30 months

Brian and I are in the hospital waiting on the arrival of baby sister or brother, but we need to mark Ellie's 30-month birthday. We can't believe our little girl is already 2-and-a-half years old!
Where to start? Ellie is such a big girl these days.
When we asked her where we were going today, she immediately chimed in that we were going to the hospital and that the baby would be coming while we were there. I don't think she fully understands the whole sibling part yet (and that this little baby will be coming home with us permanently), but she's very sweet when she talks about her baby brother or sister.
She talks SO much and SO well. Her teachers say she's one of the only kids in her classroom that they can actually have conversations with. And she's definitely not afraid to tell us what she thinks about everything... especially when it's in contrast to what we're telling her to do. But that's OK, some of the time.
Potty training continues to go well. She's a good eater, for the most part. We like that she will try a lot of different foods and eats pretty healthy, but Ellie's stubbornness makes some meals quite challenging. It also makes getting dressed or getting out of the house take forever. But I see the trait paying off, too, in her persistence to do things herself, learn new activities and always stay on the go. I love her imagination and excitement to try new stuff. What fun we have!
Lastly, Ellie has mastered the act of melting mom and dad's hearts. She will say things to us in such a sweet tone of voice, or in a rhetorical question, that cracks us up.
She'll say: "I'm not going nite-nite" and then laugh a little, as if that will talk us out of bedtime.
Or, just the other day, she turned to daddy at bath time and said, "Daddy, you want to take a bath with me?" in a tone that suggested he'd been angling for just that. Not surprisingly, he was quickly talked into donning his swim trunks and splashing around in the tub with her for about a half hour.
It's hard to believe that 30 months ago we were in the hospital still waiting on Ellie's arrival. She was so little and so helpless and so tender. Now she's just tender -- and a million other traits. We love you, Ellie!
(p.s. Ellie is wearing her apron and an old one of mine that I found in a box of childhood stuff... we haven't changed her name to Dorothy. Also, we weren't letting her play with the drill that you see in the background of the pic... oops.)