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!