When Daddy gets you ready for bed...

Every night Rob gives Ella a bath and then gets her dressed for bed. I then read her a book and put her down for the night (or the next few hours.) The last two nights Rob has reached into her PJ drawer and come up some interesting outfits. It's a good thing he doesn't usually dress her in the morning.

This was yesterday's outfit. Notice the fit? I won't even begin to address the matching issue.
















This was tonight's outfit. See the tag? Rob suggested I just cut it off so her shirt would be on frontwards.



(Eric B. no, the bars are not a portent of Ella's adult abode.)

She does this thing...

Ella has started doing this funny thing. She leans her head back, looks up at you, squints her eyes, squishes up her face, and grins. I tried to capture it on film and this was the best I could do...

Busy week...

The last week has been a bit nutty. Ella practices standing every day, each time with a look of surprise quickly followed by a half grin as she falls to the ground. Yesterday she saw the cat, lunged and said "Gidget." Rob says she does it all the time and that is wasn't a word but she's done it a couple of times today. She even once directed it a Bailey. The funny thing is that when she sees the dogs she says "doedoe." I was positive her first word was going to be doggie or dog.

She LOVES berries but only if she can feed herself. Rob introduced strawberries and she shovels them in as fast as you can slice them. Blueberries are another favorite. I think because they leave nice blue streaks on the highchair tray.

She's fascinated with the stairs. She climbs them any chance she gets. Those chances come when we forget to close the gate. On her second climb I found her half way up the first set and said "Ella, no!" She didn't even look back, she just started climbing at double speed.

When my lovely child is about to do something that I usually divert her from like chewing the electrical cord, crawling into the bathroom to play in the toilet, or pulling things out of the dishwasher she always pauses. She then slowly looks over her shoulder at me to see if I'm watching and promptly attempts to do it anyway.

Oh, and she discovered cottage cheese.

Ella in the Los Angeles Airport

We were fortunate enough to have a little over an hour in LA. It gave Ella a chance to crawl around and look out the window at the planes.

More Florida...

Our Florida visit was wonderful. It was so nice to be surrounded by people who are just as enamored with my child as I am. It wasn't unusual to hear someone excitedly say "Look, Ella's ...". You can fill in any action word, the more routine the better.

Here are some of those moments...


Ella and Uncle Will, one of her favorite people.

Ella and Cousin Zadie chatting during dinner.

Ella using Zadie to pull herself up.

Zadie giving Ella kisses.

Ella enthralled by Erika's camera.

Ella laughing at Erika's reading of The Foot Book.

Ella ashamed and frightened of her grandfather's teeth pre implants.

Ella sleeping off the nightmare of her grandfather's teeth.

Ella's attempting to climb the hearth, something she succeeded at once.

Go Figure...

I grew up in a place with hurricanes. Moved to SoCal where many people thought it strange that I wasn't afraid of hurricanes. Went back to Florida for visits where people thought it was strange I wasn't afraid of earthquakes. And now I'm fortunate enough to live in a place where there are both!

Lucky me!!

Early mornings in Tally

On waking, one of my parents would bring Ella into bed with them. She'd then attempt crawl over them and launch herself off the bed and onto the floor. It was a daily ritual. Fun was had by all!!

Large baby, small space.

While we were at my parent's Ella seemed to find great pleasure in wedging herself under the sofa. She'd get stuck and fuss until someone rescued her.

I know, I know!!

It's been ages and ages since a post. I'm soooo sorry about that. I promise to try and make it up to you all. So get ready!! We got back form Florida last week. Since our departure from Hawaii Ella's grown a head of hair and six additional teeth. She's lost almost all her arm rolls and is working on slimming down her "thunder thighs." No, I haven't put her on a diet. She's just become quite active. She pulls herself up into a standing position, creeps along furniture and stands for a few brief seconds. She also seems to have mastered climbing UP the stairs. Now if she could only master climbing DOWN. We've tried to teach her to scoot on her rear end but she doesn't quite get it. Her favorite thing to do is chase Gidget. She's not that interested in the dogs but will sit in front of them on her knees and babble at them. Will that slow her speech development at all?

While we were home Erika brought a hula outfit from NYC for Ella. I was having trouble finding one in her size here. She loved the skirt, even fussed when I took it off.