This week in Ella's world

What a difference a week can make in the life of a toddler!

Ella is now able to go up small steps by herself, kick a soccer ball all over the place, and put together her wooden puzzles in a matter of seconds.

Last night at dinner, she put her finger up to her mouth and went, "SHHHH" to Steve (he was talking to me at the time), then she went, "SHHHH, quiet" to me!  What a little impersonator (probably picked this up from me at church)!  We were just shocked that she could say, "quiet" so clearly.

Other new words are "robot", "mouse", "amazing", and "I made a mess!"  Yesterday at track practice, Ella took some orange cones that we were using for practice and stacked 3 of them together.  I asked her to count them and she said, "one, two, three, amazing!" (the amazing was that they were all stacked together).

She likes to take her toys, dump them on the ground, declare, "I made a mess!" and then she tries to clean it up and put her toys away.

Of course, with the highs come the lows, and Ella seems to have reached the terrible twos a bit early as she throws tantrums all the time now when she doesn't get what she wants.  This morning she cried for 10 minutes straight because I refused to give her a twizzler for breakfast (she saw the bag and that was all she wanted).  Finally, she calmed down and ate her small bagel and cereal.

Today we plan to go to story time at the library, then go for a run and if it stops raining, I'll let Ella play at the playground for a little bit before coming home for lunch and a nap (for Ella, not me).

Ella's 18 months old!

At Ella's 18 1/2 month appointment on 4/14/10, she was 24 lb. 11.5 oz and 33 inches tall!

Her newest things are her vocabulary!  She is REALLY talking a lot now!  She says "I see it" and "I don't see it", "for me, for daddy, for mommy" - when she's got food or crayons and she shares them with us.  She also now doesn't just say "bye" - she goes, "bye, see you, mmmuh!" (at the end she blows a kiss).

She loves water and splashing in it!  We went to Lowes and I was looking at the flowers when she found a puddle and went over to splash in it.  A worker at Lowes smiled and said "I just love that age!"  She "helps" me water the flowers and has figured out how to turn the water outside on and off.  We spend a lot of the day outside now that the weather has gotten nice.

EASTER

Ella loves to dress up

Spring is here in NC!