Daddy’s little helper.

Brian is building a shed, half of which will double for an office.  He is loving it and wishes he could do it all day long every day.  The end goal is to be working from home, either with his current job, or even better for his own company.  I married a dreamer!

A really handsome dreamer!

The picture above is my new favorite picture of Elna—she didn’t know the picture was being taken and was intently trying to pencil the wood and measure at the same time—just like her daddy.  Such a funny girl!

And a few things about Elna because I realize I update Hattie every month, but don’t do updates on Elna as often anymore:

At 2 + years, Elna is still as determined as they come!  She will go places…I just hope it’s in a good direction, because she won’t let anyone tell her otherwise.  She is so kind to Hattie—she absolutely loves her sister and thinks it is fun to play with her and make Harriet smile.  She is still doing so well with potty training, with just the occasional accident.  She is back to being a pretty good sleeper—she took a definite break that lasted several months, where she came out of her room and/or kicked the door and screamed until we thought the house would fall down, but she’s back to her normal sweet sleeping self—thank goodness!  She loves going to nursery (she also took a break from loving that for a while)!  We are learning that she will do most anything for a treat—going to bed, staying in bed, and going to nursery included.  She also loves to dance, sing, play at the park, be outside, do anything with Daddy, go through the car wash, eat goldfish, oatmeal, bread, beans, dough (which can even just be flour or flour and water) and anything with “chapa”. 

Some of the funny things Elna says are:

--“chapa” for ketchup—funny dyslexic version.

--“mooze” for move.

--“milo” for smile.  In context: “Hattie milo” in a very excited voice.  She says “Hattie milo” every time Hattie smiles, which is kind of a lot.

--“tiny bit” and “bit” while she holds her thumb and index finger together to show a small amount.  I will give her almost anything if she says this to me, because how could you resist?  “Lotion? Tiny bit?”  “Dough?  Bit?”  

--the other day after our walk she was about to head into the house from the garage and I was still at the other end of the garage coming in, and she kept repeating “kissel”, with a very serious little face, holding up her pointing finger and using her most intense little voice.  I kept trying to figure out what she was saying and couldn’t.  The next day in a different conversation she used the word again, but I was able to figure out because of context that she was saying “careful”.  Now I realize that the day before she was warning me to be “careful” because of the mouse that we once saw by the doorway of the garage.  “Kissel!”  (careful!)

--speaking of not being able to say the “f” sound, when she says her whole name it sounds like, Elna “Sae” Harris (and sometimes Harris sounds like Sarah)—it’s pretty dang cute.

--“um…I don’t know” if I ask her a question.  

--“I did it” when she blows bubbles in the bathtub or does other clever things.

--after our incident a few months ago with her getting into my mascara, she will now point to my makeup while I am doing it and say, “touch it? no, no, no!”  Apparently I have made it clear! 

I wish I could think of all of the funny things she says and does, but here is the gist: she is a darling, determined, kind, and funny little girl who we are lucky to know and raise!