General Ellie updates

Somehow I lost the Blogger app on my phone and so the little random updates have been harder to get down since I now have to get on my computer to make them!

I do want to be sure to note a few things about Ellie these days...

-LOVER. We have the loviest, snuggliest, huggiest, kissiest thing around. She does all the above to us, to Penny, and almost more sweetly to her dolls and animals. She talks to them, rocks them, lays them in bed, feeds them...it's absolutely incredible to watch her be so kind, loving and affectionate.

-Losing a bit of shyness. Up until a few weeks ago, if we saw someone in a store who said hi to her, or saw the mailman, etc, Ellie would seem very interested in chatting, but the second they engaged, would get very shy. As of late, she is now very happy to say "HI!" when asked if she'd like to do so, and she almost always immediately follows that up with "What's your name?!". They always respond, and then 9 times out of 10 ask her name. She happily and clearly replies, "Ellie!". People are so darn endeared with her it's ridiculous.

-POOP. Our sweet bundle of love has started sticking her hand into her diaper when she wakes up from naps or in the morning, and proceeds to feel and smear her poop onto her crib sheets. Um, GROSS. I have washed her sheets so many times at this point I'm surprised they haven't faded or torn. Hoping this little phase ends soon, but in the meantime, we've started putting her in a onesie for naps and only putting her in one piece PJs at nighttime. Again, GROSS.

-Sleep. Oh, sleep. You were a beautiful thing. That is until our lovely child turned 2. I actually think this more coincides with when we nipped her paci in the bud (the night before her party - December 17), but regardless. My once sound, happy, never fussy sleeper has given us a run for our money the last couple of weeks. Multiple wake-ups at night, refusing to go to sleep when we put her down at night or for naps, and some SERIOUS screaming and crying. As of a few nights ago, I think we finally, FINALLY have passed the phase and she seems to be back to her normal self, save for telling me everytime I put her down that she's going to "cry for you, mommy". Oh, the drama.