March of Dimes Walk for Babies

This year Kit and I will be walking with the girls in the March of Dimes Walk for Babies here in Portland.  If you'd like to either donate or to join our walk, check out the link below or the widget in the sidebar to the right.  Elise benefited greatly during her time in the NICU from the research March of Dimes has done.  It is a large part of why she is so strong and healthy today.

Elise is Two!!

March 7th

2009

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Yep, that's right.  Elise turned two yesterday!  I'm sure most of us don't remember much about our second birthdays.  So here's a recap of her day...

• Played people and drank water while mama had her coffee and read her study.
• Said, "More wet," as I took off her diaper to take a shower this morning and then walked over unprompted and went potty in her potty chair.
• Moisturized her face after our shower all on her own (using spit she got from her own mouth repeatedly with her hand).
• Noticed a sippy cup on the counter that someone left here during her party. We didn't know whose it was and were planning to send out a message to see who left it. But she looked at it all on her own and said, "Lua. Ro-Ro cup." I sent a text to my friend Lua to check. And sure enough, it's her son Roman's.
• Colored a "pincess" picture from her new princess coloring book (thanks Williams family!) with a pen while wearing her new pink tutu.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Drank her milk at all three meals from her new sparkly heart cup (thanks Stuck family!) rather than a sippy or straw cup.
• Poured yogurt with a spoon into said big girl cup and then drank the milk/yogurt mix.
  
  
  
  
  
• Went potty in the potty chair again in the afternoon.
• Tried to spit in the sink when brushing her teeth after seeing mom do so.
• Played many games with her little sister, such as lean-near-each-other-and-giggle, let-sissy-tickle-her, pretend-to-eat-sissy's-hand-while-giggling-with-her, take-toys-away-and-give-them-back, and kiss-sissy's-head-and-say-sorry-after-accidentally-hurting-her.
• Watched some VeggiesTales and some Barney, trying to talk and sing and clap along.  (One of our favorites is when she says, "Thank you, Lord," after some Irish characters in VeggieTales say it during a story about Saint Patrick.
• Played the "Hi" game with mama that she made up a while back.  She usually starts by saying, "Hi, Mama!" (or whomever's name she picks) in a normal voice and waits for you to say, "Hi, Elise."  Then she furrows her brow and says it again in a deep voice or raises her brows a bit and says it in a high voice, then waiting for you to say hi back in that same voice.  It's a game she can play for a long times and one that induces lots of giggles.
• Devoured her dinner - one of her favorites: orzo with red sauce and sausage.  And then devoured her dessert - another one of her favorites: M&M's from her Dad-Dad (Kit's dad).

She did many more cute things yesterday but those are the ones that come to mind.  On Saturday she also had a fun birthday party so I'll post on that soon.

Elise's First Tall Tale Story

Yesterday in the car, Elise started whining and saying that her leg was "owie."  Since I couldn't stop driving to go back and kiss her leg (which is what she wanted), I attempted distraction.  So I asked her if an alligator tickled her leg.  Since "alligator" and "tickle" are both words that she loves, she responded, "Yes."  She then proceeded to make up a story about said alligator.  We talked back and forth during this process so that I could clarify and compose the story.  I recorded myself reciting the story back to her on my phone so that I could document it accurately, and at the end of the recording, she says, "Yes," so I think I got it right.  Without further adieu, here is Elise's first attempt at fiction writing...

Tip the Alligator

by Elise, Age 23 Months

An alligator named Tip tickled my leg

Then he ate alligator soup.

Then he went to the park and went whee [rode the swings].

Then he went potty.

And then he saw a doggy.

Cheese...

Lately, when I ask Elise to "Say Cheese," I usually get something like this...