Ellie is 2 1/2!

I wanted to make sure to get a half year post about Ellie in because it has been all about Juliet lately!

Ellie's first "Big girl" pony tail...I can't get over how much older she looks with her hair this way!

Sleeping
Ellie loves to take forever during the bedtime routine but once she is asleep she usually sleeps like a champ.  We usually start putting her to bed around 7 pm and it takes a while to get her into her crib because she wants to: use the potty, read 349037 books, pick different pajamas, put on a bandaid, get new water, get tucked in with 5 blankets, etc!  And if any of these steps are not obliged then watch out - full freak out!  I need to try to get her on more of a "these are the things and the only things we will do before you go in your crib" because it seems each night she adds another "must do" to her list of things to do before we can put her in her crib.  

And yup she is still in her crib...thank goodness!  Ha she has never tried to climb out so why mess with a good thing?  I have visions of her coming to visit us in our bedroom or running around the house if she was able to come and go.  No current plans to move her to a toddler bed.

Most nights she is asleep by 7:30/7:45pm and up between 6-7 am. She also takes a good midday nap at around 12:30 for 1.5-2.5 hours. Recently she has gotten into a new habit of removing her sleep sack, then her pajama bottoms then taking off her diaper, so when we look at the monitor in the morning she is just laying in her crib bare ass with her top still on.  Most times she has peed the bed too so I have started putting her back in footie pajamas which she can't remove herself! 

Eating 
She has gotten pickier with foods and it can be a bit of a struggle to get her to eat vegetables but she loves fruit, so that is a win.  Fun fact: she still LOVES smoked salmon.  So weird.  I can get her to do about anything for an M&M or a lollipop :)


Activity
Ellie still does the cutest scamper/run to get from one place to another - it is almost like she doesn't want to miss out on anything so she needs to get there as fast as possible.  It is hard to get her to sit in the stroller for walks because she would rather walk herself - which can be a challenge if I am trying to take the two girls and Winnie for a walk! I swear we must be quite a site. 

She loves climbing on things and going to the playground. 

Potty Training
While we haven't started officially potty training we do encourage Ellie to go to the potty several times per day.  She does pretty well and will often request to go on the potty.  

oh just riding on a lion in my Elsa costume at the library!

My silly girl

Preschool
When Ellie turned 2 she started going to a preschool that is literally 10 houses down from us called Poppets.  There is the main teacher who is British (hence the name Poppets) and an assistant teacher and the class is made up of 2 and 3 year olds.  The first few weeks Ellie had a bit of separation anxiety going since she had only been cared for by family up until that point, but now she loves going to school.  She goes 2 mornings a week.  I love seeing all the fun crafts she brings home and when she talks about her friends at school.  


Sister Love
Now that Juliet is more interactive, it is fun to see the two girls together.  They don't really play together but Ellie acknowledges Juliet now and likes to show her things.  Juliet could watch Ellie all day long.  I have seen a lot of the two year old "mine" coming up with her sister a lot so I am trying to squash that as soon as it comes up but right now there is a lot of Ellie grabbing things from Juliet that Ellie had no interest in 2 seconds ago!  Luckily Juliet doesn't care at the moment...but in a few months I think this will be an issue!