Tuesday, July 12, 2011

21 Months

Ella, you are growing so fast. It's hard to imagine that in a few short months you will be 2. You amaze us everyday with how quickly you learn new things and how great your memory is. It has been a JOY to begin having conversations with you. Sometimes you will crawl into our laps and say, "Hi mommy. Hi daddy." and then smile. You are the cutest thing! You love to laugh and find it delightful to make us laugh at you. You are quite the entertainer.

You love the outdoors and would spend hours out there if you could. It is fun watching you enjoy nature and point out things like: tree, bird, car, dog, wall (to anything that resembles a wall), chair, flower, etc. You love to play with water outside, especially dumping water on mommy!

You are very independent when we go to the Matherne's pool. You want to swim by yourself and don't understand the importance of being held. You don't like to be confined to a float so you spend your time mostly climbing in and out of the pool trying to get away from us. We took you to the Pelham YMCA and you LOVED it. Their big pool has a gradual incline entrance like a beach, so you could walk around independently. They also had a baby pool, which you enjoyed.

Mommy takes you to the library 2-3 times a week. We go to storytime every Wednesday morning. They have music, stories, crafts, and a snack. You love to interact with the other toddlers and dance to the music. We also go on Friday mornings for Lego time. You normally don't play with the Lego's, but instead, you walk around trying to talk to the other kids. Sometimes we go on Thursday nights for Pajama storytime. Hopefully you will grow up with a love for reading!

You have taken an interest in one of your baby dolls. You will carry her around saying, "Oh baby" and rock her in your arms. You will also lie her down on her tummy, pat her back, and say, "Good girl baby. Night night baby." Sometimes you will also put the baby in the baby stroller and walk her around the house.

Some of your favorite sayings are:
"Oh gosh."
"No ma'am, Ella."
"Good girl, Ella."
"I sorry."
"Where'd it go?"
"I gonna getchu."
"I cool." (in your sunglasses)

You talk to yourself in first person all the time. Good thing you have an easy name to say!

Right now you take one afternoon nap a day for about 2 hours. Mommy normally has to wake you up so you don't sleep too long. Otherwise you have a hard time going to bed at night.

This month we took you to Chuck E Cheese's for the first time and you had a blast! We also took you to the McWane Science Center. There was an area specifically for kids 5 and under, but you didn't like that area. You wanted to hang out with the "big kids" and do all the hands-on experiments and activities!

Grandpa and Nonni came to visit you for the July 4th weekend. We had a lot of fun visiting many Birmingham attractions and eating out!