20 months old!

And somehow it's almost May! Our recent happenings include Elsie's first airplane ride with our trip to San Francisco, Dad/Elsie swim lessons at least once a week, Game of Thrones final season, and the weather mostly warming up. The tulips are up and our grass is getting looong! I'm itching to fix our bushes around the house, maybe next weekend. And it's time to start thinking about Memorial Day plans, yow!

Elsie Loves

• She learned how to forward roll, and ever since Gma Elsie threw a blanket on her after a roll (the last time we were at her house) it is a necessity after every roll. It's super funny and cute watching her roll, cuz she'll reach down to touch the ground and tuck her head in, but her head is so big relative to the rest of her body that she needs to get on her tippy tippy toes to get the momentum to go over.
• Loves pushing lawn mower and stroller around, every time we go into a toy sections I'm biting my fingernails that we'll have to purchase a shopping cart. Gpa Ron almost had to buy her a vacuum when we went to the Disney store.
• Going down all slides! And getting pushed in swing is a new one she loves
• Loves bike rides, every time when I get home from work she says "walk" or "bike" so she's keeping me in shape!
• Went insane for bath time tonight, we put a kiddie pool in our shower upstairs and some water and toys and she went nuts!
• Essential bedtime items: Loves sheep wubba, gray koala baby and Mao cheetah. We had to retire sheep wubba cuz she bit through pacifier. We gave it a hug and a kiss and said good bye and I hid it away in her baby keepsake box. Thankfully she hasn't asked for it yet and the new wubba she only wants is the penguin.
• OBSESSED with Elmo and Daniel tiger
• Loves to play games on phone
• Loves blowing out candles
• Loves big pool bath time
• Obsessed with our cars and going in and out and playing with door handle, so annoying to stand and watch, comparable to her obsessing with top of stairs
• Bike bike rides being in bike and going to playground
• Having dad put her through the basketball hoop
• Her towel cape to dry off after bath time

Elsie Hates

• Absolutely hates all other baby dolls besides hers, especially her Libby Koala. This has been going on since we got her the Koala baby months and months ago but not sure I've mentioned it yet. Gma Mel got her a water/bath baby for Christmas and it she even glances its existence she points and yells and says "no!"
• Hit or miss is she likes her swim lessons, she's used to the instructor now and there are other kiddos so she's warming up to it. Spencer takes her twice a week and she went under water the other day!
• Hates letting me do her hair, I mean nothing. No clips, no hair ties, rarely head bands, and it's always in her face!

New moves

• Rolling on her own!
• Really great at imitating our words
• Knows 1 and how old are you hold up 1 finger, and says 1, 2, free
• Took her diaper off in the middle of the night cuz she wanted a change, still not climbing out of crib thank god!
• All canines finally in!
• Says "Ready set go" to go down slide and roll! Usually has to say them to herself to do it.
• Baby's first plane ride!
• Grown out of her socks and shoes! Big toe def bigger, toddler size 5 now and just under 2T for clothing

I'm loving the easy photo shoots lately. She's wearing a shirt from Gma E, harry potter shirt that says "you are pure magic" with her cheetah pants from Gma E and the singing easter bunny from Gma Mel.

Happy Easter 2019

Grandpa Mark and Grandma Melanie joined us for Easter celebrations. I started off our Sunday with some multicolored pancakes, and Little E really loved squeezing the food coloring into the pancake mix. Then Little Elsie had a GREAT time looking for eggs, Dad set up both an indoor and outdoor search. While waiting for the g-parents to come she played with the stuff from her Easter basket (new play doh baking set, curvy straws, new hair bands, new socks, a book, and of course candy). Mark and Melanie arrived and Grandma got her a little musical bunny rabbit that sings. Grandma Mel, Elsie and I decorated eggs, it took Little E a couple of eggs to realize that we weren't cracking them open but decorating :) And the adults enjoyed a couple of games of Dominion Prosperity while the little one napped. It was a fun and beautiful 75 degree Sunday!

San Francisco April 12-17

Fantastic five days in San Francisco, CA (April 12-17)! Thanks to Melissa, Veda, Lila and Mo for hosting us and allowing us to crash at their place, they made our stay so welcoming and enjoyable, and certainly a home away from home, so BIG THANKS to them! I'll list some of the daily highlights below, but overall it was a great first trip for Elsie, she was a breeze to fly with, praise the sun! And there was so many fun things to do and see in San Fran, certainly more to do when we go back!

The last time Spencer and I visited was in 2013, right before our trip to Hawaii. Spencer was working at Enterprise, I was a grad student at Boston College, we were living in Chelsea, MA and enjoying our busy 20s. Certainly a different time for us both!

My parents joined us for all of our trip, then stayed in CA several more days to drive the Highway 1 and see the Los Angeles area. And Spencer's mom flew out for a couple of days, which was soooo awesome! She and I were pretty sick most of the trip, unfortunately, but that didn't hold us back!

Friday, April 12

• Baby's first flight, take off 3:37 pm and land 3 hrs 45 min later (ahead of schedule). She had a crazy fun time just running around the airport, making friends, jumping, spinning, up and down ramp, good to tire out before flight because no kids play area. Dad ran all around with her and every so often she would run back to me for high 5.
• First flight with Elsie not as bad as Spencer thought, as bad as I thought. She was full of energy, didnt want to sit and didn't care as much about watching Daniel or Elmo as Spencer and I hoped. Probably just excited for her first flight. She didn't sleep much until 10 min before landing, so she must have tired herself out or it was basically about bedtime at that point.
• We were seated together in a 2x2 plane, which worked out great with no extra person in our seats. We were in the last possible row, so she could stand and go in back if she wanted. She got a kick out of kicking the seat in front of her, unfortunately, and it became a terrible game for us to try to stop her :(
• Mom and Dad rented a van and picked us up from the airport and we all made the trek over to Melissa's house (30 min drive). Was a really chill night with a super late bedtime for everyone, even with the 2 hour time change.