End of the lessons

Water Babies classes have ended (which I blogged about horribly - long story short....Ellie had a rough first week but then she really got with the program and did great. She can go underwater for about 6-7 seconds, she isn't afraid to do so, and she can do a few strokes independently) and so on the last day of class Ellie decided she wanted to give a little surprise to her friends in the class. She thought and thought and thought and decided on.....

 These little guys!

We included the lyrics from one of the water babies songs....and a short note!

Here is the whole gaggle of characters....



Some of the parents were very confused by this token of thanks....but some were very happy with the little gift and thanked Ellie over and over. She seemed to feel good about giving a little token to her little friends to remember the good times the shared at Water Babies Beginner Swimming Class Summer 2011!!!

Everything is just ducky!

Ellie has really enjoyed being able to go outside and swim whenever she wants. Sometimes it is hard to get her back in the house however 2 tricks always work like a charm: (1) popsicles and (2) Yo Gabba Gabba!

This girl is obsessed with this show and almost goes into a trance watching it....I think its so cute that she has found something she is really "into" however I really hope Netflix gets a few more seasons of this show or I am going to go insane!

She works hard for the money.....

.....So you better treat her right.

I just wanna play my music.....

Music is intended and designed for sentient beings

that have hopes and purposes and emotions.
~Jacques Barzun

Feeding the monster

Ellie has been working on feeding herself for a LONG time....she started "using" a spoon a really long time ago (like around 8 months or so) and then kinda dropped doing it and several months ago regained interest. I cannot stand the mess it makes on her, her high chair, on the floor, and on me....so I would usually just feed her however she no longer just 'lets' me do anything any more. I miss those days...

au·ton·o·my

[aw-ton-uh-mee] 

noun, plural -mies.

1.

independence or freedom, as of the will or one's actions: the autonomy of the individual.

2.

the condition of being autonomous;  self-government, or the right of self-government; independence: The rebels demanded autonomy from Spain.

3. a self-governing community

Dada, the Girl, & the Recliner

This girl loves her dada and one of her favorite things to do is get her blanket, a drink, and curl up with him in the recliner.....and I'm pretty sure he enjoys it too...

Happy 17 months Ellie Bellie!!

Ellie Bellie,

You are now 17 months old and it seems as though you are moving closer to 2 faster and faster as time moves along. You are such a delight and there is not a day that doesn't pass that we don't look at you and thank God for the blessing you are to our lives. You bring a smile to our faces, you make us laugh, you challenge us, you have helped us push our ability to love to new heights and simply put - you make us so happy.

The other day your dada told you, "I'm going to be so sad when the day comes that I just can't pick you up and hold you." As he said those words I thought about you getting older and the truth of his words in many aspects of your life. However, you will always be our LadyBug and our baby Ellie....I pray that you will always feel you need us in your life because we will always need you in ours.

Happy 17 months Bug!

Here are the cold hard facts about you this month:

* You are the fastest little girl I know! You dart off like a jet, walk with a great amount of stamina and jump up and down when you get excited!

* You got your first "haircut" by mom and you tolerated it well for the first 10-15 minutes and then...well...you didn't! However it turned out pretty good (or at least I think so)!

* You still have 10 teeth!! You now like to help "brush" your teeth at night and can mimic the sound your dada and mama's Sonicare makes and you know that we are brushing our teeth like you do!

* Animal sounds you know: cow (this has grown inconsistent), duck, monkey, sheep, fish, horse, frog (along with motions)

* Other sounds you know: train (choo choo) along with motions, Ellie (ahhhh!!), car (vroom), horn (beep beep)

* You STILL wave, say hi and smile to people. People STILL love it. You also now say "Bye Bye"

* You still love to dance. People love it.

* When your dada gets home you still run to the door to greet him, then you put your hands up so he can pick you up, and you say hi -- so precious! Now you also yell "Dada dada!!"

* Your STILL smile lights up a room!!!

* Your laugh is so beautiful - you laugh when you are tickled (feet, neck, belly and side), when your dada plays Elmo with you, when we chase you, and when you play/chase with your red ball

* You HATE: having to sit still, being told no, and missing any of the action

* You are a superb eater!! You LOVE anything!

* You prefer big people food -your faves are: PBJ sandwich, tuna sandwich, chicken noodle soup, vegetable soup, hamburgers, chicken strips, fries, pineapple, applesauce, sun chips, goldfish, rolls, broccoli, corn, jello cups with fruit, cheese (you are your mothers daughter), kettle corn, and macaroni and cheese.

* You are obsessed with popsicles - you wake up and you ask for one - you want one right after the other - you would eat popsicles all day if we let you.

* Your favorite condiments ketchup and RANCH DRESSING!! You love ranch dressing so much you could drink it up!! You are obsessed with dipping....you really want to just dip away.....if we'd let you you'd dip all your foods.

* You have toys you LOVE: Your books, your doll and doll stroller, all of your outside toys (buckets, shovels, wagons, and anything you can put water in), magna doodle, your red ball, and your stuffed monkey. You take this with you EVERYWHERE - you feed him your food - give him your drink - and he rides with you in the car.

* You still love to be outside which we've had to limit because it has been so hot, but you ask to go 'side first thing in the morning and throughout the day. We try to take you out after it cools down but this doesn't seem to fulfill you 'Side appetite!

*You LOVE playing in the water!

* Things you love to try to play with but shouldn't: laptop, ipad, cellphone, desk top keyboard

* Personality: Charming, Stubborn, Inquisitive/Nosey, Loving, playful, Joyful, "too smart for your own good," - these have not changed...ever.....Soooooo I think this means something :)

* Things we are working on: not just doing "your own thing" and ignoring the rules/testing limits and sitting still

* Favorite things to "watch": Eebee baby, Spongebob Squarepants, and your FAV is Yo Gabba Gabb - we watch Yo Gabba Gabba ALL DAY LONG - no lie. 24/7 Yo Gabba Gabba at this house.

* Biggest "Places" you've gone thus far: Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Disneyland, Tuscon, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, NV, Seattle.

*Places you will be going: Cruise in August, New Orleans, back to Disneyland in October and to Florida in December!!

* You STILL like to pretend talk on the phone but now you talk longer - and you love to chat with your dada on the phone when he is driving home from work.

* You just started walking and holding our hands instead of trying to shake us off and run off by yourself.

* You climb up the stairs very fast AND now you can go down!!!

* You can wash your hands

* You can shampoo your hair

* Holidays you have celebrated: Halloween, Valentines Day (2), Easter (2), 4th of July (2), Thanksgiving, and you had your 1st Christmas, your 1st birthday.

* Nap time: 300 pm

* Bed time: between 900-930 pm

* Sign that you are getting sleepy: you start rubbing your eyes, you lay your head down, and now you say "Night, Night....bye.....wa-wa" (translation: It want to go to sleep now, good bye people, where is my water for the night).

* Favorite blankie: Your new pink/green animal blanket

* You LOVE to take showers!! In fact, you ask for them by name!

* Fav sleeping position: on your belly

* Favorite song: All Yo Gabba Gabba songs

* You are getting increasingly cuddly

* Nicknames: "Ladybug" "Lady" "Ellie Bellie" "Bo-bz" "Bugz" "Ellie Bo Bellie" and "Ellie Bo Bo"

* Things you "Say": (new) your name, kick, out, off, up, down, trash, there you go, TV, go, wow, chair, hot, flower, bottle-- I think that is all so far -- (old) dada, mama, baba, gaga, nana, papa, hi, moo, shoe, fish, ball, pup, puff, fuff, quack quack, nah, night night, bye, bear, shower, bye see you, poop, wa-wa, good girl, outside, sorry, yeah, juice, shirt, pants, thank you, cheese, car, no no, bird, nose, hair, feet, shoes, soup, oh no, pretty, nice, gone gone, phone and baby

*You know the difference between off/on and up/down and you know that the oven can be hot, you say when your food is hot, and you still do pretty good word association by saying words when you see pictures in books or in real life.

* You started taking swimming lessons so you experienced your first class, your first time going underwater, floating, and making a friend

* You bring us the remote control and say "go go" when you want to watch Yo Gabba Gabba

* You come and grab my hands so we can dance when a song is on that you like

* When a song you know and like comes on you can "sing" parts of it -- Like the Metro Station song "Shake it" you sing "Shake Shake Shake Shake" during the course and during Boyfriend by Big Time Rush you sing the "Buh buh buh" part of "buh buh buh boyfriend" during the chorus.

Those are the highlights of the past month - You are so amazing!! We love you beyond words!!

Happy 17 months Bugs!!

Swimming Lessons in Review: Week 1

Justin and I have been wanting Ellie to participate in swimming lessons for some time and now that we have our "pool" in the backyard we really felt it was even more necessary for her to have them. We signed her up at Kay's All Swim School which was a little pricey but the classes are small and really focused on water safety versus just getting kids comfortable with being in the pool. We really thought she'd enjoy them a lot because she has loved swimming since she was very little. We got the last slot in the last class session of Water Babies at Kay's and started promptly on June 27th! The course is 16 weeks long (4 class for 4 weeks) and it is actually rather intense!

The first day we arrived rather early because I wanted to get Ellie dressed there and give her time to get use to her new surroundings. We got there about 20 minutes early, I got her dressed and we headed out. At Kay's they require all children under 3 to wear two swim pants (not little Swimmers but baby swim pants) so there is limited risk of poop in the pool. 

As we were walking around Ellie began chatting with this little kid and his grandma said, "Oh....I think she's....going..." and I looked down and a big puddle was pooled around Ellie's little shoes. Evidently the two swim pants do not stop accidents of the #1 variety. I tried to remain cool, calm and collected but we were in the middle of a lot of people and this was our first day. I just reached into my handy dandy bag and pulled out some wipes and extra shorts (because the wipes weren't doing it) to wipe up the puddle. During this ordeal Ellie was still chatting with the kid and he was still chatting back....oh to be that age again!!! So innocent, so unabashed and fancy free! After the clean up I picked her up and we headed outside to the back area where there are all kinds of interesting things to play with and as I set her down I realized I had a large pee stain on my shirt. Thankfully I heard "Babies" being called out from the pool area and we headed for our lesson.

The first thing you learn is to sit your baby on the edge of the pool and don't let them get in the water until you ask them to get in or bring them in yourself. This way they learn not to just run and jump in the water without supervision. Then we went through a series of songs and motions and Ellie just had a blast - splashing and singing and all that jazz. The lesson ends by everyone sitting on this big Hippo mat that floats and singing, "The more we swim together the happier we'll be," and then everyone cheers. The class consists of

    * Bikini Mom - I was shocked to see someone actually wearing a bikini to a children's swim class but it
                             did happen.
    * Hairy dad -    Hairy dad has a super little baby that does whatever you make him do and even went
                             water on the first day of class -- show off. Hairy dad is, well, very hairy with and without
                             a shirt.
     * Pampo's Superstar - This little boy has a large entourage with him at all times - his Nana, Pampo, dad,
                              aunt, uncles and a few others I have not sorted out yet.
     * Cute boy's mom - There is this little boy that is super cute and his mom is nice - I have nothing rude to
                              say.
     * Crying girl - Crying girl is slightly older than Ellie and cries every time the lesson begins. I think this
                            adds to Ellie's anxiety, however it is very clear that the older kids are more prone to being
                            afraid and resistant. When she cries Ellie likes to point at her and say "Baby"
      * Tiny - this little one is 14 months old and is SUPER tiny - she is very smiley and her mom is nice. Once
                            again I have nothing rude to say....sorry.
      * Ms. Geri - she is the instructor and has the sweetest voice however Ellie does not care for her and any
                          time she comes near her Ellie cries

We finished our lesson, got changed and headed home with a successful lesson under our belt.

The next day I decided to add a Little Swimmer diaper under her two layers of swim pants to stop any #1 accidents from happening again (so far so good!) and so we were able to get dressed at home and arrived around 5 minutes early to this lesson. I heard the call for babies and we headed for the pool, however this time Ellie was not so excited. She cried when I sat her on the edge of the pool and really resisted getting in. I finally got her in and she just cried. She would do the motions but she was crying it was quite sad, however we pushed through until Ms. Geri tried to hold her and Ellie lost it. That pretty much ended our participation for the day, but we stayed in the water until the lesson was over so Ellie could learn that she wasn't going to get her way by crying. As the Hippo conclusion occurred I thought surely she could sit on the Hippo because I hold her and she is looking directly at me -- but no. I placed her on the hippo and she cried like a maniac so we quiety slipped off to the corner and played with a baby doll will missing arms and one eye. This made her happy however the hippo terrified her?!!? As we walked out one old lady told Pampo's Superstar, "You did so great in the water," and then told Ellie, "You...you I'm not so sure about." I smiled and pushed past her - crazy old people!!

Here are some pics (not of us or our class because pictures are not permitted during the lessons) I found that show pretty much some of what we do:

Sitting on the wall at the beginning of class:

Pretty much how Ellie looked during lessons 2-3

 Doing a "dive" into the pool -- leading into going underwater

 Floating

On the third day we arrived about 15 minutes early because I thought that perhaps the rushing Ellie into the lesson was the problem however I was wrong. She played outside with some of the kids and then when she heard Ms. Geri say, "Babies," She immediately began saying, "no, no, no" but we headed to the pool and the crying started instantly. This day was the worst and I was really quite embarrassed because she was acting as if I was trying to drown her. She was clenching my shirt so tight in her hands that I couldnt pry her off! Everyone, by this point, were going under water and learning new things but not us. Ellie and Crying Girl were both off in their respective corners wailing away. Another routine is to place the baby (while you hold them) on a noodle and the top of the noodle has a little sock that looks like a horse on it and you sing, "She'll be coming around the mountain," but Ellie didn't like this today and she cried and refused to hold the noodle. She also, once again, refused to sit on the flippin' hippo, and so we went off to our corner but the one eyed baby was missing so we just sat there and she cried - loudly. I was rather annoyed because I had a paper due today that I had been working on all day but had taken a break to bring her to the lesson. My paper was due at 11 pm and it was now 7 pm and I was wasting my time on these shenanigans. I took her out of the pool and we headed home - I needed some distance from her and to reevaluate this lesson thing.

After much thought and deliberation I came up with a new plan - the next day we headed to the bathtub which she has hated as of late. I filled it up, put her in and we practiced (our pool was being cleaned and some repairs were being done so we didnt get to practice there). We sang the songs, she floated on her back, and we did the motions. I was really hoping this would translate into success later and... it did!!! This lesson went very well!! Justin was able to go with us, perhaps she was showing off for dada, but whatever it was definitely worked!! She went under water several times, floated on her back, she rode the noodle horse and even sat on the hippo!! I was ecstatic!!

Maybe I will apply for a job at Kay's next summer!