My Little Busy Bee

Today's post will be dedicated to my daughter Ella. As I was looking through some recent photos I realized how many of them were quite funny and completely telling of this little one's personality.

When people ask me about the girls I often describe them in this way:

 "Ava, my oldest, is VERY emotional. She is very sweet, very smart, very engaging,  but perhaps one of the most emotional children on the planet."

"Ella, well, Ella is probably one of the busiest children you will ever meet. She NEVER sits still and is ALWAYS getting into something."

Most people nod with a knowing glance and yet I can see that they're thinking..."Oh, normal toddlers. ALL toddlers are emotional and/or busy."

And then...

And then they see my girls in action.

"Wow!" they say, "She really NEVER sits still does she?"

Nope.

Their eyes get big. They smile. They look at me with both humor and compassion. Then, and only then, do I know that they REALLY get it.

A friend and I took our 2 year old's to Panera for lunch this past winter. My friend marveled at how Ella literally never stopped moving the entire time we were in the restaurant. No matter how hard I tried she preferred climbing chairs and benches and stopping by other people's tables to look at their food and say hello. I looked in wonder as my friend's two year old sat quietly in her high chair, eating every bite of food and never saying a word. My friend eventually said to me that she thought Ella alone just might require as much mothering energy as both of her girls combined on some days.

I agree.

So, without further adieu...I present to you...Ella...the little girl we call "the cracker jack", "the tornado", "trouble", and "hurricane"... (Ava actually kindly told a librarian one afternoon (while I was chasing Ella all the way across the library as she started running and shrieking in delight), that,

"My sister is a capital "T"!!!"

"What honey?" The librarian said as she looked at her quizzically.

"A capital T." Ava repeated matter of factly.

I caught the end of the conversation and offered some explanation to the librarian.

"Ah, yes. We call her 'trouble with a capital 'T'!" I said laughing...and catching my breath...and holding a wiggling toddler who did not want to be held. I mean the library IS a place to run and scream after all.

Here are some pictures, for your viewing enjoyment of my little capital T!

Yes, yes. That would be Ella in one of our storage cubes. She goes all the way in and tries to pull the cover down over her head. 

Always cracks me up. Ella puts the sun glasses on and then cooly and confidently says, "Look mom. I got my glasses on." 

Why on earth would you put dirty laundry in a hamper when you can hide in one instead?

It's probably hard to see it here, but for a while Ella had this hilarious habit of climbing out of her bed (after I had put her in it for a nap or bedtime) and gathering books from her bookshelf, putting them in her bed and then sleeping with them. I woke her up from her nap one afternoon and counted upwards of 15 books in her bed. 

Here is the stack after I pulled it out of her bed...

That would be a pajama shirt being worn as a skirt for dancing purposes. 

Please take note of the number of band-aids my child is wearing here. When Ella is not causing her own chaos, her sister enforces chaos onto her. Ava adorned her with all of these band-aids. 

Ella is FOREVER getting into this cabinet and pulling DVD's out. One day I caught her sticking one through a tiny slat in the speaker. I'm glad I saw her putting it there...I would have never guessed! 

All dressed up!

"Mom, you can dress me up for Aunt Laurie's wedding, but I'm still going to crawl underneath the banister while the wedding party is trying to give sentimental toasts." 

"And, when I'm done crawling under, I'll crawl up!"

On the table, by herself, at 18 months. I freaked out...thinking she would fall...but first I grabbed my camera! 

Also, last summer, at 18 months old...

Hope you enjoyed the show! She certainly does bring a lot of laughs to our lives!