Ellia's interests heading into 4

I updated this wish website. Family & friends are gracious enough to ask advice on what toys, etc Ellia or Claira are into as birthday's and holidays approach.
Ellia is interested in: baseball/sports, books, dollhouses, pretend play cooking, singing, dancing, musical instruments, Dr. Seuss books, bugs, science, art.
Ellia is not too interested in: Princesses, dress up, board games.

http://www.wishcentral.com/guest.php?AOBGkptZWNPdg=10242

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Cool Mothering Pics!

This photo caught my eye on the side of a web page I was on. It was part of some advertisement. I wish I could find a larger version of it. It's so amazing! Hey, maybe the women of the future will be walking-on-air out of their first ultra-sound appointment, gazing at their baby's first photo.

And from future predictions of motherhood...to past depictions of motherhood. I love love love old photographs just as much as I wistfully think of what the far-away future holds & that I could live to see it. I found this photo on a site that has tons of antique photos of days long ago...of people who also might have dreamed of what 2010 might've looked like. This photo struck me as so timeless: the look of joy on the mother's face. And the amazingly pimped out Original Baby Bjourn!

The "Ladybug Bush" lives on

Outside our previous home, Ellia and I would frequently stop by the "Ladybug Bush" as I called it. We would look for any ladybugs and talk about what they might be doing...a lot of times they were not out because they were either inside the bush sleeping or they were having a party.
Outside our current home, we have another Ladybug bush and now that it's summer we see 1 or 2. Ellia is handing down the tradition to Claira. Claira now stops by the bush and crouches down & points (to nothing) in her imitation of Ellia.

Raise Kids Here

The "Wonder Years" could be stuffed with so much more magical childhood meanderings, bewilderment & dreams...when given spaces that have more than enough room for it all.

What Claira likes & what we like about Claira!

Daddy took this angelic photo. All of us, even her daycare teachers, hope the day never comes when that belly of hers goes away. But, of course, it will (even now, Ellia has at LEAST an 8 pack ab going on)

Claira actually likes wearing sunglasses! She's starting to show a leaning towards being girly and fru-fru...flashes a smile & does a wobbly spin when I put a dress or skirt on her. And even though I have yet to find a pair of sunglasses that don't either fold her ears down or sit on the tip of her nose...she's likin' it!

Of course Claira took to the water like anything else in her little life: "LET ME AT IT!" It's like a circuit training workout with her in the pool: Steps, BoogieBoard, Holding, Fall into Arms, Innertube, Repeat.

And here we have a typical heart attack moment for Mom. One minute she's just hanging out then-Wham! she's scaling something and making a run for it.

Lovin' Books

Claira really, really is lovin' books right now. (And puzzles for that matter) She can sit alone off by herself for quite a long time...picks out a book, backs herself up to the perfect sitting spot, flips back and forth through the pages, ALWAYS flips the book upside down for some reason, pretends to read, then flings the book over her shoulder and bounces over to get another one.

I absolutely love this smile on Ellia. It's a rare shot & such a pure smile. Usually if the camera is out then she's aware of it...which makes for the goofy, squirmy looks typically seen on these pages. Here she's in Claira's room embracing her inner Virgo tendencies. She arranged all of the plushie blocks on the shelf to fit together like a rubix cube. It actually looked really nice...just didn't last long.