Ellie Boo

Ellie Belly. Jelly Belly. Ellie Boo. Ellie Belly Boo. Ells Bells. Belly. Bells.

My little girl is one. I mean, yeah, I posted that days ago. But it's sinking in now.

We didn't actually open any presents on Ellie's actual birthday. By the time Greg got home from work, she was napping. Then we got doing something. Then she was just freakishly grumpy, and it didn't seem worth it. So, we'd just do it the next day. Except, the next day we only got around to opening one of her three gifts, the one from Annie. The one Annie had no more patience but to give her it right now, even though Greg wasn't home. Ellie didn't open the two other gifts (the two from her parents) until a few days after her birthday. But, it's not like she cared one way or another. She didn't even turn out to be much of a ripping-the-paper-apart fan anyway. She did have some fun playing with her new toys, but even more fun with birthday cards she got in the mail. Currently though, she's really best entertained by any clapping song . . . (start singing the words, "If you're happy and you know it . . . " and she's already enthusiastically clapping her hands together) and peek a boo. The only toys she has a real interest in right now are big push-along kinda things, so she can haul butt from one side of the kitchen to the other without having to clutch one chair after another to slowly cruise across the room. Well, those and any toy Annie's playing with.

Here Ellie is with her wrapping paper. It's apparently fascinating.

So happy! Apparently her new toy has a tag!!

Just a goofy face that made me smile, so it's being immortalized here on the blog.

Later that day, my friend Rachel and her son Jovanny (who's four days younger than Ellie), came over to visit. Ellie and Jovanny had the best time crawling across a big sheet that Rachel and Greg would lift up and get filled with air, then the babies would quickly crawl across it, 'deflating' the sheet. I don't know if the description there makes sense. But it was hilarious, and you've never seen two one-year olds so entertained.

Jovanny.Ellie having a great time . . . although looking slightly drugged, 'cause it was past bedtime.

I mentioned Ellie's favorite game being peek-a-boo. Here's her playing her game with a blanket this morning. Then later that morning she kept pulling her shirt out real far in front, then sticking her head into it to hide, then pulling her head out and laughing hysterically.


Jovanny and Ellie were just squealing and laughing playing in the sheet . . . but by the time I got my camera turned on to record it, Ellie was more interested in coming to see me and the camera (you can see Jovanny in the backgroud, trying his best to single-handedly flatten the sheet.)

The next two are a bit longer, but I was too lazy to open any kinda editing software. Ellie's enjoying her new present from her big sister, singing along, but Annie was more interested in being the camera hog and showing off her dancing skills. Earlier Annie had said, "Why is he singing to Shorty? Who is Shorty? It's mine and Ellie's birthday!"
In the first video, Annie keeps referring to Annie's present as a "Bad to the Bone". This is 'cause she too has a singing dog, it just happens to sing "Bad to the Bone" instead of "In Da Club." Then Annie breaks into spontaneous dancing and while watching this video Greg laughed so hard he could barely choke out the words, "She dances just like you!" (Not the flapping, but the wickedly-cool-feet-up-in-the-air-break-dance . . . unfortunately for me, such a video exists of me doing some very similar (eerily similar) dance moves. Sadly, the video was taken when I was 11 or 12, not three. And it was to Paula Abdul's "Straight Up." Don't mock me. Oh, and I should point out that my father got great joy in showing said video to Greg. While we dating.)



More of Annie's amazing (apparently inherited) dance moves.