Ella is 14 months old today!

Ella is 14 months old! This little girl (certainly by no means a baby anymore!) is developing such a sweet and wonderful personality. She definitely keeps us busy, chasing her around the house. We have installed three (!!!) new baby gates because we just can't keep up with her energy level. This way we can keep her a little more contained, and we don't have to worry as much about what sort of mischief she is getting herself into. She loves going into our bathroom drawer to find her toothbrush, and "brushes" her (eight) teeth countless times every day.

She still absolutely loves her books, and always wants another one read. We got her first Scholastic book club order form the other day from daycare. I can't wait to have more books to read with her.

We've been spending a lot of time lately outside in her baby pool, which she really enjoys. She splashes in the water, and loves to run around the back yard. Unfortunately, she did get her first bee sting on her foot while running around outside barefoot the other day. Poor baby.

Ella continually amazes us lately with her level of comprehension, and how well she can follow directions. She can go get her toothbrush when asked, or put it away. She will get a book for us to read from her shelf when we tell her she can have one more. She recognizes songs, and has favorites already. She even remembers the order of songs on her favorite CD, and starts singing certain ones before they begin. Her brain must be like a sponge at this point. It seems like her knowledge of vocabulary grows exponentially by the day.

Ella especially loves to imitate animal noises, and is so proud of herself, and thinks it's funny when she does. Griffin is still her best friend. He can always make her laugh, and doesn't need to do much to prompt those adorable giggles. The other day she was putting her birthday hat on him, which she thought was absolutely hilarious. He is always a good sport about her silliness.

We've started to put her hair into pigtails because it was really starting to hang down into her eyes, and I think she looks utterly adorable!

Below is a picture of Ella exactly one year ago at two months old. What an amazing difference a year makes!