So much to say

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. Sorry to future self trying to remember all the cool things Ellie did during this time.
She is 20 months old and communicating non-stop! She understands EVERYTHING and can get almost anything across, to me at least. Others would have a hard time translating "tow paw ite now pee" to "take me to the park in my stroller right now, please!" OK, she's not THAT bossy, but close.
She's bossy, obviously by the statement above, but she is an absolute angel. The rule in our house is that Ellie gets her way so long as it is safe and doable within our loose schedule. Otherwise she gets a firm 'no.' In exchange for my consideration for her desires she is an absolute angel and almost never cries or throws a temper tantrum, even when I say 'no'.
She loves being out and about and is a model child at the mall, restaurants, the gym daycare, and the grocery store. She's still shy in music class, but is starting to come out of her shell a bit musically. Check out the videos to see her moves at home! She's so much fun!
She is trying to potty train herself! It started when she didn't want to wear a diaper. I let her run around without one but kept a close eye on her to avoid accidents. After watching her for several days I was able to shoo her to the potty at convenient intervals. She has met all the milestones experts recommend waiting for. So we're going for it! Today was a super day and I'm optimistic that we'll be done with daytime diapers soon :).
Ellie is starting to come up with some of the funny toddler word confusions. For example, she kind of undertands 'today' and 'tonight' but gets them confused. She also tries to identify 'boys' and 'girls' but isn't always correct! She is very intrigued by the idea that I am 'Ellie's Mommy' and other women are other kids Mommy's. I swear you can see the gears turning!
She's very concerned about the difference between clean and dirty.
Ellie understands opposites and exclaimed excitedly 'cars, ground, Ellie up' as we were driving on an overpass and she glimpsed cars below!
She knows all of her colors,and calls them out everywhere, but can't say red or pink. So instead she calls red 'yellow' even though she knows it is not the same. Pink just leaves her speachless.
Her choo-choo set is her favorite toy, followed closely by cut fruit, baby dolls, play stroller, her popper, and her tea set.
She loves the playground and playing in her sand box.
Christmas was amazing and such fun to share with Elliette. She loves Santa Claus and all the decorations at Nana and Papa's. She got the hang of opening presents pretty quickly. She adores her cousins so much!
In Nashville Grandpa earned the nickname 'Papu' and I'm pretty sure she figured out that Grammy will give her anything she wanted because she (despite only having 2 in her whole life) started asking her for cookies at mealtimes!
My friend Elizabeth and her baby Calla are henceforth known as 'EB' and 'baby caa.' There is lots of talk of 'baby caa diaper, dirty/poopy/bye-bye' and 'baby caa nu-nu.'
After a rough time sleeping in Nashville, she's been sleeping much better!!!
Ellie has turned into a little bit of a night owl lately. I want to change it, but as long as she's sleeping well I'm going to go with it. My little pumpkin who couldn't last past 7pm stayed up until 10pm tonight. Go figure!
Oh, and if you are interested we now have pictures of Ellie's brain. She had an MRI done a week or two ago. I've mentioned this before but her head circumference is OFF THE CHART. Although a couple of Doctors assured me that she was probably just fine, google and good old fashioned Mama anxiety led me to find search out a third opinion. I loved the third Ped and he recommended taking a peak inside her noggin. With some help from our Madison Dr we were able to schedule a rapid MRI that didn't require sedation (which would have opened up a whole other can of worry - I mean worms). The test itself was awesome. Less than 3 minutes and Tate was able to go into the MRI machine while I hollered from a few feet away. We had a radiologist report within a couple of hours assuring us that the only thing to account for her large head was a large brain! Yipee. Stress has been drifting away ever since!
Oh, I almost forgot, Ellie refers to herself as 'Eddie.' She uses it all the time to connote ownership 'eddie tep' means 'get off the steps, I'm coming up', desire to do something herself 'eddie tok' means 'I'll feed myself with that fork thank you very much', or to introduce herself.