Ellis has this super silly crawl

Ellis has this super silly crawl. It is so hard to describe so I will try and get it on video before he stops doing it. I think it comes from him pushing cars around all the time. He uses one hand and one leg to crawl. The other leg he sort of scoots behind him. It makes for dirty pants! Ellis signed help for the first time tonight! I have showed him a few times how to do it, but not very consistently or very often. And he did it tonight when I asked him if he needed help (without signing) when he could not reach a toy. He excitedly signed help and did it all night (mostly because I got so excited I am sure) for everything.

Clean nachos

The other day we were out shopping and we were going to bring lunch home to Daddy who was working from home. I asked her if she wanted McDonalds or nachos for lunch and she said, "I want CLEAN nachos!". She is silly that little one.

Big deal!

Yesterday and today were big days in the Owen house. Yesterday, Ellis clapped and waved to the song "Clap your hands with me!" for the first time. I love the way he waves, it is so cute. His fingers all go at different rates but he does it and always has the sweetest smile on his face as he does it!

And today, Clara peed on the potty. Well more let a drop of pee go, but it is better than she was doing! I am dying for her to actually let it all go, have a good pee on the potty but she has not done that yet. Hopefully soon because I am getting tired of this diaper business with her.

Clara's dance class

You can dance, you can dance. She did it! She went to class and she went in and loosely followed the instructor. Most of the time she sort of watched from a distance. There were a few girls there that took the summer session and they were SO cute following the teacher. The kids seemed to like the tap part the best because it's LOUD! She was so adorable all dolled up. Here are the kids dancing! Props to the teacher, I don't think I could be that perky... EVER!

He's crazy!

For the most part, Ellis is such a great baby. He is SO goofy. He has a great sense of humor, like when you put something on your head, he will laugh hysterically in his squeaky little way. Though watch out! He has such a short temper. Matt was playing with his old GI plane, it was right up Ellis' alley. He loves things with wheels, balls and anything that goes VROOM! Well Matt was playing with it, having it zocbvom in the air and fly over his head, basically keeping it JUST out of his reach. He lost it. He started screaming and throwing his arms and got VERY angry! Also, watch out if you have to take something from him that he wants. He fights back hard.

Speaking of fighting, Clara and Ellis fight a lot! It is pretty crazy. She just is having a hard time sharing with him and likes to boss him and tell him what he should play with. And for the most part, Ellis does not want to hear it!

We are trying to potty train Clara. So the other day, I started putting big girl underwear on her first thing in the morning. She really liked the idea and did a great job of sitting on the potty every 15 minutes. She did not have an accident! The next day we did the same thing, she sat on the potty. She has not PEED on the potty yet but she sure will sit there. On Friday, she held her pee in from 9 in the morning to 2 PM for her nap. And she FOUGHT me on putting a diaper on. She did not want to at all. She kept saying that she is a big girl and she is too big for her diaper. I really think this will go well IF she learns how to pee on the potty. We will see how it goes!

He's crazy!

For the most part, Ellis is such a great baby. He is SO goofy. He has a great sense of humor, like when you put something on your head, he will laugh hysterically in his squeaky little way. Though watch out! He has such a short temper. Matt was playing with his old GI plane, it was right up Ellis' alley. He loves things with wheels, balls and anything that goes VROOM! Well Matt was playing with it, having it zocbvom in the air and fly over his head, basically keeping it JUST out of his reach. He lost it. He started screaming and throwing his arms and got VERY angry! Also, watch out if you have to take something from him that he wants. He fights back hard.

Speaking of fighting, Clara and Ellis fight a lot! It is pretty crazy. She just is having a hard time sharing with him and likes to boss him and tell him what he should play with. And for the most part, Ellis does not want to hear it!

We are trying to potty train Clara. So the other day, I started putting big girl underwear on her first thing in the morning. She really liked the idea and did a great job of sitting on the potty every 15 minutes. She did not have an accident! The next day we did the same thing, she sat on the potty. She has not PEED on the potty yet but she sure will sit there. On Friday, she held her pee in from 9 in the morning to 2 PM for her nap. And she FOUGHT me on putting a diaper on. She did not want to at all. She kept saying that she is a big girl and she is too big for her diaper. I really think this will go well IF she learns how to pee on the potty. We will see how it goes!

A couple of funny Clara thoughts

I was eating dinner tonight and she turned to me and said, "Slow down Mommy! Chew slowly". You gotta love your own words coming back to you:)

Another thing she said, we were at the movies. We went to the free summer camp movie, Charlotte's web with Addy and Molly. While every one else was getting food, Clara kept saying, I want to watch a movie while the previews were on. A sentiment I can definitely relate to because they often are quite long! She said, "Go get the remote. I want to watch a movie!" I thought that was hilarious. I had her stand on her chair to show here were the projector room was and I told her that man in that room had the remote and we had to wait for him to decide if we are going to watch the movie.

ALL DONE!

Last Tuesday, Ellis said his first word. Rather, his first two words. It is so exciting! Along with his first word, he did his first sign. And it was "ALL DONE!". Matt was there when he did it and I was not sure, I asked him and he thought he said it. Well he made it definitive when he said it again, and again! Clara was getting her diaper changed and she wanted to do something else and I said something like, when you are all done. Ellis heard me and he was crawling across the floor and picked up his right hand and signed all done! It was so cute. He has said it a handful of times since then. I am certain he said it!

Dance dance dance

When you tell Ellis to dance, he will dance! He sort of does this circle motion with his arms and bounces up and down. It is so cute! When he hears a tune that gets him, he will dance away! He is crawling like a champ now, and his poor legs, knees and the tops of his feet are getting thicker skin on them because of it. He is also beginning to "talk" more. Lots of dadada and mamama. Like Clara, Mamama is what is said whenever he is upset or wants something.

Where does she learn these things?

Clara is amazing, she is so darn smart and I have no idea where she picks these things up! At dinner tonight, I made her dinosaur chicken nuggets. Always a big favorite. At dinner tonight, she even said, "This chicken is good!". Anyway, she bit the head off of one and she said, "I killed him!". I immediately called Matt and asked him where the heck she learned that because I did not teach her that! She is constantly asking, "What's this? What's that?". It's tiring!

Hi! Hi! Hi!

We went to a surprise lunch at Todai Sunday afternoon and we gave Ellis a taste of Jello for the first time. He was in SUCH a good mood while we were there and the Jello put him over the edge. We were sitting near a lot of walking traffic and Ellis was screaming happily and appeared to be waving at everyone that walked by. He did it for a long time and some people laughed at him. It was pretty hysterical!

I'm going to be naughty

Clara was being a bit snotty all day today. She was even saying, "I'm cranky". She kept declaring, "I'm going to be naughty.", "I have to be naughty.", "I can't listen.". Very frustrating!

Eat a picnic?

One of Clara's new favorite things to do is "Eat a picnic!". It is pretty funny.

On the move!

Oh no! Watch out, Ellis is officially crawling as of Friday (6/29). He had been taking preliminary "steps" for about a week but had never gathered enough confidence to do it for more then 2 or 3. All of a sudden, as soon as I put him down on Friday morning, he crawled away! He is getting good at it. Today he spent the afternoon crawling after a green ball in the family room. He is even pulling himself up onto the coffee table! He did it a few times but really has not practiced at it like the crawling. Won't be long though I am sure. I remember Clara crawling and cruising very close together.

He is also saying MA MA MA MA. Clara even noticed it, she was saying at breakfast this morning that baby is saying Ma Ma Ma! It started last night I think. I am not sure but Ellis might have had a night terror. He woke up in the middle of the night, would not nurse and was just screaming at the top of his high pitched lungs. It was very stressful and I honestly did not know what to do to calm him down. Luckily about after half an hour, he did. But it was a hairy half hour.

Oh boy!

Clara said the funniest thing at bedtime tonight that I just needed to document it because it was just too much. She was laying down for Matt to put on her diaper after her bath. "I opened Clara's BUTT!" is basically what she said as she lay with her legs in the air and she prepared her heiney to get diapered. I was dying, I thought it was hilarious. It was not just that she said that, but how she said it with her deep silly voice!

She also kept saying, "I'm fighting, I'm fighting" as she was giving Matt a hard time while he was getting ready for bed.

Almost there!

Ellis is almost crawling. Today he learned some sort of strange sidewinding trick that does propel him forward but it is almost PAINFUL to watch. He sort of turns 1/4 of the way over and then pushes himself forward as he rights himself. It works but it is very slow and his knees are completely red from the effort. It won't be long before he really starts going! Tomorrow we start his gym class and I remember Clara really motoring after we started that class. He is pretty determined these days about learning how to do it. I would say a week ago, if something was out of his grasp, he would just complain about it. My bet is by the end of the week. Watch out world! Here comes Ellis!

Wednesday Last Week

Last week, Clara at breakfast turned to me and said, Heather and Preston are coming today. It's Wednesday. And she was right! I had talk about the day of the week each day is SOMETIMES but I did not think that I did it often enough for her to pick it up like that. That kid is smart. I must have made such a big deal telling everyone what Clara said that she now insists most days are Wednesday!

Those darn purple "socks"

Yesterday when Heather got Clara up from her nap, Clara was wearing those purple knit booties that Grandma gave her a while ago and had them stuffed into her crocs. She insisted that she needed to wear these for the rest of the afternoon. Why not, they were comfortable enough to sleep in! By the end of the day, her feet had knitted creases in them and had to be DARN hot considering it was almost 90 degrees outside and she ran around eating an apple and going down a slide in them for over half an hour. She almost seemed relieved to take them off at the end of the day. This post is reminding me that I should find them and HIDE them. No ones needs to be wearing purple handknitted booties in shoes while running through the sprinkler in summer! Her obsession with crocs is more than enough for one person to deal with :). She loves the fact that we have the same matching gold mary jane crocs. I myself love them but Clara has taken that love to a new obsession. She wears them all the time. With pajamas, fancy feet or not and apparently they are also great to nap in. They watch her from her stool at night while she sleeps. On her right foot, she has Dory and Nemo Jibbitz. And on her left foot, she has a Daddy Car (Lightning McQueen) and a Mater and a C (Insert ridiculous smile here). They are her constant summer companions. I am glad she likes them!

Finger Man and DaDADA

Ellis started really babbling in the last couple of days. It is pretty funny. Matt was the one that got him to really do it. He was saying Dadadada to him and he repeated it. He also has his own version of Yayayaya. He does this funny thing with his tongue. Last night in the middle of the night, he started to babble and he was a bit looney this evening doing it.

He also loves to discover things with just his pointer fingers. He was doing that the other day when Matt brought his a new toy and he had his fingers ready to go. Just his pointer ones. He likes to touch the details of things. Matt said it was like a Mars Probe the way he had his fingers at the ready to to touch things. It is the perfect comparison!

May

Before the month of May disappears, I better get a blog in before I forget what is going on! Clara is ALMOST in her big girl bed. About two weeks ago Matt and I were talking about getting a dresser for her room and we commented that we needed to get her to sleep in her big girl bed before we had room for a dresser in there since a crib and a bed takes up a lot of room! Well we were in Ellis' room and Clara ran into her bed, curled up and asked to sleep in there. And she did! The whole night without a peep. The next day, her nap did not happen in there but I did create a chart with fishy stickers. For each time she sleeps in her bed without crying or screaming, she gets a sticker. For 7 stickers, a prize! Things are going OK, though today for her nap and right now, at night, she is in her crib. Not sure that that regression is about! It might just be easier to take out the crib and not give her the option. We'll see what we can do.

Onto Ellis news, he is in the complete octopus arm stage. He is so quick and grabs about everything he can. Clara is getting a taste for what really having a baby brother is like, he always wants what she has!

Clara is really into her Snowball cat right now. She likes to bring it everywhere she goes and this evening she actually kicked Ellis because she thought Ellis was going to touch Snowball. I don't think she intentionally wanted to kick him but they were on a blanket in the yard and when he went for it, she kicked her feet in anger and he got in the way. He cried.

Ellis really likes to roll around now. Changing his diaper is a bit more difficult because the first thing that he does when his diaper is off is roll over. He has not quite figured out how to get to a specific destination while rolling but he can get around. It won't be long before he is crawling I think. Feeding him is going OK. He really thinks he can feed himself which is frustrating because it is not the most efficient of CLEANEST way to do it. Sometimes he east something but other times he gets so frustrated nothing happens but a good old fat tantrum. He still nurses like a champ though!