Crust

I remember when I was little and I used to have my mom cut the crust off of my bread. After she did I would go around the sandwich and pick off any speck of crust that remained. Heaven forbid that I actually EAT the gross brown stuff that surrounded my nice, soft bread.

And I was no different than any of my friends. We all didn’t like the crust. Every so often that weird kid would come along that would actually eat the crust, and we all couldn’t understand why. As I grew up, the crust bothered me less and less. Now I actually kind of enjoy it…especially on that nice crusty French bread…yum. I always just assumed it was the influence of my friends. If they didn’t like crust, neither would I. I figured that somewhere in my school this one random kid decided that he/she wasn’t going to eat the crust, and the trend started. Or maybe I picked it up from my older brother…heaven knows that I always wanted to do what he did.

Fast forward to present day…never once have I said to Ella, “Ok, you are not going to like the crust. Don’t even think about eating it because you won’t like it.” I have always just given her a slice of bread and left it at that. Sometimes I tear it in half just so it’s easier to manage, but I surely don’t pull of the crust. However, Ella won’t eat the crust. She eats all around it and gives the leftover crust to either Joe or I. Or she’ll immediately pull the crust off and yell “HELP” so she can hand it to us because she doesn’t even want it on her tray.

This is so funny to me. Why do all kids…or at least most…know from an early age, without outside influence, that they aren’t going to like the crust? So weird…then again, kids and the things they do are pretty weird in general. Luckily Ella will still eat wheat bread...I know that soon enough she'll want only white. I went through that phase too.

We are officially in the “I don’t want to wear clothes” stage. This just started last week. I really think a lot of it has to do with the heat. The fewer the clothes, the cooler Ella is. The only clothes Ella is ok with wearing are her jammies, so when we’re home we either have a little girl in her jammies, or a little girl in just a diaper (and bandages…so really she’s pretty much covered). Yesterday we came home from church and within minutes of walking in the door Ella said “No dress,” so we took off her skirt. Then she said “No shirt” so we took off her onesie and she would have been content to stay like that for the rest of the day. We did eventually get a plain white onesie on her, and when she napped I slipped some pants on her. The older she gets the more opinionated she gets…this makes me nervous.

I would like to acknowledge all of our service men and women on this Memorial Day. My 3rd cousin was killed in Iraq just a few weeks ago. He was one of the brave men that served our country and served it well. Thank you all for keeping us safe.

Don’t Say It!!!

Don’t even THINK about mentioning it. Just keep your mouth closed. Don’t remind me of the fact that in just 1 short month my sweet, precious baby will be 2 YEARS OLD!!!

How is it that one day we had this sweet little 1 month old


And the next day we had this big 23 month old?

Before I know it she’ll be asking for the keys to the car and I’ll tell her that she can take the mini van. Then she’ll complain about how the mini van isn’t cool and she doesn’t want to have to drive her friends around in a stupid mini van. Then I’ll tell her that she shouldn’t worry so much about being cool. Then she’ll roll her eyes at me and I will cry because we will have officially reached adolescence.

Why do they grow up so fast?

Do you see the difference?

Before

(I don't know who that girl is so ignore her. She's not part of the quiz.)

After

Did you catch it? It's very subtle but VERY important. Here's a hint.

Now did you catch it?

In the first picture is my brother...Mr. Alexander.

In the second picture is my brother...Dr. Alexander!!!

I do need to note that my sister-in-law is also now Dr. Alexander, but since their ceremonies were at the same time I was only able to get pictures of Curby. Needless to say, we are so proud of them! They have done a great job the past 4 years going to school and having twins in their free time! We will miss having them so close when they move to Springfield, IL this summer, but wish them the best as they start a new chapter of their lives.

Back to the basics

By “basics” I mean that we are now back to using cloth diapers. I know it sounds terrible, but it really isn’t as bad as people may think. Ella wore cloth diapers for the first 6 months of her life, then we transitioned to disposable since they were easier. With the summer months the disposables have been a bit rough on her skin, so we figured back to cloth was the best way to go. Also, since potty training is just around the corner, and Ella can’t wear Pull-Ups, I figured cloth would be easier to teach her with. We’ll see how it goes. What was so funny was that when I told Metti that we were going back to cloth, she responded by saying, “I don’t understand why everyone here uses disposable diapers. In Ethiopia everyone uses cloth diapers and just washes them out. They even make their own diapers.” This made me happy because it means that Metti doesn’t mind changing nor washing cloth diapers.

Now for some serious bragging on our genius child…have I mentioned that she’s a genius? Well, last night we were coloring, since coloring is Ella’s favorite past-time. She likes to lay on her tummy and have a blank piece of paper in front of her with all of her crayons surrounding her. Recently she has really been focusing on coloring every part of the paper. If there is a blank area, she states the color she wants to use, then picks up the crayon and colors very directly in that spot. Last night while coloring, I wrote her name on a piece of paper then said to her, “What does this say?” And guess what she said…oh, yes, our genius child said “Ella!!!” She was very excited about knowing that it was her name…and even I was totally shocked. So I pushed it one step further and wrote M-O-M-M-Y, and asked her what it said. She said, “M!” So she’s not the kind of genius that can read full words at 22 months, but she is the kind of genius that is able to recognize when her own name is written. I think that’s pretty impressive for a 22 month old!

We are also working on expanding our shape knowledge from the basic shapes to some that are more complex. Much to my surprise, when I drew an octagon she looked at it and told me exactly what it was. How does she learn this?

Ok, I'm done bragging…for today. We’ll see what tomorrow holds.

So Busy!

Joe and I have been swamped! And unfortunately it doesn’t look like things will be slowing down anytime soon. I’ll try to bring you up to speed in as few sentences as possible.

Joe: Took his last final for the semester yesterday (can I get a woot woot). Until that point he was studying, studying, studying. This week he’s back at work playing catch up for the time he took off to study. Next week he starts his clinic. CUA has a sort of law practice to help folks who need legal assistance and help students get hands on experience. So this is what Joe will be doing this summer. I think it will be a good experience for him.

Katie: My boss is moving on to bigger and better things, so this is her last week in the office. On top of this, they let go another one of my colleagues. So the Federal Affairs department which used to comprise 4 people, is now down to 2. This means that my workload has doubled and I now have to learn new issues that I have never had to deal with before. My learning curve has shot up and all I can hope is that now that I’m an OLD 32 year old that I’ll still be able to learn these new issues (can you really teach an old dog new tricks?).

I had a great Mother’s Day. Since Joe was taking his last final of the semester, the day was spent with just me and Dancerella. We stayed at home and played, and even stayed in our jammies all morning, and I did laundry on the side. In the afternoon we took a trip to Target. For not doing anything, Ella was really tired, so she went straight to her nap when we got home. This gave me some downtime to play my new Nintendo DS game, and plant the flowers that Joe got me for Easter (no, I hadn’t planted them yet. The rain had been interfering with my gardening). When Joe got home after taking his last final of the semester we decided to celebrate both the end of school and Mother’s Day with a nice dinner out. So Joe treated Ella and me to Savio’s, our favorite Italian restaurant, and afterward we went and got Rita’s Custard.

As a side note, when we were at Target Ella kept asking for Blues Clues (Boo Cooahs), so we went to check out the DVD section. I saw the School House Rock 35th Anniversary collection and my heart melted. While trying to give Ella options in what DVD she wanted, I also really tried to show her that it was in her best interest to choose School House Rock (Conjunction Junction, what’s your function). She wasn’t too excited about it, but I got it anyway since as her mom I just KNEW that she would love it once she saw it. Well, this morning I put the DVD on right as I was walking out the door. Joe emailed me a few minutes later to tell me that Ella didn’t like the DVD. While I am very sad about this, I’m also optimistic. When she first saw a Veggie Tales DVD she wasn’t too excited about that either, but now she loves it!

Fun birthday weekend!

Well, my birthday was a success. Friday night after dinner Joe treated the family to Rita’s Frozen Custard! It was so yummy! Ella even liked it, although she’s not a big fan of the cold aspect. Every time she took a bite she would make a funny face until it melted in her mouth, but she always came back for more. Saturday morning we went to breakfast at IHOP, then we made a very special trip to the pet store so Ella could see the animals. She LOVES that place! I almost thought we were going to have to buy a fish just so we could get out of there. She would stand and watch the doggies for awhile, then go see the fishies, then go check out the kitty cats. Back and forth between the three of them. She was in Ella heaven with all those animals.

We soon headed back home so Joe and I could get ready for Ragtime. I made him leave an hour before the show so that we could get settled before it started. :) When we got there I discovered that our seats were in the VERY FRONT ROW!!! The only thing separating us from the stage was the orchestra! We could actually see their spit flying! Anyway, the show was incredible! It made me want to go to the theatre more often. After Ragtime, Joe and I went to dinner and they even sang Happy Birthday to me. That night we were able to spend time as a family and just played with Ella and had a good time. Joe, or course, followed tradition and made me a birthday cake. It was a great birthday.

Mommy's Shoe

While Ella is a MAJOR daddy’s girl, she has lately started saying that everything is mommy’s. Mommy’s shoe, mommy’s nose (even when she’s pointing to her own nose), mommy’s yummies…you get the idea. Everything is mommy’s. This was very cute until the other day. According to Metti, Ella filled her diaper (if you get my drift) and apparently she looked at Metti and said, “Mommy poopie!” Umm, no, that is all yours my precious child!

Speaking of things that ARE mommy’s, tomorrow is my birthday! I’m going to be 32. To celebrate my coworkers are taking me to lunch today at our favorite restaurant, Hana Tokyo. The best Japanese hibachi ever! Joe and I have actually had full discussions on when we think Ella will be old enough to go and fully appreciate the hibachi show. Right now we think she’s just get scared. Maybe when she’s 3. Anyway, I was planning my meal this morning and I think I’m going to get steak and shrimp. I usually just get shrimp, but I’m feeling the steak today…although we had beef for dinner last night so maybe I should just get the shrimp. HELP!!!

Tomorrow afternoon Joe and I have a date. He is taking me to see Ragtime at the Kennedy Center then to dinner. I am so excited. It has been a long time since I’ve seen a live musical and I can’t wait. What I am really looking forward to, though, is my birthday next year, when Joe will be done with school and my birthday won’t be squeezed in between finals.

Other than that we don’t have any fun weekend plans. We’ll just spend quality time together as a family, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!