Just when you think life is boring...Elsie happens!

Life these last few days has been unremarkable. The kids have been sleeping, eating and playing as usual, nothing out of the ordinary...and then last night it all started.

Every mom (I'm assuming) dreads the day when their daughter doesn't want them in their room. The battle for privacy begins...stay out of my room, leave me alone! I figured I had at least eight years before I might possibly experience this with Elsie. There is no doubt she will be an independent young lady some day, but now...not even two years old yet, give me a break.

 Let me explain...We were puttering around upstairs, Elsie was on the loose, hoarding and playing as usual, when she decided to steal Ryan's cup from the bed stand with ice and a little bit of water. As we called to her "Elsie, give Daddy back his water!" She turned to us, smiled and kept walking away. I followed her, only to find her proudly sitting in her mini armchair. My next request..."Elsie, take a sip and then bring the cup to mommy!" The answer..."Buh bye" As she stood up from the chair (with cup of water in hand) and walked toward me, stretched out her arm, nudged me until I was out of the door frame, and returned to shut her door! I continued to watch her through the glass as she returned to her arm chair, rather proud of herself, and sipped her water like a big girl! This whole independence thing isn't going over well wit Mommy!

And then it continued this evening...

I must admit that towards the end of the day the "Mommy, Mommy" count has gotten quite high, so on occassion I will ignore the continuous "Mommy, Mommy" on account that she just wants to hear herself talk and make noise. Tonight I learned to never ever do that again! I also learned always empty the tub water when Elsie is on the loose!

Elsie took the first bath of the evening. Daddy got her dressed while Ander took his turn...after being wrapped up in his towel, I dumped his tub and ventured back to his room to get him dried, diapered and dressed before heading downstairs to wind down for the evening. As I got Ander dressed I heard "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" coming from the distant bathroom. I ran to the bathroom to find Elsie leaning over the tub like a beached whale, feet flailling in the air, unable to push or pull herself down to the ground! 1) Thank goodness she hadn't fallen into the tub square on her head and 2) the tub was empty so if she did fall in she wasn't going to drown. So my lesson has been learned, always empty the tub of water and don't ignore "mommy's" no matter what time of day!

Along with causing trouble Elsie has had some major breakthroughs with the potty. For the last month she has been going on her potty inconsistently. Sometimes she sits for 30-40 minutes before going, and sometimes just a few seconds. This morning she said "I poopy", when she got on the potty she very quickly went pee and got her "Abby's" (M&M's from her Abby Cadaby pail). This afternoon she started crying and said "I poopy" but wouldn't let me get her on the potty. Once I told her she would get Abby's for going on the potty she let me take her diaper off and set her on the potty. She then proceeded to do her business! I was so excited, we're making progress!

Ander hasn't even begun to think about causing trouble like Elsie, but just the same he's growing into quite the little boy. He is full of smiles and coos, and enjoys playing with his sister, swinging and hitting at his toys. This morning as Elsie put her head in Anders lap and he hit at her head, he smiled and cooed at her. It is too cute! And since Elsie gets all the stories, Ander gets all the pictures for today!

To finish off the evening Elsie played with her "spoons" until it was time to go get her blankie and dolly. And as I sit here typing, I am listening to Elsie chatting to herself in her bed... "cow..daddy ...mommy ............ernie, ernie, ernie"