God Given Right to Be Loved

I promise to spend a ridiculous amount of money on crayons and goldfish.

I promise not to notice the cracker smeared on my shirt and instead notice your tiny hands.

I promise to know all about princesses and construction trucks.

I promise to read the same book over and over again until I have it memorized.

I promise to let you chew on my coasters and smile at all the teeth marks.

I promise to play dress-up and not be embarrassed when the UPS Guy sees me in a tutu and cowboy hat.

I promise to go to the game even if I don't like sports and cheer louder than anyone else.

I promise to kiss all scrapes and bumps even if they are covered in dirt.

I promise to watch Barney and laugh when I can't fall asleep because the songs are stuck in my head.

I promise to be just as excited about playing peek-a-boo as I am about going shopping.

I promise to listen to Wheels on the Bus in the car and do all the motions.

I promise to use my purse to hold sippy cups and animal crackers and of course diapers.

I promise to forget the bad and remember the good. To spend more time playing and less time disciplining. To hold you at 3am and kiss you goodnight. Mostly, I promise to give these years of my life to you, after all you are only mine for a short time.

Signed: "Just a Mom"

WillYum!

I think that this cute little boy deserves a post all to himself.

I mean look at this face...

This boy is so much fun that I feel sad when a realize how quickly he will grow up. Of course, I wish he slept as well as his sister...he seems to think that he needs to eat twice a night. Actually, he would like to eat all the time. I have started feeding him solids for this very reason and from what I can tell he will eat as much food as I will offer. He usually eats an entire banana and a bowl of rice cereal before he goes to bed. And don't worry, he still has plenty of room to nurse. I am pretty sure his sister has never finished a banana in her life!!! This might have something to do with the fact that he is the size of most 9 month olds...a fact that makes Chris smile thinking maybe his son will be tall :)

I Never Saw It Comin'

So, life really is full of surprises or maybe it's just that Ella is full of them (or it)...however you slice it...I would have never guessed that after the first week of school Ella's teacher would be waiting in the hall to talk to me...

That's right y'all, my kid is getting in trouble at school...(as a side note, for some reason having a kid that is getting in trouble at school feels a lot like YOU are getting in trouble at school).

But seriously, look at her. So cute, So happy....

So crazy...

I never saw it comin'.

I will never forget that day her teacher was waiting to tell me that Ella was having a hard time following directions. She said in particular that when it was time to go outside Ella refused saying such things as "No, I won't go!!" "You can't make me!!" and my personal favorite. "Don't tell me!!" Her teacher of course made her and she was very unhappy the rest of the day.

Well, after my little talk with the teacher I assumed things were better. Her teacher kept saying, "Today was a pretty good day" so that is what I thought until we went to the school's open house. At this event all the parents played toys and looked at the pretty pictures their kids had made. All but us that is because we were too busy being talked to by Ella's teacher, the teacher's aid, and the speech pathologist. They each took a little time to come talk to us about Ella. They shared things with us like how Ella never wants to do what they tell her to and how she is too loud during circle time for the other students to hear and often has to be taken away from the group and it went on..Chris and I just kept looking at each other thinking "We had no idea it was this bad." Her teachers kept reassuring us but we realized..we are the parents of a trouble-maker...where did we go wrong?

I can say all this now because things at school really are better. She finally likes going to school and her teachers are now saying "Today was a really good day"(fingers crossed for the next open house).

But man ohh man does this little girl keep me guessing and really, I love it because I would be a bored mommy without her.

Fall Outings

One great part about living in Rochester is the Fall. It is beautiful..and thankfully our good friends, James and Sarah, planned some fun activities that got us out to enjoy it.

James is Chris's business partner or as I like to say "work wife". Sarah is James' girlfriend and also went to school with Chris. Ella is really shy around them (I actually think she is scared of James) but she does love to tell me how pretty Sarah is and gets very excited when he are going to all hang out.

So now that they have been introduced..our first fall outing was to go apple picking. And since a picture can tell a story..I will let the pictures do just that...

Do I look like I am miserable? This kid weighs almost 16 pounds!!!

Some people are such overachievers ;)
PS...notice the red tape...

Carrying the spoils!!

Our second outing was to a corn maze. Ella complained the whole time we were walking through it about how she wanted to get out (3 year olds are always fun). She did however like the duck racing and she loved riding the cow train. Sorry there are no pictures of these things because my camera stopped working. I am praying for it :)
Here are some fun pictures though of James and Chris acting like 3 year olds...

The chase..

I see this kind of thing all the time at Whipple Park.

Corn Husk Gun...poor Will cried after every shot.

New York, New York

We finally made the big trip to NYC. It is sad that we have lived in New York for over a year and just made it to that happening place..but alas..it has been accomplished.

The trip had all the essential stops. We went to Philly...saw some old buildings where important things happened, we saw the Liberty Bell behind a glass window, and even ate a philly cheesesteak. Then onto NYC where we rode a ferry past The Statue of Liberty, saw Battery Park, saw Wall Street and took the subway to Central Park (by the way, subway travel is not great if you have a fear of being touched). We also went to The Met and of course Time Square. Ella's favorite stop was the Giant Toy "R" Us. Mine was getting cheesecake. I think Chris's was the nap we took on the floor of The Met.

We then rushed back to the ferry...missing our stop on the subway and making it on the last ride over to get the cars. We arrived back on Staten Island after the garage where our cars were parked had closed so the soccer player and marathon runner of the group ran to the garage, hoping to make it in time (I know you might all be shocked to find out that neither Chris or I were the runners)..and luckily they were able to get the cars.

So, just like this post..the trip went by in a flash. Fun? Yes. Exhausting? Yes. Wanna go again? Yes (without the kids).


And last but not least...here is my favorite story from the trip:

On the car ride there we decided to stop around noon to eat. We had all packed lunches but it was seriously cold so we decided to see if Subway would be kind enough to let us eat inside.

Chris walked up to the counter and said "Hey, I know it is kind of white trash but we are just passing threw and need a warm place to sit. Would you mind if we ate in here? We promise to clean-up before we leave." They said that would be fine and we sat down to eat. After a few minutes Chris asked me if he could have another sandwich and I told him "No, I only packed one for each day." He then asked for some water and I said "Sorry, I forgot it". Ella started begging for cheese and I told her "Sorry dear but I don't have anymore." I am sure sometime during lunch I said my usual joke about how Chris will never get a real job and we will be living in a shack. And needless to say..before we left, one of the ladies that works there walked up, grabbed my hand and gave me a twenty. I was shocked...but then I looked at Ella in her handmade sweater and thought about all the things I had said and realized that we did sound like we were that poor.

So, Chris and I are thinking we are gonna try this bit everywhere we go and see if we can start making a little cash on the side.....

Preparing for School and a Few Short Stories

We spent the weekend getting ready for Ella to start school. We started by taking her clothes shopping. Since I have spent a lot of time with Ella, I already knew I would not get any say in the clothes we would buy. I was feeling ready to let her pick out her own new clothes but I did have just one rule. It is the rule we have been working on a lot at our house. The rule is that "leggings aren't pants" or it's equivalent, "tights aren't pants".

Well, the shopping wasn't as much fun for the family as we were expecting. It never even dawned on me that it is Halloween so all the stores would be packed with costumes. Every store we went into Ella would find the costumes and beg and beg for one. We tried to explain to her that they were too much money and showed her how many other things she could get for the same price. She would just say, "I promise..I will wear it every day" (which is the problem). So in the end Ella got 2 pairs of tights, 1 pair of leggings, and 1 pair of pajama pants. It's going to be an interesting wardrobe.

So on with the story, Ella was so excited about her first day of school that she couldn't fall asleep last night. She was so cute telling us "I am just so besided (excited)." And imagine my surprise when she even wore real clothes to school (though she did accessorize with a noodle necklace).

And here is the little girl on her big day:

She had a rough start. She cried when I dropped her off telling me that, "I am just a little nervous." I thought that was a big word for such a little girl. She also cried when I picked her up, telling me that, "I don't want to go home!" She is an emotional roller-coaster.

And now in closing I just wanted to throw in some of the funny stories that happened yesterday.

First of all, Ella and I have been fighting about how you say the word "anyways". Ella loves to say, "I am going to do it evenways". I have tried to teach her that the word is anyways but she just informs me that, "I can say evenways. It's fine."

Second, Ella has been waiting and waiting to use the potty until she pees her pants. I am pretty tired of it so when I noticed she needed to go yesterday when we were playing a game...I told her I would put the game up if she peed her pants. She said, "I will go when I am ready." So, I said, "That's fine but if you pee your pants the game will go up and you won't be allowed to play games anymore." And then she said again, "I will go when I am ready." Well, I had had enough and told her, "You can go now or I will put the game up!" She then got up to go potty but I heard her say as she went up the stairs, "I will go when I am ready tomorrow!" I guess she figured I had won that one but she would get the next.

And last but not least, Ella loves to collect sticks. The bigger the stick the better the find. So yesterday we went on a walk to find sticks. Imagine her surprise when people had piled sticks at the end of their driveways just for her (or maybe for the trash man). She would run up and find the biggest stick and then look at the next driveway and say "Look Mommy there are more over there and there."

The conclusion to this long and kind of random post is that..part if me is happy that Ella is off to school. I mean I don't have to dodge long pointy sticks that can poke out my eye but then again...What am I going to laugh about during my day???

Will's Blessing

Well..after forgetting two months in a row...we finally blessed Will. Sadly, he didn't fit in the little white suit my sister had made but Will didn't care at all. I think he would have preferred to just come in his PJ's so he could have slept through the whole thing.

So here is the story:
A few nights before the blessing I had this awful feeling that Chris was going to change the baby's name. You see, the school that Chris goes to is called the William E. Simon Business School. So, I started thinking he was going to name the baby William Simon Sturgill. I told Chris about this the night before the blessing and he said, "I like that name. I think it sounds good together". Great, right? I was totally freaking out. And to make matters worse, the only white onsie I could find for him to wear under his dress shirt said "Simon School of Business, Early Leader".

When the time came for the blessing.......well, the bishopric member forgot about it. Chris was totally awkward and just started raising his hand right there in sacrament. But I am glad he did because they went ahead with the blessing.

Will did great. He apparently cooed and smiled the whole time. Chris said he was grateful because he blessed him that he would be a happy and always able to find the good in things. He was worried Will would start screaming right after he said the was supposed to be happy. He also blessed him to love the Lord and help bring people to Jesus because of that love. And most importantly he said his name would be William Clay Sturgill.

Here is the picture from after the blessing. I guess you can tell he is the second because we didn't even take him out of the car seat and thought the car would make a nice background....


That afternoon we had ice cream with a bunch of our friends to celebrate. Will made an appearance at the beginning but decided to sleep through most of it. Maybe he was just disappointed he couldn't have any ice cream.

Our place was totally packed:

We sure are lucky to have such great friends!!!

The Facts

Ella:

-is almost 30 pounds...we are so excited.
-starts preschool in a week.
-had her first nightmare about a "mean dog"
-has developed horrible allergies (she is on 3 types of medicine)
-loves to watch Super Why
-talks in her sleep (it is freaky)
-is always fancy (she even packed tutus when we went camping)
-loves to say "Mommy, I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Daddy!"

Will:

-is in the 90 percentile for length, 70th for weight and 70th for head size (Chris is so hopeful that he will be tall).
-smiles all the time.
-started to suck his thumb (Ella insists she didn't teach him).
-makes such cute little sounds. I told Chris that he said "hi" the other day but Chris thinks I am crazy ;)
-loves to watch football...he will just look at the TV and smile.

Basically, I am one proud and busy Mommy!!!

Camp Sturgill 2010

Only Ella

I have always heard that kids learn from your example.....well where did she get this from??



I promise I don't mop the floor in my underwear.

Family Pictures

My friend Lisa Christensen just started a photography business so we asked her to take some family pictures since we now have a new member of the family. She did such a good job.

You can check them here: http://lisaruthphotography.com/?page_id=471

Just click on our picture...the username is sturgills and the password is july2010

Corbett's Glen

We decided to go on a little hike for FHE tonight. When we told Ella what we were doing...this is what she decided to wear....

Makes sense right??? All ballerina's perform their best dances in the woods.

And here I am with Will strapped to my front. Isn't it great?? I couldn't wait to have the baby so I could strap him right back on.

I love Rochester...this is 15 minutes from our house. As a side note...it is impossible to get a picture of Ella looking at the camera.

Always asleep and always cute!!!

Check out the wicked bug bites...but all and all the trip was great. The best part was 30 minutes into the woods when Ella said "I need to go potty". We asked her if it was poop or pee and she said both. We were in a panic to get her home and kept telling her she couldn't poop in the woods..she then got this worried look on her face and said "Umm...Mommy, can you pass gas in the woods?"

Deja Vu

Watkins Glen

What...I just had a baby??? So, I should go on a one and a half mile hike up some 800 stairs right???

Well...that is exactly what we did and boy was it beautiful...


The trip was a little impromptu so we weren't very prepared. We went with our friends the Howells and thank goodness she had her camera or I wouldn't have any pictures. Also, since we weren't expecting to be hiking...Chris ended up carrying Will in his car seat the whole time...while I ran after Ella (why do kids only have one speed..aka super fast?). It was a lot of fun and we are so glad the Howells invited us!!!

Here are some pics:

A Little Q&A

My friend did this with her kids and I thought it was cute. It is always interesting to get into the mind of a 3 year old.


Questions about me:

Q: What do I say to you the most?
A: "you laugh at me"

Q: What makes me happy?
A: laughing

Q: What makes me sad?
A: "if Daddy be's mean at you"

Q: How old am I?
A: 7

Q: What is my favorite thing to do?
A: "play with me"

Q: What am I really good at?
A: "holding me"

Q: What is my job?
A: "clapping your hands"

Q: What am I not very good at?
A: "not holding me so much"

Q: What is my favorite food?
A: waffles

Q: How do you know I love you?
A "if you tickle me"


Questions about Chris:

Q: What does Daddy say to you the most?
A: "he tickles me"

Q: What makes Daddy happy?
A: "if I help him"

Q: What makes Daddy sad?
A: "Daddy can't be sad, Daddy be's happy all day."

Q: How old is Daddy?
A: "I think he's number 3."

Q: What is Daddy really good at?
A: "cleaning the car"

Q: What is Daddy's job?
A: "getting messy and messy"

Q: What is Daddy not very good at?
A: "changing my clothes"

Q: What is Daddy's favorite food?
A: cereal

Q: How do you know that Daddy loves you?
A: "because he winks his eye"

The Story

So for all those who care...here is how it happened.

Sunday night we went over to play some games with friends from our Ward. We played Bonanza (or as Chris says, "The Bean Game"). During the game Chris decided to hit me in the stomach and tell the baby it was time for him to come. He hit me a little hard so he got in trouble for that later.

Well, I guess Will only listens to his father (it seems to be a theme with our children) because I woke up at 1 am with some contractions. I had about 3 or so that were 10 min apart and I told Chris they were really painful. Then I had 3 more contractions about 5 min apart and I told Chris I was calling the midwife. I think he thought I was jumping the gun and apparently so did the midwife because she told me to go take a shower and call her in an hour if I was still having contractions 3-5 min apart.

I am not sure if it was divine intervention or just my unwillingness to take someone's advice but I told Chris it was time to go to the hospital. We got there at 2:30 am and I only had one thing on my mind "Give me the epidural NOW!!!" They hurried around and got me what I wanted but as soon as they were done putting the epidural in I said, "I feel like I need to push" and they said "Don't push", and then I said, "Too late". After some more pushing and screaming and pushing and more screaming, Will was born. The cord was wrapped around his neck twice so he came out all blue. We are so grateful that he is alright.

So, at 4:30 am Will was born and the epidural had enough time to make my right thigh numb and nothing else. The midwife said next time I better just forget about the epidural because there isn't enough time for it to take effect. So, I am making no promises for future children. For all those who like their natural births, "here's to you" but as for me, I hope I never have to feel that kind of pain again.

As a side note, I really like midwives and all but sometimes they are weird. Here are two examples:

1. While I was pushing they kept asking me if I wanted to feel the baby's head coming out? I mean seriously, as if I wasn't busy enough pushing the kid out!

2. After the baby came, I had a lot of trouble delivering the placenta. When that ordeal was finally taken care of, (they had to call in a specialist, who know they had placenta specialists?) the midwife kept showing Chris and I the placenta and going on a on about how healthy it was and how she had never seen one so big. It was as if I had won an award or something and all we were thinking was "Will you please put that in the trash before we throw up."

William has been with us for a week now and he is such a joy. He loves to nurse (maybe a little too much) which is so different from his sister who has never had time for food. He is really very quiet and happy almost all the time. I have noticed that he loves to be sung too and whenever I sing a song that I have sung to Ella at nap time, he will open his eyes and watch me without moving a muscle. I guess he was listening during all those months he was inside of me.

Ella is sometimes into the baby and sometimes a little crazy. She has to be reassured a lot that we love her and that she makes us happy before she will go to sleep. She will ask, "Do I make you happy, do you love me?" She sure is drama and it makes us laugh!

William Clay Sturgill

A picture says a thousand words, so here's a short story. Will joined our family May 24th at 4:30am, weighing 8 lbs 13 oz at all of 21 inches in length. Welcome Will: we're glad to have you in our family!

A Mother's Memories

This is my way of honoring Mother's Day and the little girl that made me a mother. I can't believe it is her last week to be my baby!!!

A Plea for Help

The last two weeks have been well....BAD and there is really no other way to describe it. I am not sure what happened to Ella but she is not the little girl I remember. She has picked up some nice new phrases that she likes to say to be about 20 times a day. They are; "I am going to throw this at your face" or "I am going to hurt your legs" or another favorite, " I will hit you". I am not sure where she even learned these things...I promise I have never said them to her.

To add to my misery she is also hitting and throwing things at me frequently. Let me just take you on the journey of our day so you can understand.

While on the phone, I am continually being whipped with her blankie. So I get off the phone and give her attention. She wants me to paint. I do and she starts flinging the paint at me. I try to watch videos with her, she hits me 6 times. It is now time for lunch. She says that she wants me to eat with her. I make two plates of food and we sit down together. She asks for some salsa and then takes her tortilla with salsa on it and smears it all over the wall. I then make her help me clean it up and she starts putting chips in her milk. So, I move the milk away from her and she throws her tortilla at my head.

Rest assured that there are lots of time-outs in between all this drama but after the last one time-out I go upstairs to try to do the whole "show forth an increase of love" thing. I tell Ella that I love her and she says "Do you?" I say "yes" and she says "But I make you sad?" At this moment I feel like I suck.

It is then time for nap...she decides to inform me that she is too big for a nap and apparently she meant it because she didn't take one. So, when I am supposed to be having a break from her she instead hits and throws things at me. We also have a little conversation during this time where she says that she wants to move back to our old house because Daddy was there and Rayna lived closer and she got to play with Isaac and Elliot.

Make no mistake about it. I feel bad for Ella. I really thought that after 9 months she would have stopped asking to move back but she still asks everyday about it and I wish I could figure out a way for her to see the good in being here. I also know that things have really been changing around here to get ready for a new baby and that this is hard on her. I know people say lots of kids have a hard adjustment to a new baby but what I need is to know how to get through this.....

So, do any of you out there in the world of blogging have any ideas.....please...

Easter Fun!!

Supposed to be dying Easter Eggs...she was really sad when all the green came off in the bath. I guess you can tell from the picture how pleased she is with her hands.

Easter Egg Hunt!

Daddy helping find.

The best part: Seeing what's inside.

Full of Surprises!!

After art class today, I wrote Ella's name on the back of the drawing she had made. Then Ella said she was going to write her name all by herself. And here it is:

I know there is a letter missing but I was shocked!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Well, we have made it to three. It is an exciting age. Here is a list of some of the things Ella can do this year that she couldn't last year:

1. Dress and undress herself

2. Use the potty (thank goodness)

3. Do some chores (put her own plate in the sink, put her clothes in the dirty clothes and wipe down the coffee table)

4. Negotiate with the best of them. When we ask her to do something we often hear "what about......(fill in the blank with Ella's idea of how to get out of doing what she doesn't want to).

5. Draw pictures of things that we can identify (faces, spiders, rainbows, and the letters "L" and "H").

6. Spell her own name.

7. Put together a puzzle.

8. Tell a joke (they aren't as funny as she thinks they are).

9. Sing a song (favorites are "I Love to See the Temple" and "The Colors Song").

10. Name all the different candy bars (yeah, she is genius).

And I am sure there are many more. She is a wonderful little girl and has filled our last 3 years with lots of laughs.

A Local Celebrity...

Here she is at the park...trying to keep her identity concealed from the paparazzi.

And here is the most recent sighting with her best friend "blankie".

To: Those Who Have Been Here Before...

I can't keep clothes on this child. I understand that she needed to learn how to undress herself and am grateful bc now she can use the bathroom...but seriously...how do all the Moms out there keep their kids dressed?

And please tell me I am not the only one who leaves their child alone for one second only to find this....I mean the rain-boots do add a little something interesting but I think a shirt would be nice too.

I always thought it wasn't such a big deal that she wanted to be "all maked" all the time but as of late it is starting to cause problems. You see it was always one of those family secrets that no one else knew. When I took her out in public she was always dressed so I figured people just assumed that she was also dressed at home. But lately, my secret is starting to get out. This is partly bc I can't seem to take a picture of her dressed but that was just the beginning. We also have the problem that our neighbors both have boys a few years older than Ella that like to play outside our sliding glass door. So now I have to keep the curtains closed most days. And we tend to have friends that stop by and I am afraid they are going to stop coming bc they don't want to see Ella in her under-roos. Not to mention that they might call CPS bc it looks like we don't feed the kid.


We tried have tried a few tactics:

1. We let her pick her own clothes out..but they still only stay on for about 2o min.

2. We told her she was a big girl not a baby...but she just said "I want to be a maked baby".

3. We had a talk with her about modesty. She even admitted during it that Mommy and Daddy wear clothes and don't go around "all maked" but somehow the behavior did not change. Instead she added a little dance called Ohh, My Naked Tooshie that is preformed whenever the tooshie is exposed (don't worry there are no pics of it).


And so now I am requesting help from the all those who have been here before...please tell me there is hope...I really would like to get some clothes on the child.

Ella the Midwife

I LOVE my midwives!! Not just because they take good care of me but because they let Ella be a part of everything.

They let her see how much she weighs and they take time to talk to her about having a baby brother. But Ella's favorite part is when she gets to turn on the little machine and find the baby's heartbeat (as shown above).

As a side note, I went back and forth about whether or not to put this picture up because, well, this is not my best side (not that I have one right now). But I decided to anyway..hoping that everyone would focus on Ella's happy little face as opposed to my huge belly (though I do have a good excuse!).

Art..Art..Art

Ella LOVES art projects!!! She is always creating something for me to display around the house. I enjoy her artwork but I think my house is looking less like it belongs to me all the time.

She is slowly taking over the whole house. It started with the fridge..where she could put her art up by herself with magnets that were supposed to teach her the alphabet. Ella has found that they hold art projects fabulously. Then she moved on to the glass door on the bookshelf and finally the door to the basement. She needs tape to hang her projects in these locations which requires my help but if I refuse she is devastated and I don't want her to think her art isn't beautiful (even though some of it isn't so worth displaying).

But then...I got this great idea. We would color hearts and cut-out letters that would spell "Daddy Rocks" to hang on the sliding glass door for Chris's birthday. Genius right??? I mean, Ella loves art projects and this is an easy gift she can give her Daddy. Well I didn't think about the fact that she would never let me take them down. I would try and she would say "that is so sad, the poor hearts and ABCs".

So, the only way to get rid of them was to hang something else in their place. Which meant that Ella and I spent the day making shamrock streamers for St. Patrick's Day.

Sometimes I wish I had one of those houses that was decorated like in the magazines. It seems like it would be so luxurious and relaxing but then I look at this....

And I am convinced that my home is more beautiful than any picture in any magazine.

So, maybe no interior designer would decorate their house like this...

But at least for today...I don't care!!!!!

A Star is Born!

Why did I say that???

It was so exciting when Ella starting learning words. And then when her words grew to cute little sentences. And then her sentences to whole stories. It was fun, I repeat WAS.....

I say this because lately I have been hearing things come out of her mouth that sound really familiar. They are the kind of things that I say to her because after all, I am in charge here.

Ohh, how I wish I could take them back, seriously!!

And so I proceed with the list of things I wish I would have never said:

1. "Do you understand?"
I asked Ella why she didn't want to do something this morning and she told me "I just don't want to, do you understand?? I just don't want to!!"

2. "Now!!"
Ella frequently tells me, "I want my milky, NOW!" (the fact that she calls it "milky" doesn't make it cute).

3. "I hate this!!"
Ella will randomly tell me something that she hates. "I hate meat!" is one of her favorites.

4. "I can't carry you because my leg hurts."
Ella has a broken leg from time to time now, mostly around the time that she needs to put her clothes in the hamper or put her plate in the kitchen. She says, "Ohh, my leg hurts!"

5. "If you do that one more time!" (with the finger point)
When Ella is frustrated with me she will tell me, "One more time!!" And yes, she has got the finger point down.

6. "We have to leave in 2 more minutes."
In my parenting classes at BYU "they" said to give your kids a warning before it is time to leave a task they are enjoying. Well, either this advice is craziness or I choose my words poorly because now Ella just keep asking for "2 more minutes." And it ends up that I am putting on her coat and boots while she is screaming, "2 MORE MINUTES, 2 MORE MINUTES!!"

7. "What did you like the best?"
I thought it would be a good thing to ask Ella what she liked the best about her day but she picked up on the phrase "the best" and now she uses it all the time. Like for example at dinner she likes to say, "I wanted chocolate the best!"

Isn't parenting funny? I thought I had to teach a little girl how to grow up and be a good adult and now I see that I might need to grow up (just a little) too.