Elana is 28months.
She's grown so much in the last few weeks. A few days ago she simultaniously discovered her ride on truck, her baby doll, stuffed toys and chocolate.
She's mad about trains. We bought her a wooden trainset from Ikea and we're collecting the Thomas the Tank Engine wooden trains. So far we have Percey, Daisy and Emily and Thomas, James & Toby are on lay-by. Next up are the classic engines Gordon, Henry and Edward and the other girl trains Lady, Mavis & Molly.
She plays trains all day (off & on) and she goes to Micah & Calebs house to play trains with or without them. They have a big table with lots of track and she'll take her trains over and they'll all play together (or not)
She's always been mad about her stroller. But recently she's discovered her "Baby" (it's a newborn type doll) and Baby now goes everywhere the stroller does. Baby shares Elana's sandwiches tiny teddies and yoghurt and drinks Elana's water. We found the couched soaked the other day because Elana had given "Baby drink water"
Baby also gets dressed and undressed regularly and has nappy changes. Baby doesn't yet come shopping but it's only a matter of time since Baby did go to Gran & Pops house and Auntie Dots house, and always comes to play trains at Rins.
Baby plays trains at home too.
Baby's name is only baby.
She has however named other things. Her blue & green giraffe is Tim. Her brown rabbit she got from the easter bunny is Nathan. Her pink bunny she got from Rin for easter is Maisy and her stuffed cow is Daisy.
(Nathan & Tim are human members of Hi-5, Maisy is a mouse & Daisy is the cow on New MacDonalds Farm)
She also has a doll called Rosie (came named) and a doll called Dora (Nanna named nothing to do with Dora the explorer who DD and mum have never heard of) everything else is unnamed.
She's currently obsessed with the Hi-5 dance Hits dvd vol 1. She will choose to watch this over anything, so I went to buy her volume 2 or 3 the other day and she was all for it until we found Charlie & Lola and then Charlie & Lola was disguarded for Thomas the Tank Engine. We went home with Season 1 of Thomas the Tank Engine (the Ringo Starr episodes) and she's watched it once the rest of the time we've watched yes Hi-5 dance Hits.
Elana got a ride on truck for her first birthday. It came with a rocking stand so it could be a rocker, but we didn't use that much and Elana never really got the hang of riding it - she had alot of trouble getting on and off it and so just used to push it around. But in the last week she's been getting on it and off it herself and riding it all over our back patio. She gets up in the morning and says "outside truck, too cold" because we'd always tell her it was too cold to go out so she'd go and get her dressing gown slippers and beanie and ask again. She even tries to put Baby on with her so they can both ride, but it doesn't work and Baby gets put back in the stroller/chair.
She loves to Sing. She'll often just sing or hum to herself just playing outside and in the morning waiting to get up or at night when she hasn't fallen asleep.
She says hello and goodbye to everything. Hello is like a thing she says over and over again when she's excited. Like if she asked you to sit down and play trains with her and you do she just gets so excited that she'll say hello 12 times. She says Goodbye at the end of every tv program/video she watches. Bye Banana's, Bye Wiggles, Bye Hi-5...
She says goodbye to family members long after they've gone. A few weeks ago we were at Gran & Pops and Grandma was there but she was going to church with Rick so he came to pick her up and for an hour after they left Elana was stiill saying "Bye Unca Ricky, Bye Ganma, Unca Ricky red car"
Just yesterday we went to lunch at Dot & Owens house and 40minutes into the drive home she pipes in with "Bye Ganma, Bye Auntie Dot, Bye Unca Owie, Bye Jett (cousin Ged) Bye Unca Ricky, etc etc until she'd named everyone that was at lunch including her dad and his siblings who had gone in a different car to us (Elana & I went with Nick's parents and Nick went with his brother)
She's a very polite child Peese, bankoom, wehcom, sorry, ha good day? you good? excellent? escoose me?
If she wants something say water she'll say "Peesa max n mimi water? Bankoom, wehcom"(please can I have water in my mix & milly cup, Thankyou, you're welcome)
Or if we're playing trains and she gives me one she says bankoom welcome to me.
The other day when she was holding a football and Caleb knocked it out of her hands, he got in trouble and had to apologise to her so he hugged her she was confused and I told her that Caleb was just saying Sorry to you for hitting the ball out of your hands and she looked sad picked up the ball and said "Sorry Borr"
She also always rewards herself eg watching Banana's in Pyjamas earlier she said "Teddies asleep" I said The teddies are asleep and she said "good girl"
And reprimands herself, "no nah-nah, nahnah norty"
She's not impressed when Nick goes to work. He'll come home and she'll say "bye work, bye train bye sersisses" (Elana tells me 15 times a day that Daddy went on a train to work and that he sells services he's a consultant)
And every morning when we get up she says to him "Bye work" hoping it's the weekend.
She's still afraid of the vacuum cleaner so I have to do it when she's playing at Rin's, outside with Daddy or down for a nap. Not asleep but that part between when I put her down and she goes to sleep or the time when she wakes up and I actually go and get her.
So today I had great plans to vacuum just after I put her down, minutes earlier she was telling me "No, soon sleep" (everything lately has been soon, "soon sleep" "soon teeth" "soon bed" "soon jarmies" "soon bath" "soon dinna") and I said no Now sleep, she didn't fuss but she did say soon sleep a few more times. I put her into bed turned on the aquarium closed the door came downstairs went to the the bathroom, heard her turn off the music, came up the stairs to check on her and she was asleep.
I vacuumed when I heard her wake up "Mummy mummy where are you Mummy" I went into her and she said "All done, bacoom binished" (just now and hour & a half later she said it again Bacoom binished)
She can count to 13 miss 14 & 15 and then count up to 20 ..12,13, 16 ,16, 16, 17,18,19, twinsty
And she only skips http://trina-p.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=103872">Link N now A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y n Zed
I forgot why I started to write this - I had a story but I've forgotten what it was.
P.S - It's been 2 years since I joined JU on 22nd April 2004.