Ellie-Licious

It's about time for an all-about-Ellie post.

Here is what she's up to at 18 months.

She's old enough to go to the nursery at church, and she loves it, but only when I am with her. 

 She loves to dance and do arabesques. She graced me with one this morning when I got her from her crib.

Now that's some binky love. She knows she's supposed to put them away when she wakes up in the morning, but she holds on to them for as long as she can.

She loves her stuffed animals and sometimes asks for them to sit by her for breakfast so she can feed them.

She loves when we give her soft scratches. As you can see, it kind of paralyzes her.

This girl loves her some dirt. We are hoping to upgrade from the random pile of road dirt in our gutter to an actual sandbox.

She loves books. She would rather read a pile of books with me than play with her toys any day. She follows me around with books, pats her legs and says, "lap!" so she can sit on my lap and I can read to her.

Other Ellie Quirks:

-She gets very posessive when I hug or kiss Clay. She will start yelling or saying "No!" and will be all smiles once I back off.  

-She is quite the talker. She just started stringing words together like, "It's a helicopter!" or "More dance."

-She loves to sing. She will pick out words to just about any song she hears to sing along. Her favorites are "Bad Romance" by Glee Cast, Taylor Swift's "Mine" and "Speak Now," "Animal" by Neon Trees and "Firework" by Katy Perry and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam."

-She loves shopping. I first discovered it when we went to H & M and she wanted me to put her down as soon as we walked in so she could go from rack to rack, picking out clothes and exclaiming, "cute!" You are probably thinking she gets it from me, but I'm not a big fan of shopping myself and if I do go, I rarely take her shopping with me because she is terrified of dressing rooms. (Elevators too.) So, the shopping obsession must come from her Grandma Ann. :)

-When I work on the computer, she comes over to me and says, "Play?" and signs it at the same time. She asks me in the cutest pleading voice and I can rarely resist.

-She loves to watch people kick a ball around. She gets so excited about it. Soccer star, anyone? She also loves to sit on the ground and play "pass" by rolling the ball back and forth with someone. I take her to the BYU soccer practices with Clay sometimes and she can't get enough.

-She asks us to play "boo" all the time. She will hide around a corner and wait for one of us to peek over and yell "boo!"

-She says "mas" for "more" all the time. Don't know where she picked up that little Spanish flair. Dora?

 
Ellie is such a spirited, curious little girl. She loves being with people and learning new things. She is very expressive of her thoughts and emotions. She's so sweet and affectionate. Even though she is so tiny (a whopping 18.6 pounds), she has quite the appetite. She has a special bond with her grandmas and grandpas and our other family members and we love that. You are so fun, Ellie bean!