Ella is 14 Months Old!

Oh my goodness! Ella has grown up so much in the last month. Really, her verbal and motor skills have improved dramatically. Last month, she was just taking a few steps at a time, and now, she's all over the house. It's amazing and fun to see this transformation. She's talking more and more everyday, and usually it's non-stop. She's constantly asking, "Wassat?" and "Whossat?" I don't remember Grace being so curious at this age, but Ella seems to want to know about everything. Other new words include wow, shhhh, sssss (snake sound), baaa (sheep sound), moooo, ball, baby, BY-EEEEE, and than thu (thank you--yes, my 14-month-old has fantastic manners). She loves to wave and blow kisses and loves for Gabby to take her to the back door to watch me leave for work. She also gets very excited when either Travis or I come home. She yells, "Dada!" "Mama!" And, she can give kisses to different people on command.

At night, after brushing her teeth (which she enjoys and can do quite well on her own), we read several books. Her favorite is now "Polar Bear, Polar Bear," a companion book to her old favorite "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." She's also still loving all the Karen Katz lift-the-flap books. When we're done reading, I'll ask her to give Gracie kisses, and she'll walk over to her and gently kiss her forehead or cheek. So sweet!

Ella also loves shoes, but insists on taking off her shoes and socks as soon as she gets in the car. She's also a fabulous dancer; she's figured out the "play" button on the Hello Kitty CD player and will walk over to it, turn it on and immediately start dancing and spinning in circles. Check her out...(you'll need to pause the music at the bottom of the page if you want to hear the video)

She also likes to sing, especially "The Wheels on the Bus" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," and she'll ask us to sing by starting the movements and then loves to follow along. Here she is trying to point to her eyes in the "Skinnamarinky Dinky Dink" song. It looks like she might also be saying, "I'm not listening to you!"

This girl loves to eat, a lot. She starts signing for more as soon as she gets out of bed and likes to have her breakfast right away. She'll let us know when she's done by pulling her bib off and dropping food on floor while saying "uh oh." So far, there isn't much she doesn't like- just tomatoes, olives, string cheese and ham salad (I can't blame her on that last one, even though Travis loves it). She's also learning how to eat with utensils, and I'm hoping this cuts down on the mess. She usually ends up with so much food on her that she needs a bath after every meal! And, she's finally gotten over being mad at us about taking her bottle away. We've tried every type of sippy cup under the sun, and so far, the ones with straws are her favorite.

Her upper right 1-year molar is coming in, which brings her teeth total to 9. It seems like her hair has grown really quickly this past month, and she's getting more tolerant of me pulling it back. She's very helpful when I get her dressed now, offering up her arms and legs when needed. She even tries to take off her shirt, and of course, she's really good at getting those socks and shoes off.

I wish I could put her quirky sweet personality into words. She's just so goofy and lovable. Since she turned a year, she's been super cuddly, which we all love. I'm so proud of all she's done this month and look forward to 5 more months of her being my youngest baby. I can't believe she's going to be a big sister in May!