Ellie Pics

"Daddy, what does this spell?"


Dr. Ellie checking on mommy's headache.

Poor little sick girl. She kept "spitting up".

And a couple shots of Princess Elizabeth I.

Pictures of the boys coming soon.

She also does a great rendition of "Don't Speak"

We were watching American Gladiators last night because it's Walker's favorite horrible show and it was time for Ellie to go to the bathroom. She didn't want to because she didn't want to miss the action so Carla told her to run super fast, just like a Gladiator. Ellie's response, "I'm not a galadiator. I'm just a girl." By the way, aside from wearing a diaper to bed, she's pretty much potty trained. Just the very occasional accident but, hey, that happens to all of us . . . right?

Walker: Mom, come quick! Anderson has some WICKED spit up!

Carla, to Walker and Ellie: Wow, you guys are done cleaning up already?
Ellie: We used the teamwork.

Splatter, rinse, repeat.

That's Ellie's potty training in a nutshell. Actually, just for the first couple days. She caught on quick and is doing extremely well, now. She's even gotten out of bed a couple times at night and during naps to go to the bathroom all on her own. She still has the occasional accident but they're getting fewer and farther between, which is definitely better than stronger and closer together. I guess it helps that Carla can be home and set the timer on the microwave for her to try every 15 minutes or so. Problem with that, though, is now every time we warm up lunch we find puddles on the floor. You know . . . Pavlov's dog.

Let's see, what else? I'm posting from MD, just outside of DC - down here for a training thing. It's 4 days long which kind of stinks because it keeps me away from Carla and the kids but at least we have the cell phone and such. It was rough leaving. Walker literally clinged to me and begged me not to go. "I just want you to stay here and play with me." "Mommy doesn't know how to play football right." etc. And now that I'm gone, he's extremely clingy to Carla, which I guess isn't too surprising. I think Walker's clinginess and potty training Ellie alone might be getting to Carla, too. I called her after class this evening and we talked for a while but then we got cut off. I called her right back but got the machine. When we finally reconnected just now, she said that she thought she was talking on her cell phone and she got in the car and drove away, just chatting away on our LAN-line (landline?). Oh, well. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon. On the plus side, the old Grand Cherokee ran like a champ on the way down. I actually got very close to 20 mpg, which is really cool. Now the old girl just has to make it back . . .

Stuff the kids said before I left:

Walker, before our family tee-ball game: Inside our house is the locking room. Where we get dressed to play baseball.

Ellie, after trying to pull the table cloth off to help set the table for dinner: Daddy, can you move the table clock?

Ellie: Walker, you need sunscream.

Walker, at his real tee-ball game, after I told him he should play short stop for an inning: Where's long stop?

Walker, after I had to call him a couple times before he finally came over to me from the other room: You know what I was doing that was taking so long? Walker puts both hands around his neck. Feeling my blood. (He meant checking his pulse).

Walker, during a living room football game against me: Come on guys! Tackle him!
Kurt: Who are you talking to?
Walker: The guys on my team, Extrugal Gabowskasi and Floppy Hair. (can you guess who?)

Separation Anxiety

Ellie's been trying our patience lately. She's been throwing a fit any time we take anything away from her. It's always been that way with food, even stuff she doesn't like or want. "Don't eat it daddy. Save it for later." You have to be pretty sneaky taking it away or she makes you give it back. Recently, though, it's gone way beyond food. Other things we've had to "give back":
Milk that we've wiped
Peepers (eye crust) that we've wiped out
Tears that we've wiped away
"Boogies" that we've, well, you know.

To top it all off, potty training officially starts today. We've been introducing her to it very slowly for months now and she hasn't been receptive at all. Today she's been on the potty probably a dozen times already and she hasn't squeezed a drop. It might be for the better, though. She'd probably want us to give that back, too.

Carla, at lunch today, after Walker had cleaned his plate: Wow, Walker, look at your plate!
Carla gives Walker M&Ms for dessert.
Ellie picks all the food up off of her plate and puts it on the table.
Ellie: Look at my plate!