Freeze

Brad & I realized that Ella will always be 3 years old in our mind. 
Is that the age that everyone else freezes their kids?  Just like in "Father of the Bride" when she tells her Dad that shes getting married and they show her as like a 5 year old saying "Daddy, I met a boy and we fell in love and we're getting married!"  Yeah, that will be the Ella we know today.  3 year old Ella.
I guess we don't know what 4 years will be like yet...

Victory is mine.

If theres anything I have learned in my days with Ella... it's that repetition with children seems to make things easier.  Sometimes, I may have to be tough... but as long as she knows the drill, we're good.
She's always struggled with nap time.  I think we've only let her not have a nap maybe twice... but structure in our house is getting stronger.  Since we're into fifth month of having her every weekend, she's starting to understand the drill.  She knows she stays the night on Saturday nights.  She knows she goes to dance class with Nana on Saturday afternoons.  She knows after dance, it's straight to bed.  For quite some time, this caused her to be extremely upset.   She just had so much fun at dance and at lunch with her Nana, now she has to sit still and take a nap!?  WHAT?!
I think something has clicked with her, she realizes that we don't back down... so she might as well just go along with it.  Which is amazing.  Finally.  I wonder if other parents have reached this point and felt this way.  She's been acting this way for a little while now, but I haven't let it sink in, just because when dealing with a 3 year old girl, she could change at the drop of a hat.
The victory was felt when she was in the basement with her Dad... I yelled down there for her and she came to the bottom of the stairs.  I said "Please come upstairs now."  She stood still and said "why?!"  I simply told her it was just time to come up.  And she replied "oh, is it nap time?"  Typically, with the simple reply of "yes" would have sent her into a panic... and in that second it took that word "yes" to fall out of my mouth, I envisioned her screaming and kicking on the basement stairs and me having to grab her and drag her upstairs while she attempted to hold onto the banister with all her strength.  That's not what happened.  Not at all.  She started her way up and said "oook.  but do we get to do crafts when I wake up?"
Victory.
I, of course, responded with my usual response of "yes, but only have you have a good nap!"
All of this followed by her laying down and trying to keep her eyes closed.  Keeping your eyes closed seems to be such a struggle for a 3 year old, haha, but she holds them closed tight until she finally falls asleep.
I don't know what its like for full time parents...  but I'm sure that structure is something Ella will struggle with until she's all grown up.  We just try our hardest to keep it simple in the Moore household!

As of Late...

I haven't updated in a while... I apologize!  Things get crazy and blogging is the last thing I think of!  Well, the holidays are over and time is rushing by.  Ella is rapidly growing and getting smarter by the second.  She got everything she wanted for Christmas and then some!

Our favorite things about her right now is how excited she is by the snow.  Which we've had a lot of snow this year.  Last week, it snowed very lightly while she was at daycare... when we arrived she was starring out the door to the school's playground.  Her teacher said she had been begging to go outside all day... but wouldn't tell her teacher why.  I instantly knew why and said Ella, do you want to go home and put on your snow suit?  She jumped all around, ran to her cubby, grabbed her things and ran for the door.  This week it snowed quite a bit on the weekdays (our days without her), Brad and I found ourselves happy and sad at the same time because she would be SO excited about the significant snow fall, but we were sad we couldn't watch her get so excited.  I also found myself buying a package of full carrots for her to make her dream snow man this weekend.

Last weekend, there was only about an .25 of an inch on the ground, she was begging to make one.  When Brad picked her up in the morning for our weekend together, she whipped out a little sandwich bag that contained a tiny bite size carrot she had pulled out of her mother's refrigerator and packaged up to bring to our house.  It was adorable.  Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough snow to make a snowman!  But this weekend, expect some photos, because there's definitely enough snow!
The last big snowfall we had, her & I drove around the neighborhood looking for snowman.  She'd scream out when she saw them "FROSTY!"  Just so flippin' adorable.

She also has nicknamed our pup... she calls him "Zummie"  Which, his name is Zuma, but when she's happy and in a good mood, she calls out "Zummie, Zummie!"  SO CUTE.  We put her shirt on Zuma a few weeks ago, she thought it was the funniest thing in the whole world.  It was pretty entertaining.  She really loves her dog.

One thing I don't have a problem buying for Ella ever is books.  I want her to have things to get her mind going rather than the TV.  So, every so often, I hit up Goodwill and Half Price Books for new books.  She gets like 10-20 new books every time!  This time I got a Golden Book called "Nurse Nancy" about a little girl who likes to pretend she's a nurse!  She is now obsessed with it.
We also got a book for Christmas which is a Mercer Mayer book about what to be when you grow up.  The book describes all the things you can be when you grow up.  I caught her pretending to read it by just looking at the illustrations.  I love it.  I want her to be really smart!  She's so imaginative!  I will never say no to buying a book!

She got a big bed after Christmas as well as some more things to make her room even more girly!  

I'm amazed every weekend when Ella arrives with what she knows, what she says, and how big she is!  It's a sad that she has to grow up!  She's amazing!

-stepmomamy

Tug o' War

Sometimes, it's really hard.

Gobbles & Slippers

Today, Ella told me that she wanted to swim with the dolphins and pet them.  I asked her what she needed to do that.  She went to described all of the "gear" she would need to swim with dolphins.  She needs "slippers" aka flippers and "gobbles" aka goggles.  Her definition of "gobbles" ...the things that go over your eyes so you can see the dolphins under water and it won't hurt your eyes.    She said this while covering her eyes with her hands.
So, All I could think is ...how can I find some place that she could really swim with dolphins.  Because I can't imagine what she would do if I told her we were going to do it!  So, you have to be 6 years old to swim with the dolphins at Discovery Cove in Orlando, FL... so if at the age of 6, she still wants to do it... we'll find a way!
Sometimes I listen to the things she says and just want to bottle her up and make her stay 3 years old forever.  She's perfect.

Lazy Sundays

Today was a "no hair brush" day.  Brad got Ella up and ready to let me sleep in a little.  So, he didn't do her hair!  Haha, when I finally awoke, I didn't feel the need.  So, since my hair was not looking to fabulous either, we declared it a "no hair brush" day.  Ella seemed to be just fine with it.
We didn't do much.  Watched movies on ABC Family.  Ate grilled cheese.  Walked Zuma around the neighborhood and counted fire hydrants.
It was a nice day.
Sundays are weird for Brad & I.  We spend 3 days with Ella then we just have to turn her over.  I don't much fancy that part.  Especially when we get back to her mom's house and she begs us to stay.  That's rough.  We spend the car ride home talking about her and how wonderful she is every time.  Even when it has been a crazy weekend and I am ready for a break... We miss her the second she's gone.

Today

Today had many highlights...
One being that I attended Ella's dance class that Brads mom signed her up for.  This was her second class so far and it was quite entertaining.  2-4 year olds dancing is definitely a riot.  What amazes me the most is how she reacts in groups and how well she follows direction.  She listened and followed the teacher wonderfully!  Plus she looks darn cute in that outfit!  Here she is giggling with the other girls and waiting their turn for personal instruction from the teacher,  Miss Erin!

Aside of dance class...
Today brought some funny "quotes"
We went to El Meson for dinner with Papaw White & JayJay.  They have those candy jar things that are on the "honor system"... take 2 and leave a quarter.  Well, she had her own quarter so she picked out some Laffy Taffy and put the quarter in the box!  She carried it around at first, showing it to Papaw White & JayJay.... then we decided to put it in her purse for later.  We had some fun in the parking lot then said our goodbyes to Papaw & JayJay.
Ella got into her seat and asked for her purse... I gave it to her and she unzipped and pulled out the candy.  I caught her examining it and then she says...  "Soooo..... is this gum or somefing??"
Brad & I just broke out in hysterical laughter because it was like she acted like she knew what it was around Papaw & JayJay then right when she got in the car she wanted us to fill her in on what exactly her candy was!  Haha! Explaining the differences between taffy & gum to a 3 year old is not the easiest argument!  (A 3 year old that gets gum from her Aunt & Papaw Larry, not me!)  They're both tasty and chewy... so why can I swallow one and not the other? 
I really don't know to be honest with you.