Ella is 21 Months

Ella turned 21 months last Monday, on October 5! Here is a 21 month update on my sweet little girl - I know, it's less than 21 items, but if I included all 21 it'd be another week before I get this post up :)

- Some new words this month: more, soup, car, sneeze, go. Her voice is absurdly sweet. It is high pitched, soft at times, very loud at others, and just the sweetest sound there is. She understands much, much, much more than she says. It's pretty amazing how much she understands.

- Body parts she knows now and can point out: shoulders, back, neck, tongue, chest, elbow, knees, chin, nose, eyes, lips, hair, toes, and ears.

- She still has the 10 teeth that she's had for a few months now. It looks like another one is about to come in on the bottom but they do not seem to be in any hurry! She still enjoys teeth brushing and is pretty good now about saying "aaahhh" and opening her mouth when we brush her teeth.

- She laughs out loud so much and it's just so funny. She has a loud, hysterical sounding laughter that seems to come from nowhere and then another one when she really gets going. Us laughing seems to always make her laugh too.

- She is size 4 in diapers, just moved into size 5 in shoes, and is in 18M for clothes.

- She dances in the carseat to music, loves bopping around back and forth, every time she hears a beat she perks up and starts to move.

- She gets kissier and huggier by the day, it is just awesome. All of a sudden she'll just lean in, give a giant hug and kiss. We have movie star kisses where she grabs our face with her hands and gives an excellent kiss, those are the best. I love how she just becomes more and more affectionate. She also puckers up her lips and leans in for kisses. There is truly nothing better!

- She LOVES being outside. She'll point outside and just say "out" over and over and over again. When we play in the backyard, she really just wanders around and could hang out there for hours. At the playground, she seems more interested in checking everything out than actually climbing on/playing on the equipment.

- During bathtime she is getting a lot better about getting her hair washed, although we don't dunk her backwards anymore but instead pour the water out from her bucket. She loves bathtime and and it's one of her favorite parts of the day. She can pick out her whale, trains, cup, bucket, block, bottle and cap, and bucket in the bathtub.

- She understands so much and is really capable of following directions (this does not mean she always does!). She nods in understanding and really knows what we're saying. When she 'gets' something, she perks up and vigorously nods her head to let you know she understands.

- She is really stubborn and willful and enjoys shouting NO to us when we ask her to do something she doesn't want to do. This frequently earns her time outs, as does hitting us. Sometimes she thinks hitting is just really funny and happens when she's in an overly wild mood, and sometimes I can tell she's frustrated. She understands timeouts and I hope they're paying off. Her other show of strength is when she swats from afar. This is when she does not actually hit because she's several feet or more away, but swats to show her annoyance and/or frustration. In my mind this is just about the same as hitting b/c it would be a hit if she were right there.

- Some current favorites this month:

- Favorite accessories: Stamps and stickers

- Favorite toys: play kitchen, shopping cart, tea set, ride on toys

- Favorite activities: playing outside, tea parties, coloring, supervising the dogs, reading books.

- Favorite book: Peppy, Patch & Bath (she wants to read this EVERY night...no other book will do the past few weeks)

- Favorite foods: rice, pasta, cheese, yogurt, crackers, cookies.

- She also loves being tickled, playing "piggies" with her toes, and getting lots of kisses on her neck. With very little exception,she has fun and enjoys herself from about 5 minutes after waking up until the minute she goes to bed.

- Bedtime is one of my favorite parts of the day. After her bath I put on her jammies, we brush teeth, she says good night to Steve and then comes back into her room to read and snuggle. She asks for her binky, picks the book she wants to read, and pats the chair for me to sit down. Then she backs into my lap and we snuggle and read. She loves reading and laughs sometimes, nods and is really into the book. Of course she says more for a few extra readings when it's over. Then we snuggle in the chair together until she wants to go in her crib and then I reluctantly put her down for the night. Such a little sweetheart.

Some 21 month photos:






Ella is just an absolutely amazing and sweet little girl - happy 21 months to my babydoll!!