Is it Mommy?!

I love it!  Holly has been calling almost every night to sing songs to Ellis and say goodnight.  Tonight when the phone rang and Uncle Kevy was getting pj's on, Ellis yelled...."is it mommy?!??!!!" before I could even answer the phone.  He was jumping up and down and asking over and over if it was mommy.  He definitely looks forward to talking to mommy at night.

few more

a few more photo's from Juanita Beach.

Juanita Bay Beach Park

Today Ellis and I went to the park to run off some energy.  It is suppose to be one of the last few nice days before the rain rolls in, so we have to make the most of it.  We went to the old standby Juanita Beach and Ellis spent about an hour chasing the ducks.  No joke, he just did not get tired of running after them (and in the sand too!).  I thought he would get frustrated because he was not catching them.  But he didn't seem to mind.  

Some where he found a huge loaf of bread and started to throw the whole loaf at the birds.  Then he figured out to pick the bread apart and go to the water and throw the pieces in the water and all the birds and ducks would come to him.  Pretty smart if you ask me, since I didn't tell him to do it and no one else was doing it either.  Man this kid has brains!

Phone call from Mommy AND Daddy!!!

This weekend while we were helping Tony and Michelle organize their car for their road trip to Wisconsin Ellis got 2 phone calls.  That's way more phone calls I get in a week! ;)  First one was from Daddy in Afghanistan and it was great.  He was so excited to talk to daddy.  He kept telling daddy about Kiki and Kevy, and Tony and Michelle, and that he loved him.  He has been talking about daddy in Afghanistan all weekend now.

Two seconds after he hung up mommy called.  When we told him that the phone was for him again he had the look of- huh?!- on his face, then he realize- mommy! It was pretty much the same conversation with mommy. It is so sweet to see a little 2 year old talking on the phone with his mommy and daddy.  We are blessed that we can talk on the phone and the computer instantly.  It makes everyone feel like we are not so far away.

Ellis helps moving

Today our friends Tony and Michelle moved to Wisconsin.  They stayed the weekend with us since they had moved out of their apartment on Friday.  Ellis had a great time with them always asking what they were doing and where they were.  He always wanted to participate with us and even helped pack their subaru....Lupita.  He was very sweet when I was sad, and wanted to know why I was so sad.  Very comforting!

WHAT HAPPENED!?

So I have come to learn that when Ellis comes around the corner, any corner, and asks..."What happened Kiki? What happened?" Over and over again, it usually means that he has broken, tipped, ripped, hit, knocked, or whatever a little boy could possible do,- something.  It cracks me up!  I usually say "I don't know Ellis, what did you do?" and I get the standard -"I don't know!"

Right now he's eating corn (cowrn) and hot dogs and quesadillas, and he is asking....That's mine? To EVERYTHING!  He has officially worked himself up to asking this question 24/7 and I think he could go pro.

ahh, wait.  Silence, and the good kind cause I know where he is and he is contained!

BTW.  He is blowing kisses all over the place for his mommy and daddy.

Slugs

Yesterday aunt C-C and I went to Red Robin with Ellis.  On the way back CC made a discovery of a slug and showed Ellis how to poke them in the eyes to make their heads disappear.  It was so cool!

Handsome Ellis

Dog Days

Ellis had a great day, minus the brushing of teeth this morning and drinking very, very dirty bath water, but what are you going to do right?  He spent most of the very cold morning playing with Tucker and Mazzy.  This is the most he has played with them and it was all on his own.  At one point he had to stop and take a 5 minute nap on Mazzy.  It was so cute!  After that, there was an explosion of energy and we went outside into our ugly backyard and played....mostly under the deck and got very dirty but every one had a great time except for the occasional head bumps and the usual falling downs.  One photo I'm sharing looks like Ellis is knocked over, but he is helping Tucker and Mazzy burry the ball.  He was so proud he yelled the usual "I did it!”

 

OH, how could I forget?  Ellis ACTUALLY told me this morning that he had to go potty!!!!! That was very exciting for the two of us.  We are working on going poop, but he says he's rather go in his diaper.  But he is interested in watching Tucker and Mazzy go poo, and wants to know if you have to go poo too.  Lots of poo talk; do you wish you could have poo talk?!

Is Lindee OK?!

Should some one help her?!  

Ellis has a hard head....and a hard hat!

It's a wonder how he can bump his head so many times and not say a word.  Ellis is just at the right height for the car mirrors-smack into them as he's walking by, usually looking the the other direction as he's walking (and what's with him looking backwards while he rides his bike! ;) )

Anyways, he found uncle Kevy's hard had and fell madly in love! Is there anything more I need to say?!

Naughty Chair

So Ellis occasionally has to go on the naughty chair...mostly for hitting the dogs with his toys.  I was able to capture a moment...mostly so you could feel "right at home".  And no I didn't make him turn around and face the wall.  He just didn't want his photo taken.  I can't say that I blame him.

This one is for Mike!!!

I know it's hard to see, but Ellis is wearing my heals (no I did not put them on him, he did it while I was cleaning up his Cheerios).  I thought you would appreciate it Mike.  He is saluting you, so he's still manly.....

Ellis has two jobs

So Ellis has two jobs and he loves them.  The first job is to feed the dogs in the morning and at night.  It's one of the first things he asks about when he gets up...."Tucker and Mazzy?  Feed them?"

The second job is to brush Mazzy.  This does not work so well, but Mazzy is very patient with him.  I have found Ellis on a couple of occasions sitting on her trying to ride her like a horse!  

Tucker is also very good with Ellis, but he does not like to be a "horse" and Ellis has figured out that Tucker does not like his paws touched.  This is a great game to Ellis.

The Longest Train in the WORLD!

Ellis loves his trains and could spend all day with them.  The lady across the street was so kind to give us a basket of trains ( I know all my siblings and everyone my age will remember these trains) and legos tracks to play with.  Well he made "THE LONGEST TRAIN IN THE WORLD!!!!" and wanted to show daddy his muscles too.

Making faces

Making faces and playing with Tucker and Mazzy.

Timber!!!

Watching the neighbor cut down 10 trees while riding bikes.

The First Week

So we are into the end of our first week and it has been exciting to say the least.  I do have to say that I am not a writer like Ellis's dad, so you will have to forgive me.  But at least I can get the point across.

 Ellis is so sweet and the most well adjusted 2 year old I have ever meet.  He is happy 90% of the time and loves to play.  Yesterday we went to St. Edwards Park to play (I left my camera on the kitchen counter, sorry) and it was really neat to see him taking turns with the other little boys on the "excabatber".  Constantaly asking "my turn?"  He is fearless on the slides but a little timid on the swings. 

I think it was Wednesday night when Holly called to talk to Ellis and he yelled out as he was chasing after our dogs Tucker and Mazzy, "Daddy's in Afghanifstam, Mommy's at home!"  

We keep talking to him about how mommy is in Texas and Daddy is in Afghanistan and how they love him and miss him.  We even made a mommy's coming home soon calendar and Ellis gets to pick out a sticker every night and put it on the day.  It's usually an "excabatber" or a "train".  We posted photos of mommy and daddy next to the calendar, and even photos of all three of them.  He really likes seeing the ones of him on the wall.

Thursday night I pulled up Mikes’ blog and showed Ellis photo's of daddy in Afghanistan.  He just got really quiet and his eyes got really big.  Then he yelled "That's daddy!"

 Once in the middle of the week Ellis even had a spontaneous prayer for mommy and daddy.  It was so sweet.  He looked at me and stood still and asked, almost in a whisper....pray for mommy and daddy?  Of course we did, and it was hard for me because it was a genuine sign that he was thinking of them on his own, with out his uncle Kevy and aunt Kiki talking about them.

He has been going potty on the big boy potty everyday and it is very exciting.  All it takes is picking out a toy to take with him and he goes.  We did have one "accident" where he couldn't get himself in the toilet all the way ;) and we had potty spraying all over the bathroom.  That was kind of funny to me!  Not fun to clean up, but that's ok.

Well I think this is the longest post we will have, since I'm trying to do a week all at once.  I will try to keep postings regular so that everyone will know what is going on.  Ellis is doing well, and LOVES playing with Tucker and Mazzy.  He has had some play time with some new friends, and is doing very well.

I'm posting some photos from the week.  Feel free to make some comments, and I'll be posting the whole time Ellis is with us.

We love you guys,

Aunt Kiki and Uncle Kevy