What a difference a year makes!!
me point (after the age of 1, but before 2) the sweet serenity of a baby leaves and the very present reality of fear kicks in. For Ella, her first and only fear, thus far, has been of thunder. She is TERRIFIED! Not so much hysterical, but completely unsure and uneasy. When she hears the loud boom, she drops everything and runs with all her might to me, or Matt, or whoever might be closest. This is where she remains for the duration of the storm. Don't get me wrong, I love her to be close and I love the attention and stillness that we share during those moments, if I didn't know any better I'd think she was trying to get back in! But for the record, I do hate for her to be afraid. As a rookie mom the only thing I knew to do was just reassure her that everything was all right, it was just thunder and it was outside and she is safe.
Here's Ella and Cam
This is Ella fishing for "land sharks." Cam of course not too far away!!
It was a match made in heaven!
Too cute, huh!?
SO...I think we're in trouble!!
The other night Matt was getting Ella ready to take a bath. By getting ready I mean taking off her clothes. Anyway, he took off the diaper, set Ella on her potty and she did once again make the sound that she so loves to hear. In the midst of clapping and squealing I walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to retrieve her jelly beans (and by beans I mean one, maybe two) when I hear from down the hall..."ABBY! Clean up on aisle 2!" Laughing, I headed back to the bathroom with clorox spray and towel in hand. Matt now understands that after that initial tee tee you have to do one of two things. Either immediately re-diaper her or immediately put her in the tub. There is NO lag time in potty training. Now, the dilemma...there I am with jelly beans in one hand and disinfectant spray in the other. She did tee tee in the potty, but she had most recently tee teed in the floor. I figured that she was more than intelligent enough to know that the jelly beans were for the latter. We'll leave discrepancies for another day!
You certainly wouldn't have guessed this about him by simply looking at him...narrow-minded, I know. Anyway, he has lately resumed this hobby. Most recently when he drew something for his mother for Mother's Day. Watching him has obviously inspired Ella to do the same. She loves to draw and color on her notepad (tables and walls much less frequently, but not excluded-sometimes she just gets excited!) I am currently most thankful for Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser! Anyway, she has such a serious disposition while she is participating in this activity. She knows exactly what she's doing. This is mostly how she occupies herself while I am cleaning or cooking. Though she loves to color with Matt as well. She tells him what to draw (usually a dog or crawfish-ever since the crawfish boil we went to last month) and then it is amazing to watch her so resolutely trying to copy what he did. I hope this is a talent that she will possess. Clearly, it is something she acquired from her father seeing as how her mother can't draw stick people.
wn and now he has it. This was our first "harvest" of the year. Squash (it's apparently supposed to be round and that small), cucumbers (which if I say so myself were divine) and peppers. We also planted several types of tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, and banana peppers. None of which were ripe at this point in the venture. There is something quite liberating about growing and preparing your own food. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I sauteed the squash with butter, basil and sugar and it was quite a hit. Apparently, Matt doesn't even like squash, but he seemed to enjoy the creation!
