I'm a Genius!

Ok, so mama is kinda freakin out about how smart I am. I now speak in complete sentences...some of the time. I say--I want nana to hold me and where did my papa go and mama, i want a snack. much of the time i just scream i want mommy or i want papa...i am going through a little separation anxiety. but here is why mama is super excited. the neighbors gve us a piano, a real one, a stand up. we moved it in last night and i went right to work figuring it out. i play with two hands, and i put on a concert for papa and grandpops last night, i played the piano and sung. i call it the "nano"....video to come! between that, my guitar and my drums, mama is thinking i might just be a rock star after all (but she of course, will let me choose my own path). i also now (a little late) have learned the song jingle bells...I say jingle bells, all the way...i like it because the song talks about horseys...i cannot decide if the horsey or the cow is my favorite animal....much love!

It is still Christmas to me!

i love my uncle michael
nana made me a scarf!
goin sleddin with my pals

me and calib and nana
mama is super excited to finally own some cats gear!
i got the beat


my super cool workbench

Christmas was awesome! I said "cool" so many times. I am so grateful for everything I got, thank you! I LOVED my tool bench from GramB and GrampC, I am obsessed with it and it keeps me busy. I cannot stop carrying around my Calib Rudolfo, my new Latino cabbage patch kid doll. I have to have him to sleep and I am very good at giving him a bottle and my auntie emma is teaching me how to make him breakdance on his head. I got the COOLEST drum in the world and I make some mad music on it...emma, mama and i had a drum circle and I can keep a serious beat...It is great!!! it is going into my music room. I am getting a piano this week. it needs some repair, but it is FREE! I was at the caroling party and i played rita's piano and i used 2 hands and multiple fingers on each hand and everyone was very impressed, so mama is very excited to get me a piano! I got some very cool books and t-shirts and a monkey hat and i got a stuffed eagle from my gigi--it is awesome--it even has talons! It was from Alaska. I am still trying to figure out how to work my dreamcatcher because I got bad dreams last night, but I love it and it is very pretty. I got a train set that is awesome and i love to push my trains around! and I got this magnetic set of my name letters and I am having a blast with those! And, I got a few donations to the Ellis Hayes fund, which is awesome, cause now you all have helped boost up my college account (although papa is hopeful college will be free by then, in which case it will help pay for my wedding or something)! Thank you all, and to those that could not be here or we could not be there with, all our love and we missed you bunches. Merry Christmas!!!!

Holiday parties galore

us with the fire trucks

getting ready to go at rita's

the birthing group...now toddler group

me and my friends! from left to right--me, ezra, boris, jay, maya and henry

it has been a very busy holiday season...we have had several parties at our house and gone to several more. my favorite was when all the birthing group came over to play. we had sooo much fun. i also went caroling on sunday. i love to sing falalala--i clapped a lot and the best part, and i am still talking about it...is the FIRETRUCK. we sang to the firefighters and they let us climb on their truck...it was so neat! We also recently found out that mama and papa's friends eliz and doug and chris and lori are both expecting at the same time--so we are very excited for them...2 new little friends for me to play with. and no, mama says this is NOT inspiring her to want to make me a little brother or sister. we are super excited for the whole hayes clan to come visit this week and are very sad we will not see the crawford clan or GG or any of the other relatives. life is good, we are happy. oh, and mama decided to hobble me instead of get me a big boy bed, so my very own little sleeping bag is in the mail...which she hopes will prevent me from throwing my leg up over the crib. Oh....and the biggest news...I am pretty regularly going on the potty. I am not telling people I need to go very much, but I go pee-pee on it before bathtime and sometimes I sit on it because mama puts me on it, and i pee then. And at Miss Franny's house I have gone pooh on the potty 2 days in a row. Mama and papa are not actively potty training me because I cannot pull up my own pants, but it is nice to be trying and collecting lots of stickers because of it!

big boy bed

i did it, i finally did it--i was able to throw 1 leg over the top of my crib--i am on my way to getting out of that thing. mama is super freaked out, because it is a loooooooonnnng way down from up there. she caught me in the act. this means i get to move up into a big boy bed this week or weekend....before i try to climb out again and hurt myself. she has been doing lots of research online about whether to move me to a toddler bed, a twin or a full....given my room size, a full is not really an option...so i am getting a twin bed, i think with some storage underneath. mama wants to redo my whole room when she is at it...since she decorated before she knew if i was a boy or a girl. i am going to keep my jungle them, just make it a little more boyish....maybe paint a dark blue stripe around the room....maybe when nana, auntie emma and auntie gina are out here they can help mama pick out paint colors...and maybe we could even have a redecorate ellis's room party....(if they are up for it).

ellis meets santa

i loved the singers
lyla and i were dancing to the singers
i loved horses
me n henry
i was ok with santa when mama held me (this is the professional picture mama got suckered into buying)
but i was not ok when he tried to hold me
ready to go, riding bikes on snowy roads
look at my eyes, i am seeing santa for the first time
i am really cute
i wanted crayons
i am a ham, this is the hat they put on me when i was born
stop taking my picture mom
we went to the downtown kids kristmas yesterday with all my friends. we rode a big carrige ride pulled by huge clydesdales--i loved the horses. i also met santa--he freaked me out==with mama i was ok, but when he tried to hold me i freaked out. we had a lot of fun. i danced to carolers, joy to the world was my favorite--my friend lyla danced with me. mama and papa are having a party for ihs work friends today, so mama said i have to get off the computer to get ready.

oh and by the way, we have over a foot of snow this morning.

Ellis gets his first haircut

look at my beautiful curls

the predusk thanksgiving snack table
frying turkeys...all of the kids wanted to be near the fryer....
jack and daisy's new yard

I went to my friend Sonja's 3rd birthday party this weekend. her great grandpa called me a pretty princess. i mean, I was there with all the ladies, and he was a bit on the aged side, so maybe he could not see that i was wearing blue everything and black shoes--not a drop of pink, except for my kitty ears that sonja made me....so mama and papa figured it was finally time to do the deed....plus my hair was starting to get caught on stuff....so here is documentation of the whole event...with before and after pics. papa says mama scapled me on one side and it looks funny, but i think she did great given that i wuold not sit still

also, on another front, i am very aggressive...i like to pinch, kick, bite, scratch...so I spend a lot of time in time out and mama and papa are working very hard with me to change this.

I like to sit on my new potty with my clothes on...and i say i have to poop, but then i wont actually go on the potty....but mama and papa are not ready to potty train me yet, so its ok.

for thanksgiving we went to the neighbors, the chiani's...with the beals and the brown-yates' and it was so fun, we had baked turkey, fried turky, smoked pork loin...tons of delicious veggies and digs and stuffings and of course, the perfect compliment of papa's ale. all of the kids and me played like crazy. leo took his pants off and refused to put them back on and it was funny...he is only 2.5....we wished we had been with family, but this was very nice too.

we are sooo looking forward to christmas and the whole hayes clan comin gout...i have not seen everyone in soo long they are not going to believe it is me. i am a little sad (and so is mama) that i will nto get to see the other uncle mike or gramb or grampc...

lotsa love to all

i love cows

We have been having lots of outings with the alley folks this week. Miss Teresa had us over for Mr. Jim's birthday and we played like crazy kids. Then today we went back over there for a taco lunch (I like tacos) and then we went to Blake's house for cake cause he turned 4. I am a total ham for the camera these days and love to say cheese. I am not so good right now though with agressiveness. I am fine with other kids, but with mama and papa I like to pinch, hit scratch and bite. They are worried because they don't know where it is coming from--but they read their books and it all says it is normal--but they do not like it and I am spending an inordinate amount of time in :time out: as a result. i love to say excuse me these days--I will stand in your way and then say excuse me adn ask you to move. I love to kick my soccer ball while saying kick and then scream GOAL and run around clapping. I am still a little stinker and cannot quite grasp the concept that I am not allowed to stand on the couch, despite the fact I fell of it backwards the other day because of it. i also fell down the short steps into the playroom at daycare. well, i did not really fall. sonja pushed me for no reason--but we were all ok. mama is just very glad it was not the big staircase. I went to the Windsor Dairy with my friend Tessa and her family--we saw cows, chickens, goats and sheep. The cows got milked and got milk when I was there. I saw a 1 month old baby cow get a bottle. then one of the 3 month old cows chewed the collar off of one of the other little cows and it ran around all crazy, and it was very funny. I said moo for many hours that night and into today. love to all.

More snow and getting to be soo big

i love the mando
mas snow
my monkey and me like to jump
and hug
i love to sit in the chair like a big boy, and i love the sweater that gg knitted me

I can now ask "help me" and say please and thank you and excuse me. I constantly push the limits with jumping on the couch, so mama and papa got me a trampoline, which i like, but i bit the handlebar foam the first time i got on it. i say "i shared" and smile real big. i am in a bad habit of waking up at 11:30 and 2:30, but have pushed back my am wake-up time till 6 now, which mama and papa are most grateful for....5 am was just to early.

21 inches of snow! And Gram-b (now BB) and Gramp C visit!

day 1 of snowing

we really were not making music, more like chaos
at this point i was DONE with pictures

i know whats up

the alley crew...

the guy gang




my first pumpkin with mama
i was a great big helper

mama went to portland the day nana left and papa and i were all alone for a day before the big snow came. gramb and grampc were lucky to get in that morning, and in th eend the news said we got 21 inches of snow, in a totally unpredicted storm. mama was in portland where it was surprisingly sunny and warm. i decided to start calling gramb "bb" for a while. we had a good visit, but what we could do was kinda limited, so we hung out at home a lot. on halloween though we had a great alley party and i was a trickertreating rockstar. i knocked on doors, i said tick-er-deet, i grabbed fistfuls of candy and stuffed them in my bag--i was like a pro at this, mama was super surprised to see how good at it i was...but i learned from my neighbors pretty quickly. i have not tried a single peice of candy yet though...mama and papa hid it somewhere, and i know they are secretly eating it. i have all kinds of words and am veyr good at telling you when i poop and pee. i like to lay down for my afternoon nap, get real relaxed, and then drop a big bomb in my pants right before i fall asleep...but then it is hard to sleep, so i have to call for someone to change me so i can get comfortable again, and since they ignore me when i cry, i had to learn to say, "i pooped" then they come in. i ask to go potty, bu tmost of the time i just sit there. i love to brush my teeth--i say "brush teeth" about 10 x a day and run to my sink, climb on my stool and brush them. i can count to three on my own, but mainly that is cause mama is always warning me with "1.....2....3" so I started saying 2 and 3, forgetting all about 1, and well, i think i get it now....i love to dance and play my guitar. i love to play catch me if you can. mama would try to describe my vocabulary, but it would take a long time, so let's just say if you listen hard enough, i can say just about anything you want. and guess what, i am only 17 months old. i am cute as ever and am geting to be really fun, but also into my terrible two's a little early. love to all...and thanks again to both nana and the crawford grandparents for coming and hanging out with me, it was AWESOME!