more than you ever wanted to read about what ellen's up to

my little daughter is either getting sick or has entered into the 'terrible twos'. she's decided obedience is now optional. it's odd to me because she's been so good about it in the past. she really has been an incredibly easy little kid. maybe even too easy. when she wants to do something you don't want her to do, all you have to do is explain why that's not okay and she's fine. on to the next thing. you could actually reason with her (or maybe she just got distracted by the talking). but today, this little ellen of mine did everything i told her not to do. we went shopping at target and i let her walk around instead of being in the cart. (in the past she's done this very responsibly, staying close and putting whatever she took down from the shelf back) today, however, she took off running "fas" (as she was saying to herself) to look at something on another isle. if this happened once or twice - it'd be no big deal. that's part of learning how to have the priviledge of walking around. but she actually did it at least 4 or 5 times. and everytime she took off i chased her down and brought her back to the cart and she lost her walking priviledges for a bit. i finally gave up and told her she couldn't get down again, she had to stay in the cart. so she broke her first piece of unpaid for merchandise in a store. and i got my first disapproving look from another mother. sorta the "that child is being very bad look" to her own kiddo. the weather has been so nice lately that we've been letting her run around a bit outside whenever we get home and get herself into the house. (meaning she's not carried. she walks from the car to the house making small detours to throw some rocks or walk in the dirt for a quick minute) she's been really good about staying in the drive way and away from the street. so today i got her out of the car and got the bags and headed for the door like always only ellen made a bee line for the street and did not stop when i yelled (rather loudly and harshly) "STOP!" (usually this is highly effective). so my pregnant self went running as fast as i could to get her. we don't have much traffic at all on our street, but she did actually make it out of the driveway and onto the street and stood right by our hedge. she got in some serious trouble - (trouble in our house means we go sit in ellen's room for a certain amount of time and discuss the wrong doing/sit quietly.) it seems to have been pretty effective because she's stayed very close to me every time we've gone anywhere for the rest of the day. i was so worked up though i had to just sit there in my own little time out after she was done and recover. and (yes there's an and) when we went to the grocery store later in the day ellen wanted to throw everything. that seems to be what she's interested in these days. throwing anything she can get ahold of. it used to be hitting. she's progressed. i gave her three seperate opportunities to hold some grocery item (that was unbreakable) and every one resulted in the object being hurtled halfway down the aisle. (she really does have quite a good arm) the last time i spoke to her rather harshly (actually i think i just had a harsh face, when she's "in trouble" we tend to get really close and speak quietly to her) but ellen received her first "oh poor little baby" look from another shopper. so of course i felt guilty and had to be super patient and cheerful towards ellen for the rest of the trip. and of course, dinner was cut a bit short by the flying chicken and water cup and plastic fork. dave handled this one though, so that was nice. :) as i'm writing this it sounds like there is no way she's getting sick - this is the 'time of testing' - trying to see what she can actually get away with. but she's also had an extremely short fuse and when she gets upset easily and "makes bad choices" it seems to be related to not getting enough sleep or being sick. so i'm hoping. if it is the "two's" though, i'm rather glad she's started it now, before she has a new sibling. at least that way we don't think it's cause she's hating life since she's not the only budd baby anymore. she has been so incredibly easy and good i suppose i deserve a couple difficult days. on a brighter note ellen seems to be a genius! yesterday she managed to count to ten by herself (no promptings) making only two mistakes!! this has not yet been repeated so it may be a fluke, but i'm going with the "my baby's a genius" idea. she also recognizes the numbers (most of the time - i guess i should say that she's shown that she knows them. she doesn't always give the right answer the first time though. that applies to all these topics - numbers, letters and colors), almost all of the colors (within reason... I'm talking normal colors, no magenta or chartreuse yet) and knows several letters. she can also tell you all the characters in finding nemo and sesame street. and i'm not just talking main characters, but the smaller bit part characters too - bruce (the shark), peach (the starfish), jaques -how in the world do you spell that-(the shrimp), crush (the turtle)... the whole cast. and she can differentiate between marlin and nemo - i can't remember a time she's gotten them mixed up. now that's impressive. i think we may need to be done seeing that movie for a while. and in sesame street her current favorite (besides elmo and slimy the worm, of course) is bert. we have a toy bert that can go in the tub and ever since he got in the bath shes loved him dearly. she has revolving favorites, sometimes ernie, sometimes grover, sometimes cookie monster. not oscar or big bird so far. she also loves to hug and "snuggle". and she's 'recognized the benefits' of hugs as well. when she wants to get out of the grocery cart or she's in trouble she always asks for a hug or a snuggle. always before bed there's one last snuggle (even if she's half asleep). and always when i'm on the computer she comes toddling up saying she wants a hug. now at this point you're thinking that's normal! she's just being loving. but trust me - she's feeling pretty smart. it goes like this - she asks for a hug (and in our house, you always get a hug no matter what. even if you're in trouble) so I pick her up and hug her. or attempt to hug her. it really isn't actually possible because by the time i get her in my arms she's already whipped herself around and started typing at the key board. :) alright, i'll wrap up this marathon post with this - no matter how difficult a day has been, i still think ellen is the best little girl in the world.