baby bird frog dolphin.

Summer Naps

Do you remember what it was like to play really hard all morning and then in the heat of the summer day take a long nap?  Ellie doesn’t know how good she has it.

Friends

Ellie has many friends, a few very good friends and two special best friends.  All her close friends are from coffee group which formed 3 years ago, from our prenatal classes.  Victoria is kept very busy with Ellie social engagements.  Victoria might get reprieve from all the driving, as Ellie ask for a car today that she can use to drive herself to school.

Bugs

Ellie said yesterday "There is a bug lying down and he needs a tissue."

Gardening

Ellie is always willing to give us a helping hand with our outside projects.  This morning Victoria and I were outside working in the flower garden and Ellie wanted to help us plant a few new plants.  She assisted in the digging, worm catching / moving, playing with the bark, planting the new plant, and finally the watering. 

If you look closely at Ellie in the first picture you will see a sticker that Ellie insisted to have on her nose.

Behind the Blog

Anyone would think that the “Ellie’s Blog” would be simple to create.  Ellie snaps a few pictures; I type in how she describes the pictures and upload.  If that was only the case, there would be so many more.This is what really happened. 

Ellie decided she wanted to take a horse picture for the blog with her new camera.  As we were getting ready to go outside, she needed to test the camera and took the pictures of her feet.  After about 5 minutes we made it outside with the camera and shoes on our feet.  Ellie didn’t want to take pictures of the horses right next to the house, that would have been way to easy.  Instead she wanted to walk (be carried) to the bottom of our paddock to take pictures of the fouls.  We made it to the bottom bridge and we need to stop and inspect the water level (there was almost no water) and then rest while play with a tickle weed.

Now at least 15 minutes from us trying to leave the house, we crossed the bridge and were only 100 feet away from the fence when nature called.  Not the horses, flowers, seeds, or alpacas the other nature.  No chance we were going all the way back to the house to start again, so Ellie took care of the problem in the grass, all the while keeping the camera close, very close.  We finally got to the fence, took some pictures, climbed the fence, took more horse and fence pictures.  Step one complete!

On the way back to the house, we had to play hide and seek in the tall grass, then play in the dirt, remove our shoes so they didn’t get dirty, and feed and kiss the alpacas. At this point we have committed more than 40 minutes.

Once inside, we downloaded the pictures off her camera and she then selected the ones to post.  As we were typing the description, Ellie was “helping” type; she became distracted by a bug (grasshopper) on the window.  She went to inspect the bug and poked at it for a few minutes.  The bug didn’t care as it was on the other side of the window and just kept moving along.  Ellie came back to the computer and then finished her second post. This was about one and quarter hours from the start of this blog adventure.

Ellie's Blog - Feet

Ellie's Feet

feet like this and like this

Ellie’s Blog – Horses

Horsey, horsey
all the alpacas and bunnies
horsey types kitty types

These are Ellie's words and pictures (taken with her new camera). 

Christmas

This is the first year that Ellie really did understand what Christmas was all about (the presents).  Ellie asked Santa for a blue scooter, then a pink scooter, then back to blue.  This went on most of the month of December and Santa was getting very confused.  Santa being as smart as he (she) is arrived Christmas Eve with a pink and blue scooter for Ellie.  After Ellie opened her Santa gifts, Mummy went upstairs to set up Ellie’s other Christmas surprise, Hot Air Balloons (expertly created by Victoria) hanging from her ceiling.  Ellie was so excited!

The only disappointment for Ellie Christmas morning was the lack of reindeer in the paddock.  On Christmas Eve, when Ellie and I were giving the alpacas their treats, I let the alpacas know that they were going to have visitors in the night and that the reindeer are friendly and they should not be scared.  I guess Ellie thought the reindeer were going to stay and live with us.  

Camping

This was Ellie’s first camping trip and first time actually sleeping in a tent.  We did test the tent last summer, but Ellie didn’t make it through the night.  We went with 3 other families and camped at a beach.  All the kids had a blast and were so tired that they were happy to be in bed each night.  Ellie was so sound asleep, she rolled off her inflatable mattress and ended up sleeping  on the hard ground with a toy under her until we picked her up to put back into bed, she didn’t even wake up or move.