Playing in the Autumn leaves

With my Cooper grandparents...and at my neighbors' house...and with a puppy friend!

What we've been doing lately!

I've been a busy kid lately! I really like being creative and engaging Mama in imaginary play. We found a great little "me-sized" table on Freecycle, and I love playing on it (sitting on the chair and, yes, climbing up on the table, too!). I like pouring out all my blocks onto the table- what a fun, loud noise! We recently brought my play kitchen inside, and I like making "food" in the kitchen, then bringing it to my table to "feed" my babies.


One night when I was a little fussy with teething pain Daddy got the great idea to put me in the tub with my finger paints. I am a little Picasso, no?



I've been collecting these "Schliech" animals with Mama...I love lining them up (and knocking them over!), feeding them, making them give each other kisses, practicing saying their animal names and the animal noises they make...my favorite is the bear noise. Grrr!


And of course, I still like spending time with my Monkey Boy from Great Auntie Brenda and Cousin Hillary. When I am lucky (and eating relatively non-messy food), Mama lets him sit at the table with me so I can feed him real food!

Thanksgiving in pictures

A new cousin, staying at the grandparents', cheering at my first road race, carpooling with G and K...what a great weekend!

November Bounty

November was a great month for us for many reasons, not the least of which was that Mama was still able to pick big handfuls of raspberries off our bushes for me until the middle of the month. Yum!


And as long as we are showing pictures of me eating, Mama and I thought we would share this pick of Issy kitty eating dinner "incognito". While Ping and Pongo can get greedy about sharing bowls with another cat, they always seem to make room for a hungry cow!

Training pants!

Mama finally found me some training pants that would fit someone less than 20 lbs, and I LOVE them! Boy, is it fun to be a big kid!


It turns out that when you wear training pants (instead of cloth diapers) your pants fit better and it is much easier to run around. I've got to work on this potty training thing so that I can wear training pants all the time!

Ah, siblings!

Andy's Dad sent these photos to us the other day, and we thought they were too funny to keep to ourselves. We love the first photo, where Andy's older sister, Kate, is stealing his ice cream cone:



The expression on Andy's face in this one is priceless (and one I still see every once in a while!):



And here's a photo of Elsie with a silly expression, just for comparison...we think she looks so much like her Daddy (we are guessing he's about six months older than her in the photo):

Something new every day!

Being a toddler is lots of fun. The world is so big and full of fascinating things to discover! I learn something new every day. Lately a lot of my learning has been about going potty. I like to use my potty chair and the big potty chair, and have been trying to have all my poops on the potty like a big kid. I am doing a great job! I thought I understood the potty thing pretty well.

Tonight Mama and Daddy and I were playing trains in my room, and I was having some naked time. I decided to sit in Mama's lap to play, and while I was there I decided to make a poop. In Mama's lap. When I stood up, Mama seemed really surprised to see my poop. Daddy seemed surprised, too. He asked me, "Is Mama a potty chair, Elsie?". I smiled proudly at Daddy and said, "YES!". I guess that wasn't the right answer, because Mama and Daddy both laughed and said that poopers need to go in the potty chair, not on Mama. I thought the deal with potty training was to teach me to sit down whenever I need to poop, but I guess that the potty chair must have more to it than just being a fancy place to sit.

Yep, I learn something new every day! I wonder what tomorrow's lesson will be?

Halloween fun!

My Halloween began on Sunday when Daddy and Mama took me to the mall to trick-or-treat. I loved watching the other kids walk around in their costumes! I didn't quite understand the whole trick-or-treating process, but I was sure excited to get so many cool, shiny-wrappered toys in my bag! Uncle G and my Kristin friend came, too...I love fooling around with them.





When the big Halloween holiday arrived, Mama took me to a local Halloween-themed petting farm to meet the animals. Boy, did I have a good time! Kittens! Sheep! Goats! Horses and donkeys (miniature and regular sized!)! Pigs! Chicks! Roosters, peacocks, ducks, turkeys, and other birds I didn't even know the names for!

There was also a HUGE sandbox. I spent the majority of my time there putting all the trucks into the big tractor wheel...I like to keep my toys organized!

The other attractions were a tower of pumpkins and a corn maze that was just my size (I finished perfectly the first time!). I also found a swing set with a view...I got to watch the deer play while I swung!











The exciting day ended with Mama and me taking a walk to our friend Heather's house to do some REAL trick-or-treating. I sat on her step and sorted the candy in her candy bowl for awhile while she and Mama talked, then I saw her pets through the door and decided to let myself inside her house. Two cats and a big doggie- what a fun place! Then I went into her kitchen, and found a banana! Hooray! Trick-or-treating is lots of fun when you get to choose your own treat!

On the way home from Heather's, I realized that Mama was holding out on me. The other kids that were walking around got to stop at EVERY house and get candy. Mama said I was too little, so I started throwing a tantrum at every driveway. Mama didn't relent until a nice lady laughed at me and waved us in from her doorway. Mama finally let me walk to the door and say "trick-or-treat." I tried to go into the nice lady's house, but apparently you don't get to pick a treat everywhere, just at Heather's house.

Since I didn't get a banana at that house (just another fun-colored wrapper), I wasn't as excited to keep trying more houses and I decided to let Mama carry me the rest of the way home. I insisted that we make one last stop, though- we went to the Kind's house so I could say "Happy Halloween" to my puppy friend, Cricket. All in all, it was a pretty fun day!

Fun times in Rochester!

I had a great time in Rochester. I got to play with Grandma RJ, Papa Todd, AND Grandma Julie! I am so lucky!



I thought it was a really funny game to put Beagan's toy mouse down Grandma's shirt, then try to find it. Grandma didn't think it was as fun as I did.



We both thought it was really fun to play with cars, though. I liked to line them up before zooming them off.



We both also thought it was funny when I wore Gram's glasses.



When my David friend came to visit, I gave him all my toys to hold.



Grandma Julie and Mama set up a photo shoot for me, but I was too distracted by my visiting step cousins to sit still.





This is my cousin Gavin. I think he's just a baby- only about seven months old. At first I thought he was just a toy doll, but he doesn't like being rolled over. And yes, he really is that big.



Grandma Julie and Papa Todd went on a walk with me...I was too fast for them!



Grandma RJ let me play with my Campbell cousin's coonskin hat. Lots of fun, especially when I got to wear it while playing with magnet letters! :)



Papa Todd and Grandma Julie have a fun yard with rock fairy houses and great big stones to sit on!

Visit to Papa Todd's

I had a fun week at Papa Todd and Grandma Julie's house. Pictures will come later, but I thought you might like a video preview of my MN adventures!

I loved getting in the musical "space ship" and rocking out some dance moves.



I saw my first "Baby Einstein" video, and loved it. Listen for my ridiculously high-pitched "meow!".




Listen for the "Vroom vroom"-ing as I play on the toy car...and watch for my "all done" sign to Mama before I get off!