A couple weeks ago Ellie moved up to the next room at school (aka daycare) – the Toddler Too room. I’m not sure if I like the play on the room name or if I wish they had spelled it right. Either way, I was definitely nervous that she was moving up. She was going from a room she loved, where the teachers loved her (they’d yell ‘Hi Elle-belle’ when she walked in every day) and where she had friends to a room where she didn’t know everyone, that’s a little more subdued and where she’d be the smallest, instead of biggest, kid in the room. My concerns were short lived. She fully transitioned after two days (instead of a week) because she was doing so well in there. She loves the new challenges of what they teach every morning (more colors, shapes, numbers, weather, time), the activities that are a little more ‘big girl’ in complexity and her new friends (although a few of her old friends came over with her.)
The new room seems to be having a positive impact as she has started saying and recognize more as well (or it could be her age, but I’ll take it either way.) She’s consistent in counting to two on her own and sometimes will repeat higher numbers if I say them first. She’s started recognizing some colors (mainly yellow) and repeats so much of what we say. Ellie is also starting to be able to point out animals and make their sound (she’ll point to a duck and go ‘quack quack’).
Ellie’s dancing skills are also increasing. Certain songs will come on (or play from her toys) and she swings around and dances. In her new class they also have a game where they sit in a circle and call one into the middle to dance, which I think has increased her repertoire of dance moves.
Our little girl also has her first thing/character she’s obsessed with – and it’s Mickey Mouse, which she calls ‘hot dog.’ We have been letting her watch a little bit of TV lately, usually first thing in the morning while we’re getting ready and she has discovered Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. If you haven’t seen it lately, the current version of the show is all animated, and at the end they all dance the hot dog dance – which is just them dancing while singing ‘hot dog hot dog hot diggety dog’. So, Ellie picked up on the ‘hot dog’ part and now calls Mickey (and Minnie, as she can’t tell them apart) hot dog, and they are her favorite. She sometimes asks for them on TV, she found the book she has with them in it and constantly wants to read it (mainly to point at the picture and say ‘hot dog’.) It’s a thing with her. And it’s kinda cute. We’ll see how long it lasts. I wanted to go to Disney next winter, so maybe this will work in my favor 🙂
There are a few nursery rhymes that are currently her favorite songs – she likes it when I sing ‘Twinkle twinkle little star,’ ‘row, row ,row your boat,’ ‘old mcdonald’ and her ultimate favorite is ‘the wheels on the bus.’ I think they must have taught her the moves to ‘wheels on the bus’ at school as she’s started doing the hand motions with me – my favorite is when you sing about the children jumping up and down she puts her arms up in the air and leaves them there until the verse is over.
Overall, this is becoming the best age (she’s 21 months!) and I’m really enjoying enjoying it.
My favorite new word that Ellie has is ‘I love you’ (which comes out I yo yo) and she’ll repeat it back to me, which is absolutely the cutest.
My tiny girl is still a pretty picky eater, but she absolutely loves snacks (mainly crackers) and chicken. That girl will eat chicken every day, and it’s the one thing she’ll consistently eat. She also enjoys most fruit – but especially watermelon and blueberries.
We also took Ellie sledding recently. Well, we pulled her around the yard and driveway. She didn’t love it. In fact, she cried. She didn’t get the concept that she could hold on to the sled she she would tip over. We got a giggle out of her only when we realized we had enough ice on the driveway to slide down with her a couple times. Overall, I think we had more fun than she did, but hopefully that will change as she gets older.
And more pictures:
Snuggling her blankie (she loves this thing):
Coloring at her table – one of her favorite activities:
Causing trouble:
Getting a Dad ride:
Enjoying her sunglasses – she likes to put them on her head, or on her face. She just really likes wearing them:
