Ella turned 20 months on September 5 - here are 20 notes about my sweet pumpkin this month!
1 - She now has 10 teeth - 6 in front (4 on top, 2 on the bottom), and 2 molars on each side (one top and one bottom). The molars have each taken about a full month to come in! It looks like she's getting close to some more front teeth coming in as well.
2 - Her favorite word is, without question, 'no' - she says it
all the time
, primarily to mean "YES"!! She has all different tones of saying it too, and she's very animated with her 'no's.
3 - Instead of calling Nomar "cat", she now calls him by his full name, or as close as she can get - a drawn out NO-MAH followed by hysterical laughter when he actually comes to his name being called.
4 - She frequently goes up to Nomar and says "ow, ow, ow"...she knows cats say meow and so she is communicating with him!
5 - It amazes me how much she picks up and how I can say something as simple as "ready to go?" and she heads right for the door, knowing exactly what I mean. She'll laugh when we laugh and seems to understand so much.
6 - Ella loves when she has something 'to do' and feels very important. She acts immediately with top urgency and hustles right over with lots of flourish!
7 - She's decided she no longer wants to attempt to walk down the stairs by herself and so I have to carry her down the stairs every time. When it's time to walk up the stairs, she is so easily distracted it can take 2 minutes to climb the stairs...no kidding.
8 - I don't think there is anything better IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE than when I crouch down on the ground and put my arms out and she runs into my arms for a big hug and kiss...not exaggerating, I could do that 200 times a day if she'd go for it (and I frequently try!)
9 - She loves her books! She'll open one up in the car and point and look at it and carries them with her from room to room, and loves reading before bed.
10 - She's in a size 4 in diapers, size 4 in shoes, and 18 months for clothes.
11 - Her sleep overnight is really good - she sleeps from about 9 pm - 7:15 am, and is down to one nap during the day for about 2 hours.
12 - She loves, loves, loves bathtime and would probably stay in for an hour if we'd let her. She plays with her trains and cups, and fills and dumps them out, over and over, and over. She does not, however, like her hair getting washed and even after doing it for so long, still protests every night when it's time to lean back and wash her hair.
13 - She's a creature of habit and likes her routines - she gets in her crib and wants her binky and blankie; when I wake her up in the morning, she roots around in her crib until she finds her binkie, pops it in her mouth, grabs her blankie, then we snuggle for a bit. She has them both while she gets her diaper changed, then excitedly throws them into her crib. After bath time she likes to watch all of the water to drain and isn't ready to brush teeth until all of the water is gone.
14 - She thinks she is in charge of the dogs. She tells them to get into their crate, shakes her finger at them and says "no" (where did she get that one?! :)), likes to supervise while they eat and drink, and reports to me and Steve on their whereabouts and happenings.
15 - Ella's personality is so awesome - she is happy, cheerful, sweet, funny, and has fun almost all the time. She just runs around, carrying on, talking and laughing, playing all day long. She has her moods where she is quite unhappy and is only content if she's being held, but overall she is just so happy and content.
16 - She is so expressive. She has many facial expressions, talks with her hands, lots of gestures, and of course her impressive command of the Ellanese language...I'm imaging an equal command of the English language will follow at some point!
17 - Her eating is going pretty well and right now her favorite foods are pizza, cottage cheese, cheese, blueberries, grapes, yogurt, bananas, kix cereal, rice, and bread. We've even had some successful restaurant nights lately, including 2 at the beach, and even managed a night out with friends last weekend!
18 - She has discovered the joy of writing with crayons on places other than paper...uggg. And she LOVES coloring.
19 - She has started calling me 'mom'...no mommy, just mom! I'll take it though b/c anything that she says in her little voice, especially while reaching out for me, is just priceless. She reserves "memmy" for times of intense distress and malcontent.
20 - Ella is truly a gift beyond my wildest dreams. The other day at church a woman said to me 'she is really precious, I hope you enjoy her'...sheesh, what an understatement! I thank God every day for this amazing little girl that he has given to us and marvel at how special she is just as often. She is so full of sweetness, silliness, and love, just an absolute blessing, and I am so lucky to be her "Memmy".
Some 20 month photos:
