Happy Halloween!

Ellie had a wonderful Halloween! Ellie got the hang of Trick or Treating almost immediately and we managed to keep her candy-free (this year!) The days after Halloween she frequently walked to the front door and said "paupau" for Pumpkin. She got her pumpkin pail designed for trick or treating confused with the pumpkin outside on our doorstep. So, she would stand there and demand that we go outside and pick up the large real pumpkin and walk up and down our street carrying it and knocking on our neighbors doors. So silly! For the record, she was supposed to be a panda, but the costume looks a little like a cow . . . so we'll just call her cute and cuddly.
Here are some details from her life lately:
She is a real outdoorsy kid! She wants to go out front or out back almost all the time.
She loves her baby dolls and one of them comes with us whenever we go somewhere in the car.
She's very verbal. She can already say, Mama, Dada, more, cracker, milk, juice, aqua, money (for the coins we bury in her sand box), Grandpa, Papa, Nana, Grammy, apple, nut, tortilla, tater (as in potato, not her daddy), noodle, blue, purple, thank you (which she says ALL THE TIME!), baby, outside (pronounced "ide"), ball, car, truck, hi, bye-bye, eye, tweet-tweet (for bird), bear, pumpkin, park, nurse, no, turtle, Ellie (pronouced without the "l" sound), jewelry (pronouced "oo-ee"), belly button (pronounced "bababa"), poop (which she calls everything that kind of looks like poop, and sometimes brown things that don't look like poop), uh-oh, bath, boot, shoe, dog, duck, quack, moon, bunny, tutu, popper (the push thing that makes popping noises), bed, night-night, choo-choo, up (pronounced "pa"), book, Negra and much much more.
Of course, she understands almost everything we say and we have had to start spelling things!
She also chatters to herself in full conversation form. I've even spied her talking in different voices about the car as she was collecting toys and walking towards the back door. I think she was imitating Mama and Dada getting things together to leave the house. As I mentioned above, she says "Thank you" (pronounced "dadu" in a high pitched voice) dozens of times a day. Almost every time she hands us something she says it and she often thanks us when we hand her things. She beams when we say "You're welcome" and that frequently inspires her to thank us again.
She also really likes to grunt, grumble, and talk in a very throaty deep voice. I think she's just experimenting with her range of vocal abilities, but it is really different from the high-pitched girlie voice of last month.
She is really into the fall leaves. Today I saw her look up at a tree as the wind blew some of its leaves off. She had the sweetest little smile on her face as if she knew that this was part of the beautiful cycle of life.
She loves her grandparents! Grammie and Grandpa were here for a full week and Ellie loved every minute. Mama got some much needed rest and we all hit the State Fair, the Arboretum, the outlet mall, and much much more. A week after they left Nana and Papa came up for Halloween! Ellie's one lucky little girl to have such loving grandparents!
Look for pictures of Dada and Ellie raking leaves this weekend!