places to eat

Ella is not the most diverse eater. So, going out to eat with her can be challenging. She will not eat burgers, grilled cheese, or any kind of pasta (at least not more than one or two bites). There is only one kids menu staple that she does consume: chicken fingers/nuggets with french fries.

When Ella was younger our restaurant choices focused on the ideals of quick service and good high chairs. We brought all her food with us, so the menu didn't matter. Now we look for places with kids menus, and good high chairs/booster seats. We still don't have a wide selection worked out because when we do decide to go out with her, we tend to stick with what we know rather than try someplace new that will not meet our criteria.

When it comes to fast food Chic-fil-A is the best, with McDonald's a close second.

Chicken Out Rotisserie wasn't a big hit at first because their kids meal nuggets are usually dry (white meat that isn't fried), but we have found that if we cover the chicken in ketchup or bring in our own sweet and sour sauce (left over packets from chic-fil-a) for them, it has worked out great.

Our most popular place to go is Applebees because we get a wide variety to chose from, and we know she will eat their chicken with no problem.

Today we tried a new place for lunch, and I must say I was very happy with it. We went to a Houlihan's. Their menu is very diverse, and their kid's chicken and french fries was a hit with Ella. The value also struck me as fantastic. Her kids meal was only $5 and it came with veggie sticks and dip, applesauce, a drink, 4 chicken strips with fries, and ice cream for desert! Our only complaint was the seating. We chose to try sitting at a booth and having Ella on a booster seat. The booster seat did not work well with the booth seat. She was sitting way to far back, and could not move forward to reach the table without fear of falling off totally. Consequently, poor Mentalfather spent the whole meal holding her in place and eating with one hand. We plan to go again, but we are going to go for a high chair next time.

Unconventional toys for toddlers

Sometimes I find it amazing what odd things attract Ella's attention. And, of course, everytime she picks up something from around the house and gets fascinated playing with it, I ask myself why I spend any money buying her fancy toys. Here is a sampling of some of those household toys.

belts
tubes from toilet paper rolls and from wrapping paper rolls
aluminum pie plate
red string
plastic storage containers
remote control
phone
mostly empty water bottle (tightly screwed shut, of course)
twine
cat toys
rolling foot massager
shoes
DVD boxes
bowls and spoons
blankets and pillows
house plants
bungee cords
raquet balls (the bounce is amazing and lots of fun on hard floors)
sunglasses
toilet paper
combs and brushes
canned food

So, if you are running out of ideas for entertaining you little one, give something from the list a try. And if you have any other good ones to share, please let me know. I love anything that changes things up in my day, and I love great opportunities for picture taking.

Snow!

OK, this is not a flurry! Big fat flakes are sticking to the grass and my front deck. And it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. Yes folks, we do get some strange weather in Maryland.

Ella could have cared less when it was just a flurry 15 minutes ago. But now that it looks more like a real snow, she is just standing next to me in the kitchen and staring out the window.

I also saw a fox in the yard a few minutes ago. All I need now is a deer in the back yard and I am good to go.

OK, I have just had a dryer ball thrown at my butt by Ella. Time to go and play.

collective sigh

Ella has started having tantrums, but today's was a whopper!

Early in the afternoon, about an hour before her nap time she started testing me. For example: she hit me in the face when I wouldn't give her something then refused to say she was sorry. So, when nap time came and I changed her diaper all hell broke loose. She ended up walking around the house screaming and throwing a book around. Eventually she started vomiting (thank goodness it was in the kitchen so it was easy to clean up) which, of course, made her cry even more. She even slipped in a puddle of it before I got to clean it up and fell on the floor. It took me forever to calm her down, but at least she was amenable to my attentions (true tantrum crying would involve her pushing me away). I had to strip her down to her diaper in the kitchen because she was covered in vomit. Eventually she got dressed again and took a nice nap.

Whew!

Hugs

One of Ella's favorite things to do is give hugs. She will even give things to me and request that I hug them (using sign language). So here is a list some of the many things that Ella has hugged.

her Mickey Mouse doll
balloons
flashlights
my leg
blocks
her Elmo doll
a container of goldfish crackers
books
pillows
a cardboard tube from the center of a roll of wrapping paper
sippy cups
and once (this is my favorite) she hugged a can of soup when we were in the grocery store

things I have gotten used to, and some things I haven't

Things I have gotten used to:
-" How old is your son?" (come on people, she is a GIRL)
- people telling me how hard it is to get their 2 year olds to string 3 words together. (Ella doesn't even talk at all)
- women at the playground exclaiming how big Ella must be for her age. (because they assume that, since she isn't talking or running, and needs a lot of help climbing on things that she must be a lot younger than she is)

I really have gotten used to this stuff. It doesn't annoy me at all anymore. Actually, this is a really funny story. The one woman who was talking about how hard she was working with her son (who was only 1 week younger than Ella) on stringing 3 words together, I ran into her a few days later at a different playground. We had been talking about using sign language with our children, and so she knew that Ella hasn't started talking yet. So, when we ran into each other again, she apologized to me for being insensitive and complaining about her son when my daughter was so much "worse off" (her words, not mine). I found myself comforting her and assuring her that we all have work to do with our children and that it doesn't really matter what level they are on, it is still work.

What I haven't gotten used to :
"What is wrong with her?"

Do you blame me for not liking that one?
How about I use this as a response: "What is wrong with you?"