Sunday, February 28, 2010

Some long, lost Christmas videos...

So I've finally given up on the video option at Blogspot and decided to use You Tube instead. So here are some videos that I've been trying to post since Christmas.

Tea Party with Nonna. This is pretty much how my mom and Ellis spent every single morning that we were in Nashville. Ellis still talks about it now. She wakes up some mornings saying, "Want a tea party with Nonna." And I think it's so sweet how she says "Sugar."


"The Ants Go Marching." Obviously, Ellis has our entire family wrapped around her little finger. In fact, we still march around the house on an almost nightly basis to this song. Oh the things you do when you have kids.


This video needs a little explanation. When we were in Nashville over the summer, Ellis fell in love with this garden bunny that my mom keeps outside. So while we were there over Christmas, Ellis kept staring out the door and mourning that she couldn't play with the bunny. My mom decided to bring it inside and this was her reaction..


Ellis went on a carousel ride with Bah. I think the funniest part is my ongoing commentary. And, for the record, I was talking to my mom not some random stranger or the camera. Try not to get too dizzy on this one...

Saturday, February 27, 2010

New York or Bust--Or a Little Bit of Both

Taxi Ride. In NYC, you can put kids in taxis without car seats. So strange, but Ellis loved it. Just look out that window at the snow coming down.
One guess at who took this picture.
At the American Museum of Natural History. I wanted Ellis to pose with the elephants but, as you can see, that didn't happen.
She was smitten by the penguins though.
Snack time. Can I just say, again, how much I love not carrying sippy cups everywhere anymore.
An archeological dig at the discovery center inside the Museum of Natural History.
I can't quite figure out why, but I love this picture. I think it's the intense concentration in her face. (She's looking at dinosaur bones).

And then back to more excavation...
Checking out the dinosaur teeth
The next morning in Manhattan was a big, snowy mess.
More big snowy mess.
So--I took Ellis to the Time Warner Center and to the bookstore. This picture cracks me up. If you haven't been to the Time Warner center, there are these giant Japanese bronze statues that are completely nude. Ellis just stood there and stared at this one for a while. The whole rest of the time we were in the building she kept asking to see the "satue".
Given the big snowy mess, we went home a day early. Thank God for trains. And guess what, Boston hadn't seen an inch of snow. Just a little spring rain. Crazy.

All in all, I'd say we had fun in New York. There were definitely some disappointing moments such as when the Children's Museum of Manhattan closed because of the snow and we couldn't go in, or when we stood outside in the snow for 15 minutes trying to hail a cab. In fact, I heard Mayor Bloomberg say on the radio that Manhattan schools had only closed 3 times in eight years and we just happened to be there on one of those days. But, Ellis did love riding in the taxis, the Museum of Natural History, the train, and watching the snow fall. So I'll just try to focus on those things instead.

I also have to say, not bragging but just out of gratefulness, that Ellis has such a sweet and happy spirit. She didn't cry or throw a fit once, which I can't honestly say about myself. I'm not, of course, saying that she's perfect. But her gentleness surprises me daily. Such a blessing...



This is a video of Ellis brushing her teeth. We are trying to teach her to spit out the toothpaste rather than swallow it, but as you can tell from the video, she doesn't quite understand the concept yet. I think it's hilarious how much she "spits" right after swallowing the toothpaste. And yes, for the record, Vimal is always that thorough with the tooth brushing.

Monday, February 22, 2010

A Medley of Songs

Here is a video of Ellis singing a variety of song. I think she's doing quite well with her ABC's. And just look at how long her hair is! Crazy.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

More Indoor Wintery Days

Playing in the race car at the mall. She's her daddy's daughter. Just look how focused she is. Focus + Love of cars = Daddy
A little fun in the mall photo booth. Mommy and Ellis took a strip of pictures together. They were hilarious!
Mid-conversation. She really had some things to say.
I love this face too much.
Breakfast with our friend Diane.
Drinking water from a glass. She's mastered this now. Bye-bye sippy-cups.
This is the face Ellis makes if I ask her to say "Cheese."
This is the face that Claire makes when I ask her to say "Cheese." I love how Ellis is looking at her here.

Just a few pictures from this past week. As you can tell, we've been making fun wherever we go. This week we're going to accompany daddy on a business trip to NYC. Can't wait to show Ellis the Central Park Zoo and the Children's Museum there. So excited!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Wintery Indoor Activities

She got these glasses for her birthday as part of a doctor kit. She loves them.
Checking out her glasses in the mirror
Ellis always asks me for the lemon out of my water. I finally decided to give it to her and see what she did with it...
...and this is what she did with it.
Then she made this face...
...went back for more while making this face...
...and finally made this face while devouring the whole wedge, rind and all.
When I asked Ellis why she put these boots on her hands, she told me that her hands were cold. She's always making me laugh out loud.
Apparently, she's very proud of herself for finding a solution to the cold hands problem.
She randomly started playing with this little girl at the indoor playground.
They were carrying on a full conversation with each other and really seemed to understand what the other was saying.
They were pretending to have a store and "selling" food to each other.
Then they decided that working at the store was exhausting and decided to take a nap.
Getting hearts painted on her hand at our church's winter carnival.
She sat perfectly still until her entire hand was covered in hearts.
I LOVE this picture. Such insight into our little girl's personality. She loves music so much that once this band started playing (at our church) she took a seat right in front of them. There was NO ONE else sitting there but she wanted to sit and listen to them play. And she couldn't care less if anyone else joined her. So sweet.
Yes, I am still the TV police but a few months ago we started letting Ellis watch one 30 minute PBS show a day. As a result, she loves "George-a-monkey" so I decided to take her to this special 'Curious George' exhibit at The Children's Museum. Ellis was talking to "the man with the yellow hat" like he was real.
Then she found George and she stood like this with him for about two minutes saying "Hi George."
Then she gave him about 10 hugs.
Kate, Claire and Ellis. Can you tell that Ellis was all done with my photo shoot?
I was shocked that Ellis knew all the Curious George character names. She saw this mural and ran over to it yelling "Charkie, Charkie!" like he was her long lost friend.
In the water room at The Children's Museum, carefully pouring the water into her measuring cup.
Still focusing...
...SUCCESS! (And very proud of herself)

Well, as I'm sure you can tell from these photos, the last few weeks have been a lot of fun here in Boston. We've been having cold but precipitationless (yes, I made up that word) weather so I've been finding indoor things for us to do. I have to admit that I usually hate winter but this one has been so mild and fun that I really can't say that.

We also had the same photographer that took pictures for Ellis' first birthday come back again. I can't wait to get those pictures in hand so that I can post them on here. They really are beautiful. Will post them as soon as I can.