Growing a Little Schulze: Ellie at 2.5

Nov - Feb.

Ellie is a fascinating study in contrasts. At home she is a little firecracker. She's spunky, curious, and fully exploring that toddler stage of testing her own power. She already shows a mischievous pleasure in bugging her siblings. But she is also a little love bug. She loves getting good snuggles (on her terms of course). On the flip side, when she is around new people she is super shy. It took until November for her to say more than one word to her teachers at school! And even in group situations with family, she tends to be very quiet. She's gained the nickname "stone face" because she clams up and gives a blank face look.

Sleep:
Ellie generally sleeps through the night and takes an afternoon nap. She goes to bed at 8 but is awake longer because of the nap. So she probably sleeps 9-7:30. Then nap time starts at 1:30 or 2. We often have to wake her up at 4. We've had a few days where she hasn't napped though. She's been in a crib in Claire's room since Daniel came. On January 10, we converted the crib to a toddler bed. She hadn't napped that day so the night went pretty well. But generally she's up out of bed talking to Claire or rifling through the books for a while. We use the monitor to tell her to get in bed a couple times and then finally she is out. In the morning I usually find her and Claire on Ellie's bed talking, playing or reading. (Or fighting).

Our house was the last holdout though. She has slept on the trundle bed at Grammi and Paaps' for a few months now. At Grandma's for Christmas she slept on a toddler air mattress. Back in October we tried her on a cot when we traveled to Maine. That was probably the first time she was free and it didn't go too badly. So we mostly knew what we were getting ourselves into here at home.

Food:
Ellie is generally a very slow eater. She is interested in observing everything going on more than eating sometimes. At times she can consume a large amount of food but in general she's not eating too much these days. For meats she only really eats chicken and ham. She'll leave pork, beef, steak, and fish sitting untouched on her plate. And telling her to eat ABC before she can have XYZ does not motivate her. If she doesn't want it, it's not passing her lips. She's more picky and hesitant to try new things than Claire was. And she definitely takes her cues from Claire when Claire is informing us of the things on her plate that she doesn't like.

Ellie loves every fruit. She does well with basic veggies (peas, corn, broccoli, carrots, green beans). She likes a fair amount of raw things: carrots, sugar snap peas, baby sweet peppers, cucumbers, and sometimes celery. She does not like zucchini, squash, salad, or greens.

Interests:
Ellie is interested in whatever Claire is interested in! It was really hard for me to separate out at Christmas what her own unique interests are. Some of her favorites are books. She loves the Duck and Goose and the Gossie and Gertie series. She also still loves interactive books like the touch and feel "That's Not My ___" series and Bizzy Bear books.

She plays really well when she's on her own. If her siblings are around there is bound to be trouble since she will want whatever the other has. Her play runs the gamut. She'll play with Barbies or dolls, do some pretend in the play kitchen, or pick up some cars or trucks. She likes duplos and puzzles if someone gets them out.

Development:
Colors - Really has been emerging the past 3 months and now she is getting pretty good at IDing correctly.
Counting - when she counts she says 1, 2, 6, 9!

Language:
Ellie's voice is a little nasally and can sometimes sound husky. She likes playing around with a deep voice. She use it to emphasize something. She copies a lot of what other people say. Not to be annoying but to try out more complex language. Although sometimes it is annoying!

Some cute words/phrases/lanuage usage
manna = banana
Cam I or Can My = Can I?
anyo or yoyo = yogurt
pineapple straw = pine straw
pink my pants! = My pants are pink
Trouble with s + consonant blends. farkly=sparkly, farties = Smarties candy