Out of Our Gourds!

As you can imagine, the past few weekends have largely centered around pumpkins.

In addition to visiting the animals at one of Ellie's favorite zoos as they welcomed the Halloween season with their very own treat-filled pumpkins (treat = lettuce, carrots, and other things zoo animals like to eat).. we've been having some fun with our very own.

A couple weekends back Ann and Ellie made some yummy pumpkin muffins. But to do that, you first have to clear out some pumpkins. Ellie was a bit reluctant at the beginning, but wound up having a great time getting all the goop out -- and an even better time eating the muffins once they were finished.


Just last Saturday, we did our first family jack-o-lantern carving. Ellie enjoyed seeing all the shapes you can put into a pumpkin. We asked if she wanted one of the pumpkins to have a happy and funny face or a scary face.. "I want a scary face!".. so that's what we got. Good to see she can get into the spirit of the season.

Again, she did a good job scooping out the insides of the pumpkins, but liked it even more once the jack-o-lanterns were done.



I found it pretty funny that, once the carving was done, Ellie treated the jack-o-lanterns like puzzles.. trying to fit the pieces back into the holes from which they came. She got a couple of them in there, too.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYBODY!
(stay tuned for trick-or-treating Ellie pictures)























































































BOO!

Say Cheese!

Here are a couple shots from Ellie's recent school photo shoot.

There were plenty of good smiles to go around.

I snapped pictures *of* the pictures with my camera.





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Update and Other things

Potty Training Update: Ellie is now a regular user of the potty with accidents very few and very far between. Public potties, school, at home...she's a pro. She's so good, she actually has figured out that she can manipulate people with the potty...staying up longer, hiding from people at a party, getting some one on one attention from teachers at school...

In other news: I am now a member of the board of the Charlestown Mother's Association (http://www.charlestownmothersassociation.org/). I'm excited to be more involved and get to know this group of women even more.

Aunt Susie invited Ellie to a tea party at her house yesterday. Rumor has it that Ellie ate her share of strawberries (see the photo to the right).

All and all, things are going well. Ellie is growing up and becoming more independent and head strong. She's curious, loves singing and dancing, and is so much fun to be around! She also is the only toddler who can put a real diaper on the baby dolls they have in their class room. I'll leave you with this video of my singing and dancing toddler (she'd been spinning for a few minutes before I turned the camera on, so yeah, she's super dizzy)...

MVI_8812 a video by AHarrer on Flickr.

Apple Picking

Last weekend we went out to an orchard for some apple picking fun with Aunt Susie. Besides picking the apples, other attractions included some animals to stare at, apple cider doughnuts, mini John Deere equipment for toddlers, and a bouncy house. Ellie had a blast!

Potty Training

For the past couple of weeks we have been in the middle of potty training. On September 3rd (Labor Day weekend) we took away Ellie's diapers (except for naps and at night). We had a messy weekend, but our "potty training bootcamp" paid off. By Wednesday, Ellie was accident free (for #1).

We had a small set-back when we went to Chicago. The schedule change and different surroundings seemed to have thrown her off. But once we were back home, things we back to normal.

Going #2 in the potty wasn't as reliable as #1. We had a few accidents. However, Wednesday night (September 21) she and I had a long talk about going #2 in the potty and how it wasn't messy then.

Apparently it sunk in. We have been accident free (#1 and #2) for 3 days now. She has used the potty for #2 each day, and is reliable with #1. She is so excited about her big girl underwear and being a big girl.

In terms of potty training our 2.5 year old, it appears we are over the hill. Now that I have written this, I need to go find a giant block of wood to knock on.

Way to go Ellie!!

Our quick trip to Chicago

Last weekend, we made a very short trip to Chicago to go to Aunt Cindy's baby shower (Aunt Cindy and Uncle Mike are having a baby boy in November). We flew in Friday morning, and left Sunday mid-morning. Like I said, it was a quick trip.

However, we had fun visiting with family. We stayed with Mike and Cindy and it was so much fun watching Ellie bond with them. Ellie is very excited for her new cousin to arrive. She has named her cousin "Mustard", I don't think Mike and Cindy are going to pick that though!

Saturday was the shower. Ellie was much more excited to play on a neighbor's swing-set than visit with her family.

Although it was a super-quick trip, we did have a chanc some deep dish pizza!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flying to Chicago

Instead of the regular commute, we headed to Chicago for Cindy's baby shower. Ellie is super excited about the plane trip and seeing everyone.







We got to the airport before the sun woke up. Ellie enjoyed watching the planes while we waited to board.



Ellie got candy for using the airport potty.


I'm pretty sure we spent half the flight in the airplane bathroom. To be 2 again, and be impressed with new toilets.



She did well on the flight, didn't sleep, but was well behaved.