back on schedule and obsessions

it took about a week of sleepless nights and red-eyed parents before we were back on normal central-time schedule. much better now.

it's getting much cooler. the beaches are closed (and too cold anyway), Ella is wearing her new sneakers instead of sandals, and we tried on last-year's oversized outwear and were relieved that it still fits (actually it's just the right size now). we're ready for snow. (but not eagerly waiting).

school is great. it's much easier to drop Ella off at school in the morning than get her to leave in the afternoon. we have to bribe her with promises of Hummus and cookies (that await at home) in order to make it to the car. many times we make it to the car screaming and kicking.
many of the older kids (2-3yo) graduated on to different schools, and now Ella is one of the older kids there. can you imagine that??? there are four older kids in her group, two of which will also leave at the end of the month. i have mixed feelings about that. on one hand, she will get more one-on-one with Coffy. on the other hand, she learned tons from the older kids. and on yet the other hand some of the things she learned from the older kids are not great (see kicking and screaming above).
so we'll see how this turns out. she's a smart kid.

a smart kid with obsessions. yes, she's a little obsessive sometimes. to the old stair-climbing obsession we now add opening and closing gates; soap bubbles; and the worst of all: keys.
we were in ignorant bliss when she stopped putting our keys in her mouth (the plastic set of keys i got her didn't interest her one bit). now she's intent on using the keys the same way we use them, for opening doors. urgh! if it were up to her, i would have had to hold her up for 10 minutes by the front door while she tries to put the (wrong) key in the lock. she wouldn't accept help, and her failure to operate the lock frustrates her.

does anyone know where we can buy this lock and key toy? if you have a used one we'll take it off your hands. if we can't find one we'll make one ourselves (buy locks at home depot and screw them to a board). hopefully we'll get to it before she moves on to a new obsession.

it's not all bad though. Ella's communication skills are improving -- she's using more and more words every day, and can communicate what she wants much better, which leads to less melt-downs. she understands and follows requests (give it to abba, go to your chair, etc) and can indicate if she wants something that we offer (usually she says "no"). she's mastered the "help please" and "up please" instead of whining. she knows how to ask for several things. she names toys, shapes, and some of the numbers. hooray! i'm happy now that she's learning to speak, i know i'll curse in a couple of years when she doesn't stop talking.