February

It's officially March, hallelujah....one step closer to Spring.

This month flew by!  You've already read about our Valentine's Day, and welcoming Charlie to the family (by far the highlight of the month year!) so here is how we spent the rest of the month...warning we were a tad boring.

 

I had a huge Cracker Barrel craving when I was pregnant with Elle, as in I wanted it every single day.  The amount of times my mom and sister went to Cracker Barrel is proof of how amazing they are!  One weekend this month when Eric was out of town (Vegas for a Bachelor party, no fair!) Elle and I went with Mary, Henry and my mom.  Elle LOVED it.  She ate until she couldn't possibly eat another bite.  And when her food was gone she just moved right along to Mary's plate and grabbed as much as she could (all of it).  Mac & Cheese, cornbread, mashed potatoes...nothing in her sight was safe.  Now we know she was the root of the CB craving, mystery solved.  Oddly enough Eric hates CB so I love how much Elle loves it!

Elle has started wearing her hair in pigtails more.  For about 2 days Henry wanted "ponies" like Elle had.  These 2 are a crazy bunch!  Notice how Elle puts her lovey around her neck so Henry used a kitchen towl to imitate the look.  My mom has her hands full with these two.

I know I'm biased but Elle is such a smart girl!  I ask her to show me where her eyes, fingers, toes, belly, ears, nose, etc. are and some days out of nowhere she knows a new body part.  Like her back, who taught you that little girl?!  The other day Eric and I were talking at lunch, he was saying something about going back somewhere.  Elle heard him and kept saying "back" and pointing to her back.  Elle now also knows where her teeth and tongue are.  She's pretty much a genius. ;)

 

Dancing at Grammy's house

Elle has started calling Vito & Hermann "pup pup" more instead of "abba".  Is it weird that is makes me a little sad that "abba" is being used less and less.  She says "Mermann" a lot but we are still working on Vito.  I've heard it, but only once.  She still tells them "no" all. the. time.

Speaking of "pup pups" our Hermann the Mermann celebrated a birthday in February.  Hard to believe our Merms is 8 years old, he doesn't look (or act) a day over 2. :)

For the Super Bowl this year we went to my parents house and vegged out.  We ate, the kiddos played and Elle and Unc did some dancing during Bruno Mars halftime show.

Elle has started brushing her teeth (all 7 of them!).  She loves loves loves brushing her teeth and asks to do it about 10 times a day.  It helps that I bought Elmo toothpaste. :)  I let her brush on her own and then try to wrangle the toothbrush out of her hands so I can brush her little teeth and then she gets the toothbrush back for some more chewing. :)

 

Her Elmo obsession hit an all time high this month.  One day I randomly started playing Elmo videos for her on the iPad and she instantly became addicted.  We tried to only allow Elmo videos before a nap or bedtime because it's all she wanted to do!  Elmo songs filled my head the entire month of February.  A few of her favorites are Elmo's Ducks, A Song About Elmo and What I Am.  I think I know all the words to each of these songs plus about 10 more that are in our normal rotation.  Although she is now getting to the point of watching them so many times that she wants new ones so we are always searching for new Elmo videos.

Elle was able to convince my mom to let her try using the potty one day.  It had nothing to do with the fact that she wanted to be a big girl and use the potty and everything to do with the fact that it's an Elmo potty.

Since Charlie was born Elle has taken a huge interest in babies.  She loves to swaddle her Cabbage Patch Doll in a blanket and hold her and gently tap her on the back with her little fingers.  She will lay her down in her circus tent or sometimes we put her doll in her crib to nap.  My mom asked Elle the other day what her baby's name is and Elle replied, "Paw Paw". :)  I just can't get enough of this sweet girl.