Ella 30 Month Update (2 1/2)

I didn't write one for 28 or 29 months.

Stats:

• Weight: 29 lb (55th percentile) 
• Height: 37 inches  (86th percentile) (Standing. Didn't measure lying down)
• Head Circumference: 48.6 cm (62nd percentile)
• Pullups: 2T/3T
• Clothing: 3T but she still wears some 2T stuff and the shirts are a little short. She also has some 4T stuff that fits.  Most 3T shirts seem to be as short as 2T and just a lot wider. She ends up showing some skin when she extends her arms up in the air. I mostly buy 3T or 4T and like tunics or long shirts.  Shorts she wears 2T still.  She has some pants that still fall down even with a pullup on that are 2T but other brands a 4T stays up. We like Target leggings because they are nice and slim. 

Sleep
Ella naps wonderfully at preschool. She naps horribly for me. I either drive her around or she does not nap.  She is the queen of stalling at night.  If we start earlier than 10 she is up past midnight. If we start later than 10 she might be in her room without venturing out by 10:30 but usually closer to 11.  We had the gate with the door in her room but she quickly learned how to open that one. Now most nights we end up putting the other gate in but she still involves crying at the door wanting something. She has to go potty at least once. She often asks for water. Then later asks for milk. Sometimes she wants a snack.   She sleeps at night mainly in her rocking chair. Sometimes she has slept in her toy house. She probably only slept once overnight in her actual bed the past month. 

Eating
Some days she barely eats. Other days she eats a little more.  One day we'll serve meatloaf and mashed potatoes and she'll only eat the mashed potatoes. The next time we make the same thing she only eats the meatloaf. She definitely wants junk food all the time. 

Sample Schedule:
She still almost has 2 schedules. Her nap schedule with me and her nap schedule at preschool. 
She wakes up around 8. (Well it ranges from 7:30 - 9,) She goes to sleep between 10:30 PM and midnight. We start bedtime routine around 10 now because she goes to sleep earlier if we start later. She doesn't fall asleep for nap until after 3 and after a car ride when she's with me. 

At preschool she naps between 1 and 1:30. They also take less than 5 minutes to get her settled down and she's always one of the first kids sleeping. She naps about 2 hours there and is often close to last to wake up.  More and more lately she is the last one asleep. When I go at 3:30 to pick her up for a meetup she will still be asleep. She will be the only one sleeping for awhile. She has had a few days where she sleeps 2.5 hours there too. 

At preschool she eats snack around 9:45 and then lunch around 11:30 and then snack again shortly after nap.   We eat dinner after we are home but sometimes a little while later. She only eats before preschool if we are late and she's missing snack at school. 

At home, I don't know if we always do breakfast + AM snack + lunch + snack + dinner.  But I do think she often snacks before nap. We may or may not have the AM snack.  Breakfast is usually a couple hours after waking up.

Bedtime routine is different yet again.  It even shortly changed.  We were trying to go to the big bed and wind down in there starting at 8 but we'd be in there or fighting her to stay in her room so long that we don't go in there that early anymore.  She watches her ipad. Then we go to her room and we may or may not read a book (or 2). I always try to get Dave to do this part and of course he wants me to do it. I'm always the one who is stuck helping her each time she needs something. If she has to go potty, it's me not him. So I want him to take over something.  We usually tuck her in at least 4 different times a night.   Lately it's so hot when she goes to sleep that she wakes up freezing and gets socks then comes in and asks me to help her put them on. Then she cuddles in bed with me and is back to sleep almost right away.  The other day she was really cold and wanted pants too and it took her an hour to fall back to sleep. Her arms were so cold I knew she needed to warm up before going to sleep.

We often have to wake her up in the morning to get Dave to work. This is around 9.  Then lately I wake her up from nap every day so she's not napping too late. Even if I wake her up from a short nap she stays up late. If she misses her nap, she stays up just as late and is super miserable. 

She wears pullups at night and during naps just so she will sleep better. She's at the point where they are dry over half the time.  At preschool mostly lately they have been leaving her in her big girl undies and I think she only had 1 accident the past few weeks while sleeping.

Special Moments:
On April 20, Ella counted to 11.
On April 22, Ella used adult soap and shampoo in the shower.
On April 23, Ella put yogurt in her cereal. I said "Don't put yogurt in your cereal." She looked at me and started putting cereal in her yogurt. 
On April 23, she played with legos and built a "rocket."
On April 26, she woke up saying "My bed is all wet." She started changing the sheets. (She was up for 4 hours in the night.
On May 7, She hugged my belly to hug the baby. Then later I think she felt a kick then suddenly turns to me and says "Baby growing"
On May 8, I ask Ella why she keeps taking off her clothes. Her response is "pictures."
On May 9, Ella dropped baby Timmy. She picks him up to comfort him. Then says "It's OK to cry."   A few minutes later a water bottle fell. I pick it up and give it to her. She says it's OK to cry as she comforts the bottle! An hour later she drops baby off her shoulders and says "I'm sorry." then "it's OK to cry." I guess us telling her it's OK to cry set in.     Dave turned on Rachel Maddow Show and Ella says "watch Rachel"
On May 11, Ella was dry all day at preschool in her big girl undies.
On May 21, Ella was on her tricycle in the garage and accidentally went down the driveway. I ran after her but just before I got to her 3/4 of the way down the driveway she turned the handle bars sharply to the right to stop the thing. I guess instinct was good on how to not run into the road.
On May 28, she used her quarters to buy gumballs. Dave took her to breakfast without me. She had fun and she did well not swallowing the gum.
On June 2, she had her 2nd full day in a row of no accidents in her big girl undies even at nap.


There are probably many more things but I lack at writing things down now.  I also had more of things she said but figured I should save those for an Ella Says post.

Development:
Ella can count to 11 on her own. Once you say 13 she will say 13, 14, 16 and 17. 
I don't think I do the alphabet enough to know how much she's improved. If I "forget" then she will say the next few. But mainly she likes to say a, b, c. 
She sings a lot more songs. She does the hand motions too.  She even makes up songs based on things that are happening. 
She knows more letters but will randomly see an E and yell "E Ella" (E for Ella) 

Other Tidbits:
Likes
Pool
Friends
Parks
Crafts
Shopping (not in a cart!)
Dolls (specifically Baby Timmy)
Watching her iPad (loudly!)
Pens, specifically disassembling and reassembling them

She still likes: She LOVES the park. She likes to "go park." Swings are her favorite part.
She likes apple juice. 
She likes clocks. 
She likes to watch Twitch TV. She will argue with Dave over which streamer to watch. 
She likes her friends. She likes more friends! Now she's better at referring to them by name.
She likes to paint.
She likes candy. 
She likes rockets and going into space.

Dislikes
Going to sleep
Sitting in a cart
She has a fear of missing out so she hates everything associated with that.
She doesn't like it when you help her.

Random Things
Ella is talking a lot. She says so many things. I'm shocked at how much she knows or remembers.  Without prompting she will talk about how she goes to preschool tomorrow or things like that.
 Every now and then I have trouble understanding her but for the most part I can.  For 2 days she kept asking em to get her "E Ella" and I had no idea what she wanted. I offered her her E shirts or her necklace or a few other things and nothing was right. I'd ask her to lead me there and she'd take me to the corner of the kitchen by the refrigerator but I still couldn't figure it out.

She loves rockets. She talks about the fire and how that's how they go up into space. She will draw on paper and tell me she's drawing a rocket. Then she draws more and says it's the fire to go up into space.  On a few occasions she has drawn fire (scribbles) on her stomach because she wanted to go up into space.

She has become so independent. She wants me to leave when she goes to the bathroom. She will go sit in her room and use her iPad. She likes to be alone because then she can turn the volume up.

She wants me all the time. She never wants Dave. I will tuck her in 10 times at night. If Dave even attempts she flips out. But also most nights he falls asleep before her running out of her room is even done with. I said he's lucky.

(I wrote this almost a month ago and just realized now it's not posted. oops. It was sitting in my drafts.)