20 Questions With Ellie

Ellie turned three earlier this month. I decided this birthday was the perfect time to start documenting her likes and dislikes by asking her a series of questions each birthday. It's going to be interesting to see how these change each year or if they stay the same. 

Without further ado, I give you 20 questions with Ellie at age 3.

1. What is your favorite color? purple

2. What is your favorite toy? My Violet (the puppy dog)

3. What is your favorite fruit? grapes, bananas and apples

4. What is your favorite tv show? Dora

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? bananas

6. What is your favorite outfit? my Dora swimsuit Note: This question derailed the interview because she had to then find said bathing suit and put it on.

7. What is your favorite game? Busytown matching game

8. What is your favorite snack? bananas

9. What is your favorite animal? elephants 

10. What is your favorite song? My special song when I sing in Roman’s room "Dance Love You" She learned from her grandma. Note: This is a made up song of which she sang some to me. Her grandma did not teach it to her. :)

11. What is your favorite book? ABCs by Dr Seuss

12. Who is your best friend? Sam

13. What is your favorite cereal? colored cereal (Fruit Loops) Note: I've only bought it one time for her!

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? ride on my ladybug bicycle

15. What is your favorite drink? Gatorade and milk

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Minnie Mouse, Violet and water

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? pantakes (pancakes)

19.  What’s your favorite sport? Race cars

1. Follow up question: Who is your favorite driver? The girl (Danica Patrick) 

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Cinderella 

Mappy Valentime's Day

Dan and I watched a 30 Rock episode a few years ago with Rachel Dratch as a guest star and her character says, "Happy Valentime's" and somehow that morphed into "Mappy Valentime's" and it stuck. We have several sayings/phases that have started out as a joke and now permanently reside in our vocabulary.

Dan and I are super low key, so the day of love has never been a big deal to us. But, gosh, when you have a child, it's so much more fun and special. I took off work early to head to Ellie's party at daycare.

The kids in her class exchanged valentines, and her awesome teachers, Miss Stormi and Miss Allison, helped her make a box for her goodies. They even got roses for the moms. Isn't that sweet?

Ellie brought Smarties and Cuties to her classmates with this note attached.

I always find it interesting to watch all the kids eat. Some go straight for the sweets, others nibble on the cheese, while some pick out the salty and dive in. Out of a cookie, cupcake, grapes, cool whip, bananas, string cheese and Cheetos, Ellie went straight for the cupcake then cookie. 

In the picture above, some of the kids were clanging their juice boxes and Ellie got tickled. It's fun to see her interact with kids her age.

When we got home, we played outside in what little snow we had left. Our neighbors weren't outside...when they are, Ellie makes a beeline over to their house to play with the older girls and their toys.

Of course Ellie got goodies from her Grammy/Papaw and her Great-Grandmas. Daddy got her an Elmo balloon and Mommy and Daddy got her a little monkey purse with a book, candy, fruit snacks, bubbles and a puppy dog.

Mappy Valentime's from the Myers family!

Where's Your Belly?

This is my favorite question to ask Ellie right now. Why? Because this is what usually happens.

There's her belly!

Postcards and Play Time

Ellie got her first postcard in the mail this weekend.

It was from her papaw in New Zealand and had pictures of native birds. She said "hoot hoot" while she was looking at it.

Mommy got a postcard, too. It had sheep on the front. Ellie growled at the sheep. Yep, she's a silly little girl. 

This isn't mommy's first postcard from papaw. I still have the one he sent me from Mexico when I was probably two or three. It has monkeys riding greyhounds on the front. Then he told me that he hoped I was being a good little girl for my mommy. Now he's telling me to "take care of his baby." 

Have you seen her lately? I'm pretty sure she's being well taken care of! Look at that face.

Saturday was the perfect day to run errands and play outside. We all enjoyed some time in the front yard.

She's walking everywhere now and grabbing rocks, mulch, leaves...anything she can get her hands on.

Peaches was outside, too. 

Peaches and daddy started playing, and that got Ellie's attention. At first, it was funny.

Then, she started getting concerned.

She had to check out the action to see what was going on.

Peaches ran up as if to say, "It's okay."

She got some love from Peachy, so she had to walk up and give daddy a huge hug.

She's quickly becoming a daddy's girl. I have mixed feelings about this. But, I feel so blessed knowing that from postcards to play time, she's fully and completely loved by many.

My Little Big Girl

Ellie is 10 months old now; doesn't seem possible, but the red in my eyes and my 5 a.m. wake-up routine remind me it's so. She's moving up from the 'baby' room at both daycare and church, which makes her my little big girl.

My little big girl wears bows in her hair. Not bows on a headband, in her hair! When you have lots of it and it's constantly in your face and your food, having it away from your face is important. And, she's does that with style.

My little big girl is a talker. "She get it from her mama," as her daddy would say. She's well versed in "uh-oh", I swear she said "meow" and I'm pretty sure she's saying "huh?" when I tell her something. She can hoot like an owl and make a monkey noise. Of course, she adores her monkey feet pjs!

My little big girl is always in go mode. She points. She reaches. She pulls. She chases...Peaches, that is. Poor dog! Soon she'll get her first taste of dog food because at some point, Mommy will lose the race to the bowl! And, the race to the fireplace. And, the race to the, well, you get the idea. Oh, she'll turn around if you holler her name, but only long enough to wave at you and then continue toward the off-limits item.

My little big girl will be sky diving at age 3; she's a risk taker. It seems that she has the spiritual gift of finding the most dangerous or "no no" object in the room (see go mode). She's fearless at this age, which excites me and makes me a nervous wreck all at the same time. I hope she holds on to that fearless nature and God gives Mommy some supernatural peace.

My little big girl is funny. Silly, really. She loves to dance, clap, high five and can wave like nobody's business. If waving hi was an Olympic sport, she'd be on the top of the podium. Waving, of course.

Here's my little big girl!