18 Months

18 months!! How is our baby already a toddler!? It kills me how fast Lucy is growing up and wanting to be a big girl like her sister.  We're in that sweet spot right now where she's becoming easier to handle (most days) :).  Lucy goes down for naps and night time easily and stays on a regular schedule, she is starting to communicate a bit more, teething is behind us (for now at least), and her sweet, funny, adventurous personality is coming out more and more and we're getting to see who this little person is!  She is still super attached to me and usually won't let me out of her sight, but she has an adventurous side to her as well.  She loves climbing on everything, loves her Little Gym class her and I go to once a week, wants to ride a bike or scooter or whatever Ella is into, loves playing with her baby dolls, and is obsessed with animals (mostly dogs).  She is still our wild child who is a bit of a wildcard - when she's in a good mood, she is the funniest, happiest little girl with an adorably big grin and giggle; when she's in a bad mood, everyone within ear shot hears and knows about it and she can throw the biggest tantrums :).

Her stats at 1.5 years old:

Height 33 inches - 83th percentile

Weight 26 lbs. - 86th percentile

Head circumference - 18.9 inches - 89th percentile

I love the expression on Lucy's face in the below pic - totally captures her quizzical, furrowed eyebrow expression these days, mostly when somebody new talks to her or she's unsure of a situation...

Can you tell she has a personality!?

  Watching Seahwaks with daddy...

 Lu loves snuggling with Ella in her bed...

 Wishing she could join her sister at preschool...

 Loves playing peek-a-boo and cracks herself up...

 Loves putting on shoes, especially Ella's...

 We're in that phase where she doesn't want to ride in the cart, doesn't want to be held, and doesn't want to walk.  Makes for some fun trips to the store ;)...

 Loves reading books and magazines...

 She is obsessed with getting in the doll crib with her babies...

 Eating snacks off the floor...typical...

 She is such a little climber.  Ella never was (and still isn't) a climber so this is new territory for us.  Parenting a climber is stressful!  I'm pretty sure she'll end up with stitches or a broken bone way before Ella...

She is such a little nugget!

 Loves wearing her rain boots...

 Loves taking the tupperware out of the drawer and stacking them...

Such the typical little sister...always watching her big sister and wanting to do the things she does, but not always being big enough to join in!  She loves watching Ella ride her bike, ride her scooter, and play with the other kids in our neighborhood...

Sneaking in a ride on the scooter...

 She is obsessed with the manikin dog at Old Navy.  As soon as we pull into the parking lot at Old Navy she starts saying "dog-dog, dog-dog" and then smothers it in kisses as soon as she sees it (gross)...

She loves imitating us talking on the phone...

 She insists on sitting on the toilet every time after Ella does.  Maybe she'll be easy to potty train?!

 Always fun trying to make dinner with her - she often clings onto my legs and whines "mama, mama, mama" the whole time wanting to be picked up!!!

 Ella really is so patient and a good helper with her most of the time...

 Learning new tricks...

 Double fisting it with the pirate booty while she sleeps...

She's getting good at using utensils to eat...

 People comment on her blond curls all the time - every once in awhile she'll sit still long enough to let me put her hair in piggies...

 Love you Lulu girl!

Four Years Old

Happy fourth birthday to our first born sweet girl!  It seems crazy how fast the last four years have flown by.  Ella is just the kindest, sweetest girl and we are so proud of her and who she is becoming!  Of course she has her whiny moments and can throw a good crying fit, but really, we lucked out big time getting to parent such an amazing girl.  She is so helpful, patient (especially with her sister), kind, sensitive, and caring.

And she's growing like a weed!  At her four year appointment, she was 106 cm (3'6") tall (81st percentile), and 39.5 lbs (78th percentile). 

A few things I want to remember about Ella at this age...
She has become so good at using her imagination and pretend play. Once she gets into character (usually a princess like Elsa), she sticks with it and won't break character for anything.  Sometimes it drives me nuts when I want to talk to "Ella" instead of "Elsa", but for the most part, I love how her mind works :).  She loves pretending that we are on our way to Disneyland, she's getting married and having a wedding, is Elsa (and insists that I'm Anna), is Clara in the nutcracker, is a teacher to her baby dolls, is a bear, etc.

She loves everything about preschool.  The transition to a new preschool this year has been great and she loves it just as much as her old preschool in Sammamish.  We had our first mini-conference with her preschool teacher and were so happy to hear she is excelling in every area.  Her one "area of weakness" her teacher could think of was that she is sometimes "too eager to please".  We can deal with that ;).  As a former teacher, it means the world to me that she loves going to school and knows how to be a good listener.  She's really into pointing out letters on signs, in books, or wherever we see them and has started making connections and reading some easy words.  She's great at using context clues and "reading" along with us.  She's always enjoyed coloring, but she's recently started taking the time to color inside the lines and do a really nice job with it, along with writing her letters.

She is an opinionated little fashionista!  She is very particular about what she wants to wear or not wear.  Her favorite clothes are still dresses that spin.  She's branching out a bit more, but it usually takes some convincing to get her into some cute pants and a sweater.  She cracks me up with how opinionated she is about what I wear too. She requests on a daily basis that I wear a dress and tappy shoes (high heels).  Since it's rare that I ever get dressed up, she gets really excited when I do.  I recently wore a black and white floral print jacket (which I think is pretty cute), when Cody and I went to a dinner, and Ella was almost in tears that I put the jacket on over a dress.  She told me it looked like a "cow coat" (because the print was black and white I guess?) and was actually upset I had it on.  Nothing like a 4-year-old to give you a complex about what you're wearing as you walk out the door!

Ella still naps every now and then. She usually will take a nap 3-4 days out of the week, and has quiet time on the days she doesn't nap.  I feel pretty lucky to have a four-year-old that still takes naps some days!  She can get through the day fine without a nap, but we all enjoy a little downtime in the afternoons when she does nap. 

She is our sensitive girl!  She cries when she's really happy and cries when she's sad, mad, embarrassed, or frustrated.  We're working on controlling the tears :). We have to be careful about what she watches on TV because she's so sensitive and aware of what's going on - we recently watched the Disney animal movie "Bears" and she burst into tears when she thought the baby bear got lost from his mom.  She'll sometimes tell me how much she loves me and start crying when she gets overwhelmed with emotion.  Oh this girl!  Love her sweet, sensitive soul.

 Love her family portrait (including Lily)

Four year interview:
Nicknames: Ella-belle, Buggy
How old are you? Four!
What is your favorite color? Pink and purple
What is your favorite animal? Elephants, because they start with E like Ella
What is your favorite book? The Fairy Book
What is your favorite TV show? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Dora
What is your favorite movie? Frozen
What is your favorite song? Let It Go
What is your favorite food? Macaroni and cheese
What is your favorite drink? Chocolate milk and hot cocoa
What is your favorite fruit? Raspberries
What is your favorite veggie?  Carrots and frozen peas
What is your favorite breakfast food? Waffles with whip cream and berries
What is your favorite snack? Smoothies and pirates booty
What is your favorite outfit? Dresses that spin
What is your favorite game?  Princess Candyland
What is your favorite toy? Dress up dresses
Who is your best friend? Sophie and Nathan and Lucy
What is your favorite thing to do? Play with my stuffed animals and play dress up
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play at the park
What is your favorite holiday? Easter
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My doggie and my baby dolls
Where is your favorite place to go?  The American Girl Doll store
What is your favorite restaurant? Red Robin and have mac and cheese
Where do you want to go on vacation? To my grandma's house and Disneyland
What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher like mommy
What did you do on your birthday? Had a ballerina birthday party!

We celebrated her birthday for an entire week!  This was the first year she really anticipated her birthday and was very particular about how she wanted to be celebrated :). 

Her birthday morning...

After her special day spent at the American Girl store, getting cupcakes, and dinner at Red Robin with our family (all her requests), we did a little party for her at home...

 Lucy's face! Haha...

 My parents flew up for the weekend, and it was so fun to celebrate with them, along with Tom and Sheena, and my grandparents for a birthday dinner at our house a few days later...