Pizza Pizza

Ellie enjoyed her first pizza today and she thought it was pretty tasty! It had a whole wheat crust and the sauce was mostly spinach, butternut squash and carrot, but it was still pretty delicious. Ellie ate most of it and then dropped the rest of it, piece-by-piece, into Gracie's waiting mouth...Gracie is a big fan of pizza night!

I think she looks so much like her daddy in this picture:

Ellie's new bag of tricks

Ellie has learned so many new things in the last couple of weeks! She now says "uh-oh" (and she says this A LOT!), "thank you" (sounds more like "dank ewh"), "doggie" ("doo-doo"), "woof-woof," "Daddy," "Momma," "Gaga," "baby" ("bebe"), "oh," "hi," "teddy," "cat," "whoa" and "wow." She also does the signs for "food," "milk," and "more."

She walks everywhere now and she has learned how to stand-up on her own. And she has learned how to imitate Papa, doing her fake cough every time he clears his throat.

Ellie knows the right answer to the questions, "how big is Ellie?" (she puts her hands over her head in the "so big" pose), "where's Mommy's nose?" and "where's Ellie's nose?" She also "marks it with a 'b'" when we're playing patty-cake (of course she doesn't actually trace a 'b' on her palm, but she goes through the right motions).

She can also click her tongue. And her latest thing is offering food to Gracie (from her highchair), letting Gracie lick the food and her hand and then taking the food back and eating it herself -- bluck!

She's just a little sponge right now -- it's so fun!

Ellie adora México y México adora Ellie

Before I even begin, let me say that I know there are way too many pictures in this post, but how is a girl to narrow them down?!

Our trip to Cozumel was fantastic! We had so much fun and none of us wanted to come back. It was so relaxing -- we pretty much divided our time between eating, laying in the hammock, and just enjoying time with Gaga and Papa. Ellie LOVED having so much time with them -- she cried whenever Gaga left (keep in mind that she doesn't even do a double-take if Damian or I leave!) and loved hanging out in the hammock with Papa. Since the floors are all tile down there, Ellie got very good at walking (I guess the hard tile didn't feel great on her knees) -- it's definitely her main mode of transportation now!

Here we are getting ready for our flight: Ellie loved watching all of the action out the window:

Gaga and Papa only have a shower, so Ellie enjoyed some al fresco bathing out on their back patio:
The first night we were there, we went to a little girl's first birthday party. It was so much fun! Ellie was a little bit of a celebrity (we were the only tourists there and the little girls were very interested in Ellie). It was the first time Ellie played with crayons -- she didn't really understand that she was supposed to color on the paper -- she thought they were appetizers.
Everyone was so sweet about including us in the festivities and Ellie even had a go at the pinata:

The birthday girl, Abril, totally understood the concept of the pinata and gave it a couple of whacks:

One of the parks in Cozumel, has all kinds of animal statues in it. Ellie wasn't so sure about sitting on them though:

We stopped by the hotel that we used to stay at when Jamie and I were in high school. It was amazing to see how much it has changed -- in our days, it was very basic -- no pool, just everything you might need to go diving. Now, it has a beautiful beach/sand area, a big pool and a great entry into the water.

Throughout the week, we tried our best to replicate my friend, Celena's, incredible picture. We had absolutely no luck and are now more impressed than ever with it!

Ellie's first dip in the ocean:

Ellie absolutely loved one of Gaga and Papa's friends and neighbors, Rita. The first time Ellie met her, she refused to let go -- she actually clung to Rita like a little monkey! And every time Ellie saw Rita and her three dogs, she just went crazy with excitement -- so cute! Rita was very nice and let us use her pool one day (after going to all kinds of trouble to clean it and get it ready for us) -- it was gorgeous and Ellie loved splashing around in the shade. Thanks, Rita!

Another attempt at replicating the photo -- Ellie really did enjoy it more than her face suggests!

Ellie thought it was so fun to sit on the side of the pool and then fall into Daddy's arms -- she did it over and over (and over!) again!

Gaga and Papa sang a rousing version of "The Wheels on the Bus":

And "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider":

Ellie also loved flying solo in the hammock:

We went out to breakfast a couple times and Ellie was in top form. She made friends with everyone at the neighboring tables...and even some on the other side of the restaurant.

After breakfast, we walked downtown to take some pictures near the water, but Miss Ellie passed out before we got there.

Our little Mexican baby:

The trip couldn't have been better! We're already wondering when we can get down there again. Thank you for a wonderful week, Gaga and Papa!

Cleaning up

Ellie went to childcare at church again today, and again, she didn't even look back when I dropped her off. When I picked her up, she was standing in the little ball pit, throwing the balls out one at a time. It was so funny to see her standing at the edge of the pit with tons of balls all around her, which she had clearly thrown out. I sort of laughed and told one of the caretakers "I'm here for Ellie -- the one throwing the balls out of the ball pit," and she also laughed and said "Oh, she loves that thing -- she's been cleaning it out for us." So funny that she decided the balls needed to be to be out of that ball pit.

Baby Jack

Today, Alison and Baby Jack came over for lunch and a playdate. Baby Jack is about 8 weeks old and is still just a little guy (he weighs about 8 pounds) -- and he has the most adorable facial expressions!

Ellie was so excited to have a new baby doll to play with and was very irritated when we wouldn't actually let her play with him. She was a bit obsessed with pulling his hat off (her doll has a hat and she loves pulling it off) and pretty much wanted to climb in his infant carrier with him. She can be really sweet with her doll and loves to hug her, but then the next minute, she'll be dangling her by one leg over the side of her walker...so it just didn't seem like a good idea to let Ellie love on Jack.

Sweet Baby Jack smiling while totally oblivious to the big girl trying to crawl on top of him:

Missing Daddy

Damian has been out of town for the last few days and Ellie is really missing her Daddy. I'm fine as a source of food, the giver of baths, etc., but I'm not nearly as fun as Daddy! After every nap, she stands in her crib, looks towards her door and yells "Daddy" (Damian often comes up her naps to say "hi"). She'll be so excited when he comes home tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures to tide you over, Daddy...

A new hobby

Miss Ellie's favorite thing to do right now is to take her teddy and baby on a walk. She will put the baby in her walker (actually, it's Jackson's walker), walk around, add the teddy, walk around, pull teddy out, walk around, add teddy again, walk around. It's so cute to watch!

Taking a little break to enjoy the scenery!

Don't you hate it when...

You get caught being naughty...

You have a blemish that you're sure everyone will stare at...

And someone has a camera!