Ella is 23 months old today!

Ella is 23 months old today! I can't believe she is going to be two years old so soon! I neglected to post an update to the blog last month, so there is plenty to share.

Soon after the last post, Ella went pee pee on the potty for the first time! We have been casually letting her sit on the potty, and she actually did it one night. I think we were both very surprised.

The look of pride and happiness on her face that first time was so adorable. We decided to add some incentive to going potty, and have

promised her chocolate (a Hershey kiss) for every time she goes potty. Just the other night, I was saying to her, "I'll give you a chocolate if you go pee pee on the potty", to which she replied: "and money, too!". She's quite the savvy negotiator!

Lately, we have done a lot of work on the house, and Ella has been a big help. She "painted" with us, and went along on countless trips to Home Depot and Lowe's. She actually knows the difference between the two stores! She loved collecting different colored paint chips, especially the Mickey Mouse ones from Home Depot. She was very observant of all of the changes going on, and would compliment our work - "good job Mommy!".

Ella has been doing such a great job speaking in longer and more complete sentences lately. It's so much fun to see those wheels turning in her head, and to hear the strange things that sometimes come out of her mouth (like the money comment).

Ella is especially enjoying her music class, and loves to sing at home. She can do a pretty good rendition of her ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and many others.

We're so proud of the little girl our baby has become!

22 month picture

Ella one year ago

Ella is 21 months old today!

Ella is 21 months old today! She has been having a lot of fun playing with all of her new toys. We recently made our "dining" room (which has never had a dining table in it - yet) into a playroom for Ella. Ella likes to call it "Ella's office". When she wakes up in the morning, she immediately asks to go downstairs so she can begin her morning with some play in her new room.

She continues to amaze us with her language and memory. We recently went to a sporting store where there were many mannequins. She pointed to one and said "this" asking what was the word for it. I told her it was a mannequin, and she repeated it over and over as we walked through the store. A couple of weeks later, when we went back to the same store, we asked her if she remembered what it was called. She thought for a few seconds, looked back and forth between the two of us, and proudly came up with the word "mannequin". I was amazed that she would remember such a strange word, which we had obviously not used in front of her since the first time. It's really cute to see the wheels turning at times like this, and to see the proud look on her face.

Ella continues to show her new found independence in caring for herself like a big girl. We have a new step stool in the bathroom that she uses to brush her teeth, wash her face, and drink from a cup of water before bedtime. It's amazing how big she is getting - how fast the time flies! Below is a picture of Ella one year ago today at 9 months old.

Ella is 20 months old (a very belated update)!

Ella is 20 months old! This last month was lots of fun for us in anticipation of Christmas. About a month before Santa's arrival, we started talking with Ella about the entire tradition. She loved hearing about Santa flying with his reindeer to the top of our house, then coming down the chimney. She would repeat the key words, and would talk about it with us throughout the days. When we asked her what she wanted Santa to bring for her, the only request she ever made was for a bus (the same one we gave her friend Susanna for her birthday shortly prior). We also got to meet our new friend, Jingle the Elf. Jingle would report to Santa each night about whether Ella was naughty or nice that day. Then he would hide in a new spot in the house for Ella to find him the next morning, and she loved this game. She would often shout: "Jingle! Where are you?"

Another tradition we introduced to Ella was the chocolate advent calendar. Ella has a new love/obsession for this sweet treat, and would ask for her chocolate before breakfast even though she knew it was only for after dinner.

Appropriately, with respect to her new love of Chocolate, we visited Hershey park with Ella's friend London. They had so much fun on the little kiddie rides,

and Ella especially loved her free chocolate sample after our factory tour.

During our visit, Ella counted the number of Hershey kisses in a picture, all the way up to '10' all by herself!

On Christmas Eve, Ella left out milk and homemade chocolate chip cookies for Santa, as well as 9 baby carrots for his reindeer.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun. Santa did bring Ella the school bus she wanted, and also a new kitchen, complete with pretend food. She loves cooking interesting combinations while we're preparing her meals for her. Opening presents was a slow process, since she really just wanted to play with the already unwrapped toys!

Below is a video of Ella and Jamus singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Ella loved learning to sing Christmas songs!

Ella is 19 months old today!

Ella is 19 months old today! Ella's vocabulary has grown so much. She loves trying to say new words, or learn what something is called. It seems like she's quizzing us, asking "this?" over and over again, pointing to new objects. She has new alphabet magnets for the refrigerator, and will even sing parts of her ABCs. She is learning her colors and particularly loves to say "yellow".

Lately she has been so active, and really loves going to playgrounds (which she gets to do at school a lot) and playing in the yard.

She has been practicing how to do a somersault, and loves to run around with Griffin. She especially loves to be chased and tickled or swung around in circles. She is always asking for more tickles, more swinging, more running and chasing, more singing, more dancing...more, more, more! We love playing with our little cutie. It seems though that Ella has taken a slight turn into the land of "NO", and will emphatically tell us "no", when we're not used to that word coming out of her mouth! Although she likes to say "no" a lot now, she also has become even more affectionate, and will say "hug" and flop onto us for a wonderful hug, or will say "kiss" and pucker up her little lips - so incredibly sweet. We love our little girl!

Ella November 2010 - 1 year ago!

Happy Halloween!

Ella had fun dressing up as a cowgirl today, with Griffin as her horse (complete with saddle and reins). We enjoyed being in a Halloween parade with Ella's friend Susanna, and we even visited a few neighbors for some trick-or-treating before bed. Ella loved seeing all of the other kids' costumes, especially Susanna the Owl, a duck, and a giraffe.

Ella is 18 months old today!

Another month has gone by and Ella is really growing into a wonderful little girl. Ella has started combining words into two-word phrases, and just this morning Jamus told Ella to say "Hi Mommy, I love you", and she did! We were pretty impressed.

We also started up a music class with Ella's best friend Susanna. We had done this in the spring, and Ella liked it, but now she is really into it, dancing and playing with the musical instruments. She loves the songs from the class, and that's pretty much all we can listen to now while we're in the car with her. The class has been a lot of fun for both of us.

This month we went on a family vacation to San Diego, CA. Jamus had a conference for a few days, so we decided to extend the trip and make a vacation out of it. Jamus and I were both pretty nervous about our 5.5 hour direct flights, but Ella was once again a trooper with the airplane. She loves talking about how the airplane goes "up up up" in the air. We spent time both in La Jolla and San Diego. La Jolla was a gorgeous little town with an amazing rocky coastline and tons and tons of seals.

In fact, there is a beach called children's beach, where a large concrete wall was built to create a cove where children would be safe from the waves. The seals have since taken over the beach, and it's a lot of fun to go watch them laying on the beach, and swimming in the water. Ella loved watching them and trying to imitate their sounds. We also spent two days at Sea World, which we all loved.

The exhibits are really amazing. We spent a lot of time staring at fish swimming around, and Ella particularly enjoyed the sea turtles. She would request to see the "tu-tul"(s) over and over again. The very most exciting part about Sea World though,

is that there is an area with Sesame Street characters, rides, and play areas. Ella got to meet Elmo, who she adores.

She loves to talk about meeting Elmo, and you can really see the wheels turning in her head, remembering the moment - so cute!

There are some really great tidal pools in San Diego, and we spent a good portion of one day exploring the sea life, and looking at shells. Although we loved our trip, we were happy to get back to the comfort of our home. It was nice to have a home-cooked meal instead of going out (I never thought I'd say that!).

Ella is 17 months old!

Ella is now 17 months old! Since last month, she has transitioned into her toddler room at school, so has new teachers, and also a big girl backpack. She walks into the classroom all by herself, and is very proud of how big she is.

This month, Ella went on her first airplane ride. We prepared for the trip with plenty of DVDs, stickers, and coloring books. She ended up sleeping a little on both flights, and was overall very good. We have a much longer flight coming up at the end of the month, so that will be the true test!

Our trip was to Texas for a wedding of a friend of ours. Ella really did have a lot of fun. She got to see her Auntie Molly, got her first pair of cowboy boots, and danced way past her bedtime at the wedding reception. We're pretty sure in the picture below, she's trying to do the worm!

Cowboy boots!

Chillin' like a cool girl in her new boots.

Blowing off a little steam before her first airplane ride.

Trying to figure out the TV remote with her mini-sized towel on (a hand towel!).

Doing the worm!

Feeding herself yogurt like a big girl!

Swimming with Daddy.