Missing- Butter Knives

Ellyn loves butter knives these days. She will suddenly bolt with a purpose and you know just where to find her, in the kitchen. First, she tries looking in the sink. Yep, our Ellie is so tall now she actually looks down into the sink and if there is no knife to be found she heads for the silverware drawer. That is second choice because the drawer is old and heavy and she has to tug and tug and still it will resist her efforts and she has to come get mom or dad and bring us to the drawer making her "there is something I want" humming sound and we open the drawer and she "sneaky ninjas" a knife away from its friends and leaves the kitchen with a huge smile on her face.

Periodically I go through the house and look for the knives (they are not sharp at all by the way). I find them in the couch, by Ellyn's car seat, out in the courtyard. I highly doubt I will ever find all 8 of my matching ones again, oh well. We now spread peanut butter with the handle of a serving spoon.

Our Ellyn is amazing. She is learning so much every day. She surprised us a few days ago by giving Michael "five" when he asked Sawyer to give him "five." Now she does it all the time. Little words are slipping out, words like "goldfish" and "more" and sometimes "octopus" (that's part of her favorite song). She has learned to climb off her bunk bed in about 10 seconds, she loves walking through the commissary and through Costco. The other night she ate her entire spaghetti dinner with a fork. It made me get all teary.

Ellyn also loves belts- daddy belts. When Mike comes home from work Ellyn does a happy, giggling jog across the room to Mike and immediately pulls at his belt. Mike demands kisses and hugs and then whisks off his belt and Ellyn retreats happily to the couch, brown or black leather belt in hand.

Ellyn is much more gentle these days. She tries to be gentle with me. She loves to rub noses when she's happy and she desperately rubs noses when she is upset and she is trying to calm herself down. She is becoming more alert, more aware of all of us. She will snuggle with Sadie, she will give Sawyer kisses. It is beautiful and inspiring. She brings us so much joy. As always, we feel so blessed to have her in our lives.