Snapshot of Elsie right now

- She requests we listen to music all of the time. She’ll say “ic on!” which means “music on!” She likes to dance too. The tunes begin and she says “Dance Dad” or “Dance Mom” and we’ll dance together. It’s the best. 

- When she hears a loud sound from outside she’ll say that it’s an airplane. Then she’ll want to go look up at the sky for it. 

- She loves to wear hats. “Hat on!” is a favorite phrase of hers. 

- She has names for certain books we read at night, some of which include: 

Mr Brown Can Moo = Moo

Good Night Moon = Moon

The Very Hungry Caterpillar = Pop!

Noah’s Ark = Boat

Spot Says Goodnight = Boo!

Chika Chika Boom Boom = Chika or ABC

Grover Goes to School = Bus

- She loves to wear a doggy backpack. She loves to click the buckles on it and will say “Buckle!”

- When we says it’s time for a bathtub she smiles and says, “bubbles!”

- She loves to sit and draw little circles on paper with markers or crayon. She’ll concentrate and do that for a long time. We’ve had to limit the marker use, however, because she had a stage where she loved drawing in the wall. I think, I hope, we’re out of that stage. 

- She loves to make fists and clench them hard as we say “strong girl!” She’ll then point to each of us and say “Ollie (or Ansel or Ian or Mom or Dad) do it!” and she will watch us with delight as we each take turns being strong!

She is such a fun age, such a fun girl. 

“I want to be an actor”

Last night, while Ian and Elsie played in the bath tub, Ian declared to me that he wants to be an actor when he grows up. The kid is doing accents better than me and he’s five. This could happen. 

These two

These cute littles are good buddies. Elsie is in the phase where she copies everything you do and everything you say. As such, she’s doing a lot of what Ian does because they play together lots. Yesterday, Ian decided to become hulk and ripped his shirt off. Elsie wanted to do the same. Once her shirt was off, she headed to the toilet and acted like she was going, just like the boys do. There’s going to be some disappointment down the road in that arena. Actually, she probably won’t even care. With all of the new info she’s taking in, her vocabulary and ability to do many things is growing exponentially. 

She’s even closing her eyes during prayers and using a spoon. Ironically, these are two things she actually does better than Ian. Haha! 

Halloween

Halloween was full of lots of goodness this year: pumpkin patch, witches at Gardner village, witches brew, donut party, soup dinner, classroom parties, and Halloween night! It’s a great time of year!

Elsie at Gardner Village, she loved the witches. 

Pumpkin carving contest remnants. 

Oliver’s friend sent this to us as he and his friends started trick-or-treating. His costume was Mr. A Propper man. He was a professional bystander. Ha!

Ansel was Dog Man (from the books) and we put together the costume. Fun!

Jess dressed up as Ian as requested by Ian. He specifically wanted Jess to have a whale shirt like he does (but not pictured).

Elsie was a lamb (and I had a matching hat, both of which were made by my sister) and Ian was Kylo Ren. As a side note, Ian has decided what he’s going to be for the next five years of Halloween. Every time he had a free moment of thinking, he’d declare, “I know what I’m going to be next year for Halloween…a pumpkin.” Grimm reaper, skeleton, and Boba Fett were also on the list. 

And no Halloween is complete unless you’ve danced with, hugged, and kissed your new alien friend. 

Onto November!