Ella

So something weird happened when Ella turned three. It should not have surprised me. I distinctly remember this happening with Annie as well. Actually, I DON'T remember it happening, but I DO remembering putting something about facebook about the Terrible 3's being worse than any terrible 2, and lots of people were agreeing heartily. Then life goes on and the kid grows out of it, and I forget. 3 year olds are hard. (Maybe it's one or the other? If they are an easy 2, watch out a 3! If they are a difficult 2, maybe an easier 3?) I'm not sure. I just don't remember the twos being very hard for my girls.

Anyway, Ella gave up naps around 2 years old. Actually, once they started keeping her awake until 11 p.m. at night, I took them away and started putting her to bed really early. That has proven to be a little tricky because now that I have 4 kids, getting one to bed earlier than another takes a small miracle. Especially because they all share a room. And a bed.

Ella has started throwing fits all the time. Right after she turned three, she had several incredibly loud full-on screaming  and writhing type of tantrums.  I would just walk away (far away, so it wasn't piercing my ears) and let her cry until she was exhausted. She could go at least 15 minutes.  One time, after she was finished, she came out quite happy. I casually asked why she had been "crying". She said matter of factly, "Because I didn't want you to use the bathroom."

OKAAAAAAAY.

I have trained everyone in this house to never give in to her EVER when she acts like that. She is FINALLY catching on, that if she will calm herself down, and ask very sweetly, "Please may I have...." then she will get almost anything. Her sisters even have to give up stuff that they are using (if she was using it first and then put it down and forgot about it), as a reward for her behaving like this. It really doesn't happen THAT often, but they are good and try not to complain too much. I also try to find Ella an alternative to what she wants if someone else already has it, to teach her how to be patient, and wait until someone is done.

She still whines a lot and I just tell her over and over that I can't understand her when she talks like that. I have to say it about 10 times before she finally catches on that she needs to change the ways she's talking. Kalia and Annie don't always realize what I'm doing, and try to jump in and translate. Hahaha!

Since the girls got out of school 2 weeks ago, she is doing better. She likes having her sisters around. They are good girls and don't have too much trouble playing nicely together. Ella can be mean though- she scratched Kalia's face once about 2 months ago, and there is still a huge scar down her cheek that we are trying to get to go away. Kalia's skin doesn't heal fast anyway (poor diet probably) but it just reminds me of my little sister Tara, who also had to be tough, being a 3rd child, and who left many scars on my face as well.

Ella has had some anxiety problems as well. She got really jumpy at about 2.5 years old, about normal things though, like random sounds when she was trying to go to sleep at night. Then she was fine for a while. And then around 3 years old (and probably being exposed to some cartoons for older kids, thanks to Netflix), it really got crazy. It was quite windy here for a few weeks, and these huge trees in the backyard were always swaying and the leaves rustling.  This set her off really bad. She totally freaked out about having the door open or going outside. She would NOT go outside for like two weeks (to the backyard), although she would happily go outside anywhere else without much problem.  It was not logical at all. She was scared of wind in general and didn't like large clouds either. When she heard someone in general conference mention a tornado (and they showed some pictures) she could talk of nothing else all day but the "tornado storm."

Then one day (the Wednesday before Mother's Day) we went into the dollar store to get some greeting cards. They were totally geared up for Mother's day, and had hundreds of Mother's Day mylar balloons all over their ceiling. The a/c was blowing, and making them jiggle around and sort of dance. This triggered her fear and she shrieked and BOLTED out of the store before I could even catch her, right into the parking lot, where thank goodness there were no cars to hit her.

I have been worried about her. I looked some stuff up online and talked to a few friends. I learned that anxiety can be considered "normal" at this age, because they can't yet distinguish fantasy from reality. (Although it doesn't feel normal to me because my first two kids didn't ever do anything like this.)  I learned that physical activity that will get her blood pumping may help her stabilize when she has having a bit of an attack. And I talked to her pediatrician about it who also called it pretty "normal" and he also told me we will keep an eye on it.

I have had some success by trying to teach her some logical explanations for what was going on. I got on YouTube and found some sped-up clips of clouds moving through the sky, and I taught her that the wind is trying to move the clouds around so that they could drop rain on whoever needed it. I taught her that the wind was making the trees dance and say hello (she liked this explanation.) And I later explained why the balloons were moving all over the ceiling of the dollar store.

Now she seems to be over those fears. She still talks about rain and rain clouds and a few times when we'd run errands, she'd ask me if there would be balloons where we were going. We have been back to the dollar store since, and there were only like, 2 balloons floating around, and she was fine.

She did just get stung by a bee this last week, and has had heightened anxiety since then, worried that something "is on her" like a bee or an ant. I think we will battle this to some degree throughout her life, and I just hope it's not too severe. It does tend to run in my family.

On a positive note- she says the cutest things sometimes and makes me laugh. She says "remember" as "be-member" and I will miss it forever when it stops. She also came to love olives at the same time that Frozen came out- with the Snowman OLAF- and she can't say olive at all because of it. She asks me to open a can of Olafs and she puts them on her fingers and says, look at all my olafs! Her sisters really tried to get her to say it right, and were like, "Say OL.....- IV" breaking up the word for her. She still couldn't do it. Kalia finally gave in and said, "She'll get it someday.....like when she's 16!"  haha, love it. Here's a few other things Ella has said over the last few months that I wrote down.

Ella: "Mom, there's flies in the kitchen!!! Where's the pink smacking thing?"
(fly swatter)

(From watching Frozen when Olaf says, "my own personal flurry"--
One day I gave her some meatballs and she said, "That's my personal meat. And you're my personal meat mama." I laughed and said, "you're funny". And she added, "AND cute."

I said to Ella one day, "I'm pooped!!" "You pooped?" she asked. "No, I'm pooped! That means in tired." "You're fired?" "Uh, yeah. I'm fired. What does that mean?" "It means you're camping."

I was singing along to "Happy" in the car when Ella said behind me. "will you stop singing?" "Uh...sure."  (pause...) then she says to herself, "I feel better now."

Ella, in the bathtub: "I feel all watery."

Ella, one morning, sees daddy, then came to find me and said, "Oh, that Daddy. He's such a wonderful guy."

Anything I do something nice to/for Ella, she rewards me with a compliment. "you're so adorable."

Ella, playing with my freshly washed/flat-ironed hair, with dark roots growing out.
"Your hair is black. Like a rain cloud."

Ella in the car: "I burp-did (burped)  Like Yakko."

We drove by a piece of land with hundreds of red and blue tiny flags (marking where underground cables were). Ella said, "look! A flag nation!"

Ella in nursery, "Mom! There's a boyfriend over here! You need to shoo him away!"

I said to Ella, "I need to find a recipe. Do you know what a recipe is?" "Yeah, it's when you get balloons and a big flagger nation."

and one more, from Kalia:
Annie was complaining that her throat hurt, so I told her we better have her take a vitamin to help. Kalia pipes up, "Which one, A or D?" She clearly knew a few things about vitamins thanks to her whole milk.

Check Up Stats

Ella's 3-year-old check up:
Weight: 34 lbs 8 oz, 75-90%
Height: 38.5", 75%
BMI: 16.4 70%

Aria's 1-year-old check up:
Weight: 21 lbs 6 oz, 50%
Height: 30.5" 75-90%
Head: 46 cm

April Update

Well, some things have happened around here. Samuel was supposed to graduate from nursing school in a few weeks. He has studied a LOT in this final semester (like probably about 40 hours a week). There is only one class, and it covered neurology, psychology, and med-surg. Oh, and there were two teachers- one nice one, and one super cranky one. He can retain information AMAZINGLY. If you start asking him medical stuff, he tells you stuff way over your head (not on purpose.) He is so smart, and he assumed that if he just studied his textbooks incessantly, that he would not have a problem passing the exams. This proved to be a fatal mistake.  All the studying and memorizing did not do him a whole lot of good, because he has not figured out HOW they TEST. It is NOT as simple as it is for regular classes (like things I took in college.) There is not only ONE right answer. There are usually multiple answers, and you have to be able to say which ones are the most important of all the right ones, without selecting any right ones. And it is kind of subjective, and Samuel has the trait of over-analyzing. He could talk himself right out of most of the right answers, based on other information he had studied that may or may not apply.

Long story short, he was 9 points shy of having a passing grade (on exams alone- other things didn't contribute to this grade) ( which by the way, needed to be a mid-C) to pass this final semester. It was a devastating blow to both of us. As he has struggled throughout this semester, only with the exams, we have prayed and fasted a lot, and also asked our parents to do the same. He still wasn't getting the results he needed. Finally, my mom, the woman of faith that she is, suggested that if we just got MORE people praying, then maybe we could bring about the miracle we needed- and if it DIDN'T happen, then we would know for sure that God had a very good reason and a different plan than what we had planned out.

Well, it's been two weeks now since he took the exam and we got the results. We've had a lot of people really reach out in love and support to us, and man, it has meant the world. We aren't sure exactly what happens next, we will know for sure by mid-May. He will repeat the semester, and if he's really lucky (blessed?) he will be able to get a coveted spot in the summer semester, which would have him graduating in July. If that doesn't happen, it will be December.

I had to come to grips with the fact that I was not going to be moving into my own place just yet. I felt like I was at the end of my rope with how much I could handle with living here. Not because I'm not getting along with my in-laws, but mostly because the constant stress and worry that I experience while living in these close-quarters with next-to-no privacy, it has really worn me down, and really made me feel quite anxious and irritable, and I was desperately hanging on for MAY- when he would be an RN and could get a job and we could finally FInally FINALLY get back to living a normal life, after all these years. You know, the kind that involves steady income.

When we didn't get what we wanted, it caused us to take a GOOD HARD look at areas of our life that might still need refining- areas that God probably wanted to to take notice of, and improve on. It was obvious to me what I needed to work on.  It's the same things- easy, basic, seminary answers, that I've needed to work on since I started having kids one after the other, and entered into Survival Mode- something that, it turns out, is kind of hard to get out of. I'm working on it now. I really want to start functioning at a higher level, and make God the most important thing in my life, even above my own family. Because He gives me everything I have, and He will make me a better mom, wife, sister, daughter, and friend, by getting into alignment with His Ways- and His Will.

At first I didn't know how I could handle any more time here. The sheer amount of people who come through this house, because of my very social and kind in-laws, has been one thing that has caused me the most stress. My kids and their messes are everywhere. People drop by and surprise us all the time. The bathroom that the six of us share is the "guest bath"- so anyone who might need to use the restroom while they are here, gets to see how well I am keeping it clean.  And with six people sharing it (four of them tiny and messy), it usually looks bad.

Well, I am trying not to dwell on the hard things. I've finally accepted that we are not leaving just yet, so I need to dwell more on all the things I will miss when I'm gone. So I started taking a few pictures of things when I thought of them.

I will miss how my in-laws, and especially my father-in-law, love to help with the baby. My sweet F.I.L. is constantly helping with her, picking her up and carrying her around, and outside to do yardwork with him, or just to the bedroom to play with Grandma, who absolutely adores her. (Aria really cheers her up too, which is needed as she is losing her vision due to health problems.)

I will miss this incredible garden that has been feeding us squash and zucchini, tender broccoli, (soon-to-be) tomatoes, green onions, and even artichokes. I will miss the fresh herbs growing out back- basil, cilantro, and  mint. How NICE is it to just go trim a little cilantro when you  need it? I never have that on hand when I need it.

I will miss this huge backyard. My kids love it. I love it. I love the big covered porch and the cute playhouse, and the big trampoline, and the privacy of the walls, and the grass. And I will miss the CITRUS trees!! I've been juicing all the fruit and we're drinking the amazing, delicious, juice.

I will miss how we can just put the kids to bed, and then slip out somewhere if we need to. Tonight we went on a mini-date, and Sam took me on his motorcycle, and we got frozen yogurt, and returned books to the library. 

I will miss how I can usually leave a sleeping baby home with someone, because I have to go pick up kids from school.

I will miss how my in-laws say, "We're going to Costco. Can we take the girls?"

I will miss my M.I.L's huge bathtub. 

I will miss my lazy mornings just hanging out with my girls- because I don't have much to clean here. I only have to keep ONE bathroom clean. ONE!!!

I will miss having my father-in-law pick up after us. That sounds bad, but he does it often, before we can get to it, and he always does it cheerfully, and is happy to help. These things lighten my (physical) load, even though my emotional load has been heavier.

I will miss our babysitters- we can go out to dinner with friends, and then go to a late movie (or two!) and stay out as late as we want, because we don't have to pay a babysitter, and they can also just go to bed when they're tired.

I'll miss having DVR and a huge flat screen TV. 

I'll miss all her cool kitchen gadgets. A Bosch mixer, a waffle iron, endless baking dishes and pots and pans and popcorn makers etc. I don't have stuff like that at the moment.

I'll miss the ward we are in. The people are such salt-of-the earth, good, happy, people.

I'll miss how we always had a second priesthood holder here, to assist immediately in priesthood blessings when one of our children fell ill.

I'll miss the neighbors and the fresh eggs they give me. I'll miss the dairy down the street that sells me raw milk. (only $10 a gallon. GASP! I've only bought it once. I might put Aria on it though.)

I'll miss the safety I feel every night when they lock up all the gates on the doors (and there's locked bars on the windows too). Ain'T NOBODY gettin' in here. If there was an emergency, we'd be lucky to get out.

I'll miss how, on Sundays when lots of family comes over for dinner, that I can just put my kids to bed whenever I feel like it, rather than feeling like I have to keep them up late because dinner got started so late.


Wow! Look how long my list is! This has been good therapy. Anyone reading this might wonder how I could want to leave. haha! My kids have absolutely loved it here. My husband has loved having his parents around (for social reasons.) His only struggle has been to see me struggle. But anyway, we are meant to leave our parents and cleave to each other, and so soon we will be able to move on. I hope, if anything, this has taught us how to be on each other's team. It's kind of important, and it takes work sometimes.

Well, there's one more piece of good news, I almost forgot. Yesterday Samuel was offered a really great job as an LPN, at a prison in Florence (about 40 minutes away.) It will be full-time for now. He has had a hard time getting any LPN job and yet this one is probably the highest paying one he could get. It's the beginning of a new life for us. We will stay here probably throughout the summer while he works, and he will continue to work (at least 1 day a week- full time is 36 hours a week, 3 x 12 hour shifts), and if he can manage working full-time and repeating a full-time semester, then we will save up a bit, and then move into our very own RENTAL HOUSE. I almost can't remember what it's like to have a budget, pay bills, and have a cleaning schedule.

I don't know where we'll go. The further from the "city" that we go, the cheaper the housing gets. We will pray about it.

And that's all for now.

March Update

Making a Comeback

A friend of mine asked me the other day if I'm still blogging. The answer is yes. And no. As in, I haven't been blogging in the last three months, mostly because I haven't had time. I've taken up a new hobby that I absolutely LOVE, and when I have spare time, I usually default to that. What is it?

FAMILY HISTORY.

Oh my word, I never thought I'd be obsessed with it, but I was made for family history research, it's ten thousand mysteries that need to be solved if someone will just dig deeper into it and find the answers! It is so rewarding, and addicting. One night I fell asleep really early (8 p.m) and then woke up at midnight to brush my teeth and take out my contacts. Just like always (whenever this happens) I was completely unable to go back to sleep, because my body was like, "4 hours of sleep is enough!" (Booooooooo.)  Well normally I would toss and turn trying to get back to sleep, but this time I just grabbed my computer and continued my work on familysearch.org.  At 3:30 a.m. I told myself, "I'll stop at 4 o'clock and go back to bed) (I had to wake up at 7:15 to get my girls ready for school.)
Well, 4 came and went, and I found a few new family members, and I couldn't stop there! I actually didn't go to bed until 6 a.m. that day. It was awesome. And awful, because something shouldn't be able to take over me like that, but whatever, it was new and exciting, and I knew I could turn it down a notch.

As of today, Samuel (who did some research on his line as well) took 18 names to the brand new Gilbert temple and did their baptisms and confirmations.  Samuel had a cool experience where he felt that someone in particular needed their work done (out of all the people he was working on) so we knelt down and prayed about it, and he got up and said, "Who's Thomas?" I reminded him that there were several, so we looked at all of them, and found one, a brother of his great-great-great-grandmother, who we had not reserved the work for. We hadn't been able to reserve it because someone ELSE had already reserved them. He insisted we look further, and we discovered that this person had put these names on reserve in 2008!! SIX years ago! Preventing anyone else from doing anything about it. So we contacted that person, and several weeks went by, and she finally responded and said she had no recollection of putting them on reserve, and we were free to take them. We had to figure out how to instruct her to release them, but once we did, we went to the temple that week. By far, out of the 18 names, there was a special spirit and feeling when I saw him baptized and confirmed for Thomas Dawson. It was amazing. We can't wait to keep going with the work for these ancestors.

Anyway, I have been thinking about my blog almost every day. I want to get the last few years published into another blog book, and I am sad that I am not keeping a record of my life at this busy and exhausting time of my life.

Part of what's holding me back is that I'm really struggling here with my in-laws. They are wonderful and kind and patient. But we have been here 9 months and I am dying to be on our own. I am afraid to write my true, raw, feelings, because the last time I just laid it out like that, Samuel's cousin (who sadly, is no longer allowed to read this blog, for this very reason, although I still love her to death) took my blog post, shared it with some people who I was struggling with, and the crap HIT THE FAN!! They were all so offended and judgmental, even though they were never supposed to know of the struggle (because I had overcome it and was feeling much better, but it didn't matter.) There has been so much trouble and drama in Samuel's family TO THIS DAY (this was over a year ago) because of that post. I have re-read it many times and do not think I was mean or ungrateful, but someone else interpreted it that way, and gossiped about it, and it has caused some major problems.

So now, I am here and continue to be tested and refined and want to just pour out my soul for the sheer sake of getting it off my chest, but I have some fears and anxieties now about the possible repercussions of that. I will probably just try to do it more carefully, because truthfully, I desperately need some emotional support from people who understand and can empathize. Samuel is completely unable to process the idea that I would be having a hard time here. It is odd. He keeps thinking he can "talk me out" of my feelings of being smothered, "watched" constantly, and doesn't understand that I am worried every minute of every day about being here. I am trying SO hard to be thankful for all the great blessings:  A free place to live, a very small space to have to clean, more help with the kids, lots of free babysitting, and the opportunity to not have to work and put my kids in daycare. BUT, they can't outweigh the stress I feel being here. My in-laws are both home ALL day, and do not leave very often. They have lots of people over to the house. My introverted personality struggles with the constant conversation and cheerfulness that I am supposed to engage in. If I'm sad or frustrated or angry at anyone, my in-laws see it, and assume it's directed at them. Our bedrooms are right next to each other. I don't feel like we have any privacy. My father-in-law has already seen me once in nothing but garments at 5 a.m. when I tried to sneak to the fridge to get a bottle for Aria. Another time, Ella barged right in the bathroom while I was taking a quick potty break, and her timing was impeccable- my father-in-law JUST HAPPENED to walk down the hall exactly at that second and saw me sitting there.  AWKWARD.  When I tell Sam that these things are hard for me, he says stuff like, "Well why didn't you lock the door?" At least he hasn't seen me naked. But anyway, I feel constantly overloaded with too many people, sounds, smells, and worries. And so I'm just struggling to keep my head above water. We are close to the end. Samuel takes his final exam (comprehensive final, covering all two years of material) and he is stressed. SO AM I!! If he doesn't do really well, he could fall below the 76% passing requirement, and he will have to repeat the entire semester, and he won't graduate in May like he's supposed to. Any fasting or prayers would be MUCH appreciated in his behalf. I'm praying so hard that he can graduate on time. He probably gets less than half of the study time that his fellow students get, and they are always telling me they don't know how he is even surviving and passing each semester. It's so hard! I am amazed, and will never look at a nurse the same. They have to be extrememely intelligent individuals.

That's all the time I have for now. I hope to be writing more frequently!!

Here's the Latest

Aria- almost 10 months old, starting to take steps on her own, the same age as Annie was. Tonight she took about 4 steps, walking to Annie. Kalia and Annie LOVE seeing Aria's new tricks) She plays patty-cake and says "Da-da" a lot, also regularly says a word that sounds like "eat" (I've been trying to get her to sign it.) Her first word was technically "Ella", sounds more like "Eh-ya" but she says it pretty clearly and mimics almost anyone who says it. 
Actually, she mimics the girls all the time, especially when they are trying to get her to do it, and they say "yi-yi-yi-yi-yi". Then they all go dead silent, there's a pause, and then she pipes up: "Yi-yi-yi-yi-yi!" It's adorable and the girls totally get a kick out of it. Oh yeah, she also says "Hi" but not particularly when she waves. Still worth noting. She is such a fun age. She is also obsessed with getting into the cupboards lately, and does it on a regular basis. Oh yeah, and she does this funny thing, when she sees me sweeping the kitchen floor (which almost ALWAYS is because I'm trying to get all the stuff off the floor that will bother her tummy when she shoves it in her mouth), and she makes a beeline for my pile of stuff, and I have to rush to sweep it into a dustpan and get it in the trash. She knows where to find the goods. She just started blowing bubbles when she drinks water out of a cup. She can also drink out of a straw, thanks to the baby foods in a little squeeze packet. If I give her one of those, she'll just suck that thing dry, which is great, because I feel bad wasting the food that's left in the little packet.  She waves hi and bye to people, and she LOVES to be outside. She can crawl around and eat dirt and gnaw on rocks and explore the outdoors all day long. She loves being on the trampoline with anyone who will bounce her (not too high of course). She wakes up at least once in the middle of the night for a bottle, but because we live with the in-laws, we just put up with the night time waking (and take turns doing it. We are tired. No doubt about it.She then wakes up around 7 a.m., naps twice during the day, and eats gluten-free animal crackers, rice krispies (only once a week, still a little sensitive to rice) and then we have to rotate her solids so she doesn't react to them. These are in her rotation:
Green beans, peas, mango, cauliflower, avocado, sweet potato, and squash. I gave her freeze-dried blueberries one day and she devoured them and loved them. They need to be tested one more time to make sure they are okay. She had a bad reaction to something 3 days later and I need to rule out the blueberries as the cause.  I'm still trying to get her to sign "more" and "drink" but so far she only signs milk, and that's okay.She screams a lot (more like squeals/screeches) to try to let us know what she wants and doesn't want, but we are teaching her not to use that as a form of communication. I tell her over and over, "Don't scream." It's starting to get better. *Update: Yesterday she turned 11 months old. She is talking quite a bit and now says about 8 words. The one she says most is 'Hi." She says it all day to everyone.)
She got sick for the first time when she was 9 months old. It started with a fever one night, but she still slept okay, and seemed fine the next day. Then at bed-time, the fever was back, and was really hot. 103.6.  I kept her in bed next to me all night, rubbing peppermint/coconut oil on her to bring the fever down. When I couldn't stay awake any longer, I finally gave in and gave her ibuprofen. I've read that if you can hold off on the drugs, the sickness will go away much faster, because the immune system is burning it away with that fever. Anyway, the next day she wasn't feeling well, but no fever. Then that night, it came back again! Not as high, and we made it through another night without drugs. The 4th day she was okay but had the pinprick red dots ALL over her trunk, and I was relieved, because I knew it was a viral rash, and that it was a good sign that the virus was probably almost (or already) dead. It looked just like the pics online of Roseola, so I'm pretty sure that's what it was. She really seems to have a strong immune system. The kids have brought home colds, coughs, and the stomach flu, which spread to the family, but she never got it. She gets a little runny nose, or sometimes a majorly runny nose, but I put lots of essential oils on her feet, and it goes away in a few days. I'm so very thankful for that. Goat's milk is low in vitamin C, so I was kind of expecting her to get sick a lot. 

Ella is my little buddy, obviously because we are together allllllll day. That one hasn't napped for a year, and also doesn't take a "rest time"- which was mandatory for Kalia and Annie. Ella is pretty good at playing alone (some of the time, depending on her mood.) One day I went looking for her and she was outside in the playhouse, arranging a plant. She told me to "sit down right there" (on the little bench outside her window) because she had made me "Chicken Soup."  Totally made me smile. I love that she just went out and was playing on her own. I have a few memories of doing that. Other times of the day, she wants and needs my FULL attention.  She tells me what to call her (lately it's Aria,  or Elsa (from the Disney movie Frozen). She also likes to tell me what to say. For example, she comes up to me, hiding her blanket behind her back, and says, "You say, 'where is your blankie?'" And after I say that, she answers, and then tells me again what else to say.   She's a good girl. She's been a little "off" this last week, in that she's been a bit pale, a bit grumpy, hasn't had a very good appetite, and also had a slight rash on her face from something she ate. She has been downright rude to her Nana and Papa, when they try to be nice at her, like, she yells at them. She has also thrown two big tantrums, which is new for her; in the second tantrum of the week, she got hysterically angry over something, I wasn't sure what, but she screamed for about 15 minutes in her room, and since she was right where I'd prefer her to be when throwing a tantrum, I just let her get it all out (hoping that maybe she'd actually fall asleep and take a little nap.) When it finally got quite, I was sure she was asleep, but after a few more minutes, she came walking all out, happy, as if nothing happened. I was surprised, and after a bit I asked her why she had been screaming. She casually answered, "because I didn't want you to go potty." (I had just used the bathroom right as the tantrum started, so it all made sense...kind of). But Whaaaat? She threw a tantrum over that?? Weirdo. haha. I have heard of the terrible 3's.  Her birthday is in 5 weeks. Maybe that's what's going on. (Update: one week later, she's back to her normal self. Whew!) She doesn't seem to have many food allergies left, just a sensitivity to peanuts and a few other mysterious things that I can't pin down. She really only likes a few foods: Peas, Peanut butter (will eat it out of the jar with a spoon if she can get away with it) nuts like peanuts and cashews (I switched them out to help with her rash, and she didn't really know the difference). She loves eggs, "runny" or scrambled, and usually asks for them every day. And she LOVES vanilla yogurt, mostly I think because I let her add sprinkles to it. She also likes rice, beef, cold cereal (Rice Krispies/Cheerios being about the only kinds) and she also likes chocolate chips. She has been drinking almond milk, mostly right before bed, warmed up (fine, I admit it, in a bottle. It gets taken away by the bottle fairy at age 3, so in 5 weeks.) And I have been slowly transitioning her to cow milk. Tonight she drank a full bottle of warmed (RAW) cow milk , full of amazing enzymes and good bacteria. *Only $10/gallon.  Probably won't be a regular thing but I am on a super healthy diet right now and can only have homemade yogurt, preferably from raw milk. But I digress.
Sometimes I see Ella plug her ears when things get loud or overwhelming. So when she's really cranky, I can usually assume overstimulation has something to do with it. She is still the most polite two-year old I know, usually thanking me frequently throughout the day, and with reminders, asks for things, "Please may I..." If I'm home, she likes to stay with me, and if I'm going somewhere, she likes to go. She LOVES to buckle things like carseat buckles and grocery cart buckles, and insists on doing it herself. She runs around naked quite constantly and we are always trying to at least get her to put on underwear. Her curly hair is usually tangled in the back and she screams bloody murder when I comb it in any way. So sometimes I just let her go out to the store or wherever, with semi-tangled hair. It's just not worth the fight. She is pretty happy about watching Animaniacs cartoons, one of my favorite shows from my childhood. I brought it home from the library, and all 3 girls can't get enough. Ella frequently tells me (and everyone else) that she is a GROWN UP.
Ella also got to tour the Gilbert temple (twice) and was so cute, saying she was going there to get married. To who, we asked? "The Prince!" she squealed. After the tour (the first time) she seemed pretty down in the dumps. We thinks he was bummed that there was no prince to marry. At least not yet. :)

February 2014

Joy school and Kindergarten graduation

December 2013