Ella is 17 Months!

Ella turned 17 months on Friday, June 5. Her personality is just amazing and seems more grown up every day. I really don't even think of her as a baby anymore, she is so much more of a little girl than a baby. She's so sweet and loving, funny, and fun to be around.

Here are 17 notes about Ella this month -

1 - Ella is definitely a toddler now, in actions and attitude! She has wild emotion swings, from the happiest girl in the world, to the saddest...in a second she can get so upset with something, scream and yell, and then will feel better in just an instant. She can be a really WILD WOMAN and lets us know just how hard and difficult it is to be in her shoes!

2 - She now has 6 teeth - 4 on the top, and 2 on the bottom. The 4 up top all came in the last month, within a week of each other. it's funny because the 2 on the bottom also came in at the same time. She LOVES brushing them, independently of course!

3 - Her hair is really getting long, and so curly in the back. I try to keep a clip to keep it out of eyes, and sometimes a ponytail. It may be close to needing a haircut but I'm still undecided.

4 - Some new words this month are teeth, nomar (pronounced No-no), up, hot, hat, and cheese. She knows the signs for 'more', 'drink' and 'gentle' (which she hears about a hundred times a day, and often will respond by doing the sign!). She says Mommy all the time now, but like "Memmay" (and frequently it's said with great distress, because, like I said before, no one can imagine just how hard it is to be in her shoes)...I'll take it though!

5 - She is really interested in books now - she loves being read to, will flip the pages for us, and will sit on our laps for a whole story, or even several in a row. She picks the book that she wants to read out of her bookshelf and then snuggles to read it.

6 - She is pretty much obsessed with Sammy, Cory and Nomar, and can be doing anything at all, but when one of them appears on her radar, her priorities change and she must pay attention to them pronto!

7 - Her eating is still picky but I'm more relaxed about it now and she's doing pretty well, especially when I look at the big picture over a day or two, instead of each meal. Plus her milk drinking is a lot better than it used to be.

8 - She has become quite the climber! She can now get down off the couch, can just about get off our bed by herself, can walk over different elevations without tripping, and pretty much tries to swing her leg over the side of anything to figure out if she can make it out (including the bathtub).

9 - She is up to a size 4 in diapers, and is in mostly 12 month clothes still, but moving into 18 months and seems a lot taller all of a sudden. Her tummy is so perfectly round when she sticks it out and her chunky thighs are just the best.

10 - Some things she likes to try to do herself: Pull her shirt off over her head (once I get her arms out), line her shoes up on her feet, brush her hair, brush her teeth, wipe her face and hands with a wipe, use a paper towel on the floor to clean up, throw things in the trash can.

11 - Here are some words that although she can't say them, she knows what they mean and will get them if you ask: shoes, milk, brush, book.

12 - She can point to her nose, teeth, hair, cheeks, tummy and toes. And she LOVES pointing to my teeth!

13 - Her personality is just so awesome - she cracks herself up and will run around laughing hysterically, has tons of funny faces where she makes me laugh with just looking at her. She is SO BUSY all of the time. I don't think her mind takes even the slightest rest unless she is asleep. She is constantly on the go, always on a mission, and busy, busy, busy all day long.

14 - She has become so affectionate - she gives great big hugs where she throws her arms around our neck and holds on so tight, she'll sit on my lap and throw her arm around my shoulder, and is just generally so sweet and affectionate. She'll even come up behind us if we're sitting on the floor and wrap her hands around our shoulders, or play with my hair. When I ask for a kiss she leans her cheek in or brings her hand to her mouth to blow kisses.

15 - Her eyes are just so expressive and I can tell if she's happy, sad, sleepy, mischevious, or anything in between, just by looking at them.

16 - Ella is very fascinated by other children, especially ones that are the same age and size - she likes to reach out and touch them, sometimes gives hugs, and almost always pats them on the head. She waves to everyone, says "hi" or "hey" with a big smile. I am pretty convinced she thinks that my girlfriend's 7 month old is a little pet put on this earth exclusively for Ella's entertainment!

17 - I really do not think there's any better sound than Ella's sweet little voice - she always experiments with different tones and it's so sweet, very soft, especially when she's trying out new words. She can talk for minutes at a time, complete with hand gestures, expressions, looking right into our eyes, with so much meaning behind it. She gets very loud, animated and excited, complete with finger pointing and if only we knew what she was saying!!

Every day with Ella really feels like a gift, and I'm just so thankful to be so blessed with her. It's incredible to see her learning so much, realizing how and when things 'click' with her, and how she picks up on things. She can definitely be quite a handful, she gets really wild and will hit us (in the face!), kick crazily, and sometimes looks right at me while she's doing something she knows she shouldn't...she is absolutely in the toddler, testing phase and her personality is strong and willful and she keeps us on our toes, that's for sure. She just makes me so happy and what a wonderful 17 months it's been!