The Harrer Happenings

Monday, April 18, 2011

Listen my children and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

The title and the stanza above is from Longfellow's, Paul Revere's Ride and explains why Ellie had the day off of school. Today is Patriot's Day (aka Marathon Monday) in Boston. Today marks Paul Revere's ride and the start of the Revolutionary War.

This morning, Ellie and I actually went down to City Square Park in Charlestown to see the start of Paul's ride. The story goes, that Paul Revere came over to Charlestown and watched to see, "one if by land, two if by see" in the steeple of the Old North Church. He then took off from Charlestown to the suburbs...err...Lexington and Concord and we all know our history from there right?

It was a fun gathering of Charlestown kids hosted by the Charlestown Mother's Association who generiously provided snacks. Ellie even saw two friends from school and spent some time comparing juice boxes and talking about their excitement to see the "horsey".

Eventually, Paul Revere made his arrival. There was a reading of the full poem by some Charlestown youth. There was a short talk by Paul himself about where he was going. Then the National Park Service ranger talked about the horse a little bit. And then, Paul paraded the horse around so each child could get a close look and the "one brown horsey, big" (we've been working on our adjectives, can you tell?).

Friday, April 15, 2011

Ellie's singing

A short video of Ellie singing some of her favorite songs.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Checking In

Its been a little bit since we last posted an update. We have been busy. Not that we have been tavelling, having some adventures, or done anything really exciting...but a typical day around here with two full-time working parents and Ellie is quite busy.

Ellie loves her birthday presents. We have gone on a couple wagon rides, taken it to the playground. However, its just been so cold around here we haven't had much outside time. However, on the few nice days that we have had, Ellie has spent hours at the playground. And almost everytime we head out to one of the several different playgrounds in the neighborhood we see a friend from school! Ellie now even asks if we will see her friends when we are putting shoes and coats on.

Ellie is quite the talker. And the singer. Ellie talks almost consistently. She only stops to sing. She can sing several nursery rhymes all the way through by herself (with finger or hand motions). Her favorite song is "Happy Birthday". She will sing it to anyone or anything in the room, or herself. She will sing her ABCs all the way through too. Sometimes she asks us to join her in a song or sing her a song that she learned at school, but we don't know the words! I actually googled, "toddler bubble song" and sang all the songs to her that I could find. None of them were the right one.

We had her 2-year check-up. We haven't quite gotten to 30 pounds yet and we are just under 33 inches tall. She's right in the 50th percentile for height and weight. However, her head circumference...off the charts! No wonder we have difficulty putting her shirts on over her head! The 13th and 14th teeth are just starting to show.

We didn't do a 25 mo dolphin photo. Partially because we forgot, partially because she won't sit still, and partially because...well, she's two!

She is quite opinionated. From what she does (and doesn't) want to eat to her outfits. Several times I have been told "No Mommy! No shirt, Dress!" or I'll pick the wrong shirt and she'll ask for a different one. Sometimes she will request a certain hair style, "Pony side Mommy!". Sometimes, in the car, she will yell, "No Mommy! That way!" and point in some direction. Good to know I have a backseat driver already.

She loves bathes. Hates riding in the car, but loves riding the bus to school. She climbs into her highchair by herself and loves to skip. She knows most her colors, including pink. She loves to give hugs. She can count to13, but understands what 1-5 really is.

If you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she says, "Santa".

She's clever. Almost too clever. One night, she asked for some fruit snacks. I asked her how many. She said, "Three". I counted out three for her, "one...two...three". She ate them, quickly. She then asked for some more. I asked her how many more fruit snacks she would like. She thought about it and said, "Five!". I started to count them out, "one..." as soon as I put the first on on the table she grabbed it and hid it in her fist. I started to count out the second one, "two...". Ellie then said, "No Mommy, one". See, almost too clever.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Ellie's Birthday Party

Ellie had a fantastic birthday party! Good food and good friends always makes a great party. Three friends from school came over, so we had a total of 4, two-year-old girls running around the house. Some adult friends, without kids, also came over. Aunt Susie even made it over before she ran to the airport to head to Costa Rica for vacation!

Good food. We had a spread of pizza, veggies, fruit, sugar cookies, cupcakes, and chips and salsa (Ellie's favorite). I actually made and decorated the sugar cookes and cupcakes.

Good friends. We had some of our family and friends over, as well as some Ellie's friends from school.

One of her friends, whom she had been very close at school, had recently moved to the suburbs so she doesn't see her everyday anymore. It was great to see them. The girls got along really well (as expected) and had a great time hanging out and playing with all of Ellie's toys. Ellie shared her toys very well.

I actually don't think there is anything cuter than watching little girls sit on the floor and eat cupcakes together.

Ellie had been super excited about her party, and her party hat. One of her friends sang her Happy Birthday over and over. Ellie needed some help blowing out her candle by me, but loved all the attention she got while everyone sang and watched her with her cupcake.

We waited until everyone had left to open presents. She got a bean bag chair and a wagon from us. She LOVED the wagon so much that she had to open all her presents in it. She loved everything she received. We definitely have some thank you notes to write!

Ellie had a great birthday and has been talking about her party and that her friends came over and the cookies and her presents (which at first she thought were from Santa, but we explained they were from friends and family and that Santa is "night-night" till Christmas). She keeps singing Happy Birthday to herself. I have had to explain a couple times that she had her birthday and her party and we have to wait till next year. At least we know she had a great time!