questions and answers.

the other day after ella woke up from her nap she asked me, "did you have a dream?" which is how she tells me that i should ask her "did you have a dream?" she said "yeah." i said "what was your dream about?" and she said "milk." which was very specific, so i'm pretty sure she really did have a dream about milk. i didn't realize she would know what a dream was or what it was called. i asked her if it was about mam-aw, daddy, etc. and turns out bubba and mommy were also involved in the dream.

when we put ella in her crib for a nap or for bedtime, the last thing she says every time is "go outside a wake up." which means she wants to go outside when she wakes up. it's her favorite thing.

she has been going on the potty again. two nights in a row she went right when we put her on the potty before her tub. she pointed down and said "goes in there" and then she just went. i told her she could have a sticker and she said "just like molly matthews!" (which is the name of the little girl in the potty book we got ella).

we were reading a book that had an airplane in it and i said "did you go on an airplane?" ella said "yeah." "where did we go?" i asked. ella answered, "to see mimi..." then she thought for a second and said "swimming in the pool." i said "did we swim in a pool with mimi?" ella answered "yeah. mimi blew bubbles." "you're right, mimi was blowing bubbles. what did she say when she blew bubbles?" "bubble bubble bubble." that's going back about 2 months.

we play a game sometimes that i like to call: "is this a silly song or a serious song?" i'll sing a song and after a few words she will tell me if it's a silly song or a serious song. she's really good at being accurate.

i also like to ask her about her food: "is it [hot, cold, spicy, salty, sweet, juicy, sticky, etc.]?" she's really good about describing what she is eating correctly.

yesterday we took elenora to the beach, and she and i swam in the ocean for at least a half hour. she loves the water. even if she gets it on her face, she just laughs. i feel bad for the mothers who are trying so hard to bring their babies into the water and the babies are just crying and crying.

when i ask her where she was born she usually answers "born in the country" (!?! i don't know where she got that from!) but then she will more seriously say "born in the water." maybe that's why she loves it so much?

i got ella some sidewalk chalk yesterday and we spent a good hour after her nap playing with it outside our building. i drew various shapes and colored them all in differently and then we played a game where i said "can you stand on a [blue circle, yellow triangle, white star, etc.]?" and she would run over and stand on the correct shape. she's so much fun.

ella sings all the time now. and i hear her rhyming all the time, too. yesterday i overheard her humming a song and based on the tune and the rhythm i knew it was "are you sleeping, are you sleeping, brother john? brother john?" on our way to the beach yesterday j. and i took turns asking her "can you sing..." various songs, and she would sing them all the way through, including edelweiss, the ABC song, and others.

today she was playing with her toys and she was actually speaking for them. one of her dolls was asking "can i have a ride?" her imagination is really blooming. sometimes when she speaks for a toy she will hold it right up to her mouth as if she's breathing the words right into their mouths.

momby is gone again right now, and most of our house is in desperate need of attention. j. took elenora to russell orchard this morning so that i could clean up ella's room. i'm looking forward to ella's next sleepover at her mam-aws, which is when i really get to do some good cleaning. tonight j. and h. are coming over to babysit while we go out. i think we're going to that little theater to watch "food inc."