terrible, yet terrific twos

 Our little Ella reminds us that she is two every day.  Her favorite phrases are "Ella do it all by myself!" and "But that's Ella's toy!"  She has always been emotional and had some difficult character traits, but once she turned two I believe she kicked it up a notch!  Some days I can't believe my sweet little girl can be such a demanding little stinker.  She loves her friends and always wants to play with someone, but most of the time she tries to play with a friend it quickly gets embarrassing because Ella becomes so bossy and has a hard time sharing (even toys that don't belong to her!) 

On the other hand, the older Ella gets the easier and more fun parenting her becomes.  She is so much fun to play with!  She LOVES to have tea parties and participate in imaginary play.  Ella loves all of her toys.  She takes care of her babies, Barbies and stuffed animals all day long.  The other night about an hour after we put her to bed we thought we heard noises, but dismissed the thought quickly because she is such a good sleeper.  All of a sudden we heard Ella's Dora guitar going off.  Gustavo went in to check on Ella who was obviously playing.  He found that she had placed every single doll and stuffed animal on her bed along with her guitar.  She was trying to lay down and sleep with all of them.  She has done this multiple times so I went in and got a picture the last time she did it.  You can see she put on all of her toys and the new clothes I just bought her.  When Gustavo was talking with her and asking why she did this again she simply replied, "I love bunny, okay. Bunny needs to take a nap, okay."

 

Ella has great language skills which also makes life much easier these days.  We try to parent her with "Love and Logic" and for the past 6-8 months have been trying to help her remember to use words instead of whining.  The last few weeks when we give Ella the choice to "be a big girl" or go to time out, she has more often said "Ella be a big girl" and fixed her negative behavior.  When she is upset she can do a much better job of communicating what's wrong which helps us remedy the situation.  I LOVE being able to talk with Ella.  In fact, I've been getting so used to it that I get a little nervous about starting all over with the baby in a few months!

Ella has really eased up so much in the past few months.  She used to be incredibly clingy (her pediatrician even pointed out that she was much more anxious than most.)  She rarely, if ever, let anyone else hold her or play with her.  Honestly, she loved me, Gustavo, and her aunt Yolanda.  I didn't dare leave Ella with anyone else for their sake!  Ella refused to go to nursery for a very long time.  She is still inconsistent, but is getting so much better now.  She is opening up to her grandparents and other adults in our life as well.  In fact, for the first time ever she let her Grandpa Gonzalez hold her yesterday. The past few times we've left her with neighbors, family, or friends to be babysat she's done great- NO TEARS!  This has been so helpful! 

Other terrific things about 2:
-Ella is a pretty good eater.  She used to be incredibly picky, but eats quite a bit of different foods and is willing to try things much more often.  I really can't complain about her eating any more.  In fact, she even tries bananas now!  That hasn't happened since she was about 9 months old!!!
-Ella loves to pretend to talk to her friends and family members on the phone.  Her conversations usually sound something like this, "Hi Nena!  Good morning.  See you later.  I love you."
-Ella talks to her babies and animals in such a sweet voice which gives me hope that she'll be soft and loving to her new baby sister in a few months.
-Ella is much better about letting Daddy take care of her.  She's always been a Momma's girl, but there were a few months where she refused to let Daddy do anything- she just wanted me and it was SO HARD.
-Ella knows her colors.  She is learning her letters and constantly impresses us with her memory.  We think she's pretty smart :)
-Ella loves to watch Disney movies.  We got a bunch of her uncle Isaac's old VHS movies and she loves to watch them.  Her favorites lately have been Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog, Bolt, Monster's Inc., Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.
-Ella continues to love to read books.  All of my books from teaching first grade are really coming in handy these days.  We also have started going the the library regularly and she loves it!