Ellie

Ellie got all dressed up in her Christmas best dress (thanks to everyone who sent dresses. We somehow found occasions to wear pretty much all of them.

Ellie points out the Christmas tree.

Ellie acts coy in front of the tree. She's a cutie!

Upon meeting Santa, Ellie wasn't so sure about this guy. She was only 4 months old the last time, so it's not surprising.

This was the best picture out of the bunch. Maybe next year she'll sit on his lap, once she actually figures out what's going on.

Posted by Brian at 7:58 AM | Permalink

Our little town is very cool. They have Santa ride around the whole town on a fire engine. THe first time we saw this, we freaked out because we thought there was a big fire on the road in front of us. Turns out we were just stuck behind Santa. This was Ellie's first time seeing this event, as we must have been away when he came by last year.

Ellie had just finished eating her dinner of Penne pasta with tomato sauce (obviously), when Santa was making his rounds.

Santa's helper was handing out candy canes to the kids, and Milkbones for the doggies.

Bye bye Santa! Bring me good presents, I've been very good this year!

Posted by Brian at 7:41 PM | Permalink

A little chilly a few nights ago as we went into downtown Vienna to see their annual Holiday festivities. So Ellie got all bundled up in her snowsuit.

She's all ready to go.

A little hard to get around though. Just like that kid from "A Christmas Story", she can't get up when she falls down, without getting help from us. We are such cruel parents, we just stood there laughing at her as she flopped around.... Sorry Ellie!

Posted by Brian at 9:35 AM | Permalink

I promised more messy pictures of Ellie feeding herself, so here you go: gnocchi with vodka marinara (Spaghetti-O's? Nah!)

She does indeed occasionally get the food in her mouth.

But not often...

Good thing it was bath night!

Posted by Brian at 9:31 PM | Permalink

Since her dad put out his list of top CDs, Ellie wanted to share her list as well.

1. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State
A surprisingly hip selection by Ellie. A gift from cousin Bill, she immediately grooved to this CD. It's a nice quiet CD too that you can just leave on in the background to keep her calm. Plus, you can't go wrong with song titles like "Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid)" and "Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)".


2. Gemini - Best of/A Feast of Song
Roger, Wendy and Colin turned us on to Gemini, an Ann Arbor based Jewish duo born in Hungary. Fun children's songs that are very appropriate ("My little girl loves to eat tofu, Who'd a Thunk it?" and "Let's go get a sandwich at the deli, Zingerman's, Zingerman's, Zingerman's").

3. They Might Be Giants - No!
It's just nonsense, but it's brilliant.

4. Various Artists - For The Kids
Star-filled CD of classic kid's songs from the Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and just plain classics. This is a good example of "good" cover versions of songs. It's just fun.

5. Music Together - Tambourine
Songs from her music class always get her going.

Posted by Brian at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ellie had her 15 month checkup this week. This meant a lot of shots (three!). Add an extra shot for the flu vaccine on top of that. Then add the docs wanting to take some blood for tests because she's not gaining weight (I think Lisa said 4 ounces in three months, which is odd because she eats pretty well). The blood work really got to Lisa. She literally had to lay on top of Ellie to hold her down while the nurse pulled the blood. Screams like you've never heard. 4 shots and blood work are too much for a 15 month old to go through in one day. Nice pediatricians we have. I think we're going to start calling them the quack doctors now instead of the chiropractor/allergist we go to.

Posted by Brian at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)