Daddy: Ella, these blueberry muffins are delicious!
Ella: We don’t talk with our mouth full Daddy.
Paige is becoming quite the talker.
Paige has a very happy squeal. The only problem with it was when she first started it Mommy would hear it and wonder if she was happy or sad. It only took a couple of days of observation to confirm that many more times than not this is a happy squeal. 
We’ve had Ella in a toddler bed for a little over a month now. Although she’s able to get out of it, she’s never attempted to unless we’ve come in the room to get her out of bed. She’s even cried for things she has thrown out of bed because she hasn’t thought of getting out to get them. Well, things have begun to change…
Yesterday my mother was watching Ella, and she told us that Ella had gotten out of bed as she was on her way back to her room. Today’s story tops that: I’d just put Ella down for a nap. While I was working in my office, I heard a door open. I thought it was Beth coming from our bedroom. Imagine my surprise when I heard Ella in my doorway announcing, “I’m all done with my nap, Daddy.” I assured her that she wasn’t done, escorted her back to her room, and watched her climb back into bed.
Afterwards, I peeked in at Beth who was holding Paige for a nap. We shared looks of raised eyebrows and rolled our eyes at each other. A couple of minutes later, Ella was back up again. This time Beth reminded me to tell her that if she got up again she wouldn’t get to watch a TV show when she gets up from her nap. Hopefully that did the trick…
It’s official. Beth and I are both ready to call last night’s sleep the best so far for Paige since we started “sleep training” her this past Saturday night. She only fed twice (one more hour of sleep would have dropped that to once), and she went down easy (i.e. no crying) for bedtime and after each feeding.
Ella: Grandmommy, tell me a “Mater” story.
Grandmommy: I don’t know any “Mater” stories.
Ella: Tell me a “Rastus*” story.
Grandmommy: Ok, what “Rastus” story would you like to hear?
Ella: “Rastus Meets a Friend”
Grandmommy: What friend did he meet?
Ella (with a sheepish grin): Mater.
This past weekend Beth met her two roommates from college for a “Girl’s Weekend”. Here’s a shot of Paige and Josiah during some pool-time.
Paige is the perfect centerpiece to this colorful photo.
The past couple of days we’ve had a very hard time getting Ella to take some antibiotics prescribed by her doctor. The first two nights we spent over an hour trying to get her to finish one teaspoon of the icky tasting stuff. Finally, today we offered her the option to take it mixed with yogurt, and she likes it. Yea! 
BTW: There’s no fooling this little girl. You’ll note that our solution included some negotiations with the patient.
On Saturday, December 17, 2011, Beth and I set out to do the impossible: photograph our two girls and make a Christmas card in time for Christmas on the following Sunday. We dressed Paige and Ella in their Christmas dresses, placed them in the “Christmas scene” we had setup in my office, and I proceeded to shoot as many photos as I could while Beth posed them. Read More…