Packing her Plane

I wrote a few days ago how Ella loves to put things in something (a box, a bag, etc) take them out, and do it all over - again and again and again.

Here she is packing up the cargo holder on her little airplane!



And here are some other pics from the last few days

Snuggling with daddy


Checking out the animals in her "busy zoo"


Good morning sleepyhead!

Marbles Kids Museum

This weekend Mom & I took Ella to Marbles Kids Museum downtown. It's the first time we've taken Ella there and it's ideally for ages 1+ so I've been excited to take her there since her birthday.

All bundled up with Grammy and ready to go


She is of course still a little small to do a lot of things but she really had a great time and played for about 2 hours straight. We actually spent the whole time in this really big section called "About Town" where there are tons of little stations set up to be like a little town and many things to play with.

There was a little section for "baby marbles" and here are some pics from playing in there.

Riding on a duck


She LOVED a jar of feathers


Enjoying the fish tank


Hey - who are all those Ellas??


Making friends


Then we headed out into the rest of the 'town'for some more playing.

Dressed up as a fireman but not crazy about it


Sliding with Grammy


Woah this is so fun!!


Working on the cash register at the post office


Checking on the packages


Ella loves ipods, phones, remotes, etc so I figured she'd really love playing with the toy cash register because of all the buttons and the drawer popping open, but it was too high for her, so I put her on a little chair so she could reach. Well of course she didn't realize the limitations of the chair and kept stepping off of it in one direction or the other so I spent a lot of the time either moving the chair to keep her on it, and otherwise making sure that she was steady on the chair. Mom took this video and although it's cute to see her playing with the register, the reason I'm posting this is because of the last ten seconds - you see her slide down the chair, make a really surprised face, then my face when I realize that she fell, and it makes me laugh out loud to watch it. Then of course she goes right back to playing. Maybe you had to be there to think it's funny but I really get a kick out of it and think it's pretty amusing!


Checking on some animals in the stall


In a farmers hat!


Probably the most fun for Ella was playing with a train track that was the perfect height for her. She got right in there next to bigger kids and played right alongside of them.


Best of all was knocking trains off the track as soon as Mom would push them around a bend - Mom just kept pushing them over and she just kept pushing them off in a pile as fast as she could...watch this video clip to see
Here we are at the end of all that fun, a BIG YAWN from my little one!

It was a really fun time and I definitely want to go back often - there was still plenty of musuem that we haven't seen yet, and I really think Ella had a wonderful time.

A Girl's Gotta Play

Items one, two and three on Ella's To Do list every day are always the same - 1)play, 2)play, and 3)play! Everything interests her and she is curious about everything - especially if has buttons, makes noise, is something she can move, or can do over and over like putting blocks in a box and taking them out. She likes to talk to her toys while she's playing with them and really gets into her conversations.

Here she is pushing her little 'lawn mower' from Aunt Erin


She decided to take a break by the fridge so she could dance to the music





And here she is talking to her music table


And playing with her lion


All of this was in quick succession in the span of less than an hour - she is a VERY busy girl!!

Standing up on her own!

Balancing has never been one of Ella's greatest talents but she has just started to stand up on her own this weekend and I finally caught it on camera tonight!

We've been trying for a few weeks now to gently let go of her when she's holding on to our hands but she usually just squats down right away. Just in the last week or so she'll let go on her own for a few seconds at a time and then this weekend she started to stand up on her own in order to clap for herself - she LOVES clapping and it seems to be the only distraction good enough at this point to make standing without support worth it!

Mom, Steve and I all got to see her this weekend do it a few times but it seemed that as soon as I got my camera she would sit back down - until tonight! She was happily pushing her little toy from Erin around the hallway and then stopped to give herself a hand!



How precious is that little angel???

New Kicks

We've got some shoes for Ella before but never have done actual shoe shopping and we went this weekend for the first time. We used the little measuring tool (she is a size 3) and got her the 2 cutest little pairs of sneakers...and look how teeny the shoeboxes are!



She isn't walking yet so it's not like she needs to wear a lot of shoes but she is outside more and when we're out she frequently wants to be put down so it makes sense to have her feet covered up and then as soon she's walking she'll already be used to them.

Here she is in her pink converse all-stars

Do you think it's time for us to get those cabinet child-proofing latches?




Check me out!

She's Got the Beat

Ella LOVES to dance...here are some video clips of her moves over the last week :)

Here she is playing with a puzzle piece, but when the music starts, she has to boogie!


Dancing with Daddy at bedtime


Checking out the dishwasher and dancing at the same time...

Happy Valentine's Day

Laundry Baskets = Lots of Fun

Last night Ella managed to flip over the laundry basket and get herself into it...look how proud she is of herself!



Look at me!!


And, in other news, after her bath tonight, she took her comb and held it up on top of her head, because she knew that it's used to brush her hair!

Peekaboo!

Here's a little video of Ella playing peekabo with my jacket tonight. First she gleefully pulled it off the chair, then began to hide in it...toooooo cute!

Trip to Harris Lake

We really lucked out this weekend and had gorgeous weather - it was sunny and around 70 both days, so on Saturday afternoon we took Ella to Harris Lake, which is pretty close to our house.







Both of us thought the other one had brought Ella's socks, so the end result is that we had a barefoot little girl wanting to take off on her own across the grass. When we first put her down, she didn't know what to make of it, especially because it's still so prickly from the winter.

Look at her holding her foot in the air



After just a minute though she was off!


Standing up


Rolling around in the grass!


It was such a nice afternoon and really made me look forward to spring and being able to take Ella a lot

A REAL Kiss!!!

Boy oh boy did Ella surprise us today. We were in Blockbuster looking for a movie and Steve was holding her and I leaned in to give her a kiss. Well right after I did, she started "blowing kisses" where she puts her hand over her mouth and so we realized that she "got" that I had just kissed her, and now she was blowing kisses back - we've never before seen her show that she realizes those are both different kinds of kisses.

Well, like I do all the time (but never have gotten this response before) I leaned in to her and said "Ella, can I have a kiss?" and SHE LEANED RIGHT IN AND POPPED HER OPEN MOUTH ON MY CHEEK...it was a dream come true :). She did it about 10 more times, both to me and then to Steve. It was awesome!! I just hope she remembers it for tomorrow.... :)

Ella is 13 Months Old

Ella turned 13 months today! It is just amazing. In honor of her 13 month birthday, here are 13 notes notes about Ella lately.

1 - She LOVES pets. At the superbowl party that we went to, they had 3 cats - she crawled right up to them, but instead of reaching out to try to pet them, she put her head forward and nuzzled their sides with the top of her head...totally adorable. At home, she has the somewhat less adorable habit of sticking her tongue out and trying to lick our dogs' noses (yuck!) and even attempts to drink out of their water bottle in the crate (double yuck). Just seeing Sammy can make her burst out laughing.

2 - Her hair has really gotten longer lately, and I made an appointment to get it trimmed in the back (to even it all up) on Saturday. I changed my mind though, it's just too cute and is starting to curl in the back, I can't get rid of any of it yet!! Here's a sideview of a little curl


3 - She is definitely getting a little temper - if she is frustrated, she lets you know - she looks you right in the eyes and says "aaaahhhhh" and starts to yell. Here she is frustrated that she's stuck under her music table.


4 - My favorite thing is when I hold Ella and she rests her head on my shoulder and tucks her arms in under her belly. She is so content and I could hold her like that forever.

5 - She thinks that if her eyes are covered, she is invisible...this leads to tons of laughter when she gets "found" by us. She loves pointing her fingers, spinning cirlces, clapping, and blowing kisses, all which greatly amuse us.

6 - She's so close to being able to stand up her own, but not quite there yet - she pushes up on her right knee but can't get the left one underneath herself. She never gets tired of climbing up and down on us and will sometimes do it 20 times in a row.

7 - When she's excited and you pick her up, she wildly kicks her legs and says "woooahhh"

8 - You never know what you're going to get at mealtimes. Something that she loved a few days ago, she may have zero interest in today. Her standby favorites are grilled cheese, pasta, sweet potatoes, potatoes, oranges, and anything with cheese.

9 - Ella still has just 2 teeth!! The two front bottom ones...and so far, no other ones are even breaking through.

10 - Her smile is absolutely contagious and makes me so happy


11 - Just about every time I try to take a picture of her, I have to be super fast because as soon as she catches a glimpse of the camera, she starts climbing on me to get to it.
Exhibit A


12 - Bath time is sooooo much fun with Ella now. She laughs hysterically, kicks, yells, splashes and just generally has a blast. It is awesome. Not too mention how cute her hair is all wet and getting to see her all wrapped up in a towel is just the best.

13 - Ella is absolutely, positively the best, best thing that has ever happened to us!!!

Steve's Birthday

Here are some pics of Ella and Daddy on his birthday



Here she is helping unwrap the presents that she so carefully helped to wrap!









Bonus pic - here they are on Steve's birthday last year - I barely recognize that teeny little girl :)



Dad and Donna came up to babysit so that Steve & I could go out on Saturday night, and we had a great night. We had a nice dinner and then went to see Norm McDonald at a comedy show. I even got to talk to Norm McDonald a few minutes after the show and was trying to stall him so that Steve would get to meet him but no luck. We had such a fun night and a great way to celebrate Steve's birthday!

Here's Ella with Grandad


With Grandma and Grandad

Little Wrapper

Ella was an amazing little helper when it was time to wrap Steve's birthday gifts.

First she enjoyed playing with the tape, but then the wrapping paper was much more fun!








Here's a video clip of her figuring out the noise that the wrapping paper makes...turn on your speakers so you can hear her 'talking' to the paper :)


Woah!