Visit to California

Last weekend we made another trip to visit Ye-ye and Nai-nai ("grandpa" and "grandma") in San Jose. Eliana, who likes to run around freely about the house, did not like being confined to Mommy and Daddy's seats on the completely full flight. So we brought a bunch of new toys, trinkets, and treats for her and would whip one out when she was about to go crazy. Besides the fact that Eliana poured 1/8 cup of water onto Daddy's lap, the flight went fine.

What did Eliana do in California? The weather was beautiful, so she explored the backyard and Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai looked on. She wore her backpack and ran around the house.
Eliana pretended to talk on the phone.
She now know's how to say "Yeh-yeh" and "Nai-nai", much to the delight of Elvin's parents. She also doles out hugs if she feels like it.
We walked to Elvin's old elementary school to visit the playground.The slide is always a hit.

And last but not least, Eliana has her first In-N-Out milkshake. She also had a bite of Mommy's cheeseburger and fries.

No pictures of the flight home. Southwest overbooked the flight and bumped Elvin off the flight. Unfortunately, they didn't tell him that until they closed the door to the airplane--with Emily and Eliana inside. Needless to say, Elvin was a little peeved at Southwest for getting left behind.

Happy Halloween!

The weekend before Halloween, we met up with Emily's brother and sister and their families at the local pumpkin patch. It's a large farm, complete with a petting zoo, cider press, and corn maze. The weather was perfect and there were pumpkins galore.

Eliana's cousins love spending time with her.

Always the copy cat, Eliana tried pushing the wheelbarrow.

Of course the petting zoo was a favorite. She says "boc boc" when she sees chickens.

On Halloween night, we mostly spent the time at home answering the door. We did venture out to visit one house. Eliana dressed up in a Yoda costume that Elvin's co-worker contributed.
She wasn't very impressed with the Boba Fett carving on the pumpkin. She was actually afraid of the jack-o-lantern for some reason.

More calculator...

As we said, Eliana likes to use calculators as cell phones - and she especially likes Aunt Jen's calculator. Today, she had a whole conversation with someone....

From baby to little girl...

Our baby is rapidly turning into a little girl. Her likes and dislikes are becoming more pronounced, and she is very determined to do what she wants. She is an expert at saying and signing "No", and uses it regularly. When really upset, she flings her head and arms back and forth, like she is shaking her head no, but using her whole body.

She is starting to copy everything we do, in her own way, and to also play pretend with her dolls and animals. Her favorite activity, though, has not changed - to go outside, rain or shine.

Ellie has always loved water, and a new favorite activity is washing hands, with a fresh dab of soap, on EACH hand, every 5 to 10 seconds. We were having wraps for dinner, so Eliana had a tortilla while we were cooking. She uses her mouth a bit like a third hand, to store things, feel things, touch things, and to carry things around the house.

Once we started eating, and she saw our food, she of course needed her own "wrap". Her's is a cucumber and chicken wrap -- something that is easier to eat now that she has 3 molars!

One of the "toys" that seems to be a favorite of all kids is a cell phone. Ellie has expanded her "phone" category to include anything with a screen and buttons. Here she is with Aunt Jenny's financial calculator...it is one of her favorite phones right now.

Now it is the monkey's turn to talk...

Eliana has scorned bananas for a long time, but now that she can hold it herself, and knows the sign for it, they have great new appeal.

And again, playing pretend...this time sharing her banana with one of the many many bears that live in our house.

Ellie just got some new (to her) spoons from her cousin Lena, so she wanted to eat yogurt with them. It took too long, so she opted to just "drink" the yogurt, straight from the carton. It left a bit of a ring around her face, though!

First Haircut

Eliana's hair has been growing pretty fast lately, and had developed a bit of a mullet in the back. Daddy thought it was pretty cute, but Mommy wasn't so keen on it. After a few weeks of Daddy "not being ready yet", she finally got her haircut this weekend. We went to a hair cutting place, and Ellie was interested enough in the new surroundings, and other people, that she managed to hold still the whole time! (Thankfully, the person cutting her hair was very very fast!)

Here are some before and after pictures...you will also notice that she has taken to bringing a stuffed animal with her everywhere she goes - on Saturday, it was her monkey from Aunt Jen.

Before...

(The Mullet.)

During...

After...

(holding the kitchen timer, which she pretends is a cell phone.)

Last week of good weather...

Eliana has gone through a growth spurt recently, outgrowing many of her old sweatshirts, pants, and onesies. According to our bathroom scale, she's about 24 pounds. One month ago, she would NOT have been able to reach something on our dining table, like she's doing in the picture.
Fall has been really mild (until a cold front moved in on Sunday). So Eliana has been spending a lot of time outdoors playing on the driveway. In fact, she asks to go outside just about every 10 minutes.

She is really into her stuffed animals right now. Pushing them around in a stroller is fun. She also has a toy shopping cart, courtesy of her older cousins.
More exciting than having Mommy blow you bubbles, if you being able to blow them yourself. She can actually do it, amazingly enough.

And of course, every once in a while, you have to stop and have a snack (cheddar cheese flavored rice crackers.)

Bedtime routine...

The bedtime routine with Eliana starts at about 7pm every night...

After a bath, Mommy helps her brush her teeth. After reading a couple of books, she is hopefully starting to wind down for the night. On Sunday night, however, she was content to run around for a while before going to bed...