Hearing well!

We just had Ella's second speech pathology evaluation and they did a bunch of articulation tests and she did really well! All of her letter substitutions or wrong pronunciations are all developmentally normal ones (not abnormal which would then be attributed to her hearing loss). Apparently some sounds aren't acquired until age 4 or 6 and some even 8 years old! She also is "highly suggestable" (a good thing) which means that when they asked her to say "Yellow" after she'd said "Lellow," she could do it correctly. Overall, they're super impressed with her language skills, vocab, and comprehension. Although it's great that the county has all kinds of services for hearing impaired kids, it's really exciting each time she gets evaluated and they say she doesn't need any of them! We are really blessed :-)

On our walk...

Today while on a walk/run with Ella in the stroller...

Ella: Oooo! Look Mom! That car has a tunnel around it! (pointing to a car port)

Me: Ooo! Ella-do you see that bunny? Oh, he's running away.
Ella: He's not running away mom, he's just going home. To his mommy and daddy's house.

Me: (stopping to stretch)
Ella: What are you doing?
Me: Mommy has shin splints, I'm just stretching my legs out
Ella: Oh, you're hurting?
Me: Yeah
Ella: It's ok, I'll get you a bandaid when we get home

And finally, every time I start running (which believe me is not all that fast) Ella shrieks "Mommy STOP GOING FASTER!! AHHHHH!!" It baffles me that she actually seems to get a little scared. It usually works out because I only run a block or two a time. I wonder if my tendency to be a motion-sick-scared-of-roller-coasters-or-even-cars-going-fast-person is genetic!? We'll see. Meanwhile I'll do my part in exposing her to "speed" by occasionally jogging :-) I get some excerise and she can hopefully overcome her fear of going 3 miles per hour.

End of week wrap up

Ella is still having a rough week behavior-wise. She had a tantrum today at playgroup (because she didn't want to leave) that was the first one in a couple weeks and possibly the loudest ever. She was SOOO tired but of course, refused to nap even after complaining about being sleepy all the way home. Toddlers are not logical. At all. If you're tired, GO TO sleep!! Anyway, she did manage to throw in some comic relief this morning before the day went south.

This morning in the bath tub I was pouring water over Ella's head (not always her favorite thing) and she got all flustered and was sputtering and then finally turned around and looked at me and yelled "MOM! STOP MAKING ME GO CRAZY!!" Needless to say I burst out laughing and she continued to say "You're making me crazy! Just stop it!"

PS-The rock from strawberry picking is still being carried around and played with...interesting...
PPS-THE JAM DIDN'T SET!! What is wrong with me? I used a different recipe from last year and followed the directions EXACTLY. Why do I have four cups of strawberry syrup to eat now?? Anyone have any tips?

Strawberries!

Picking strawberries is becoming an annual event and I love it! Hopefully our jelly-making will be more successful this year-last year it never set :-( Here are the pics!

Running through the strawberry fields last June

Same thing this year but she's much faster!

We met a bunch of friends there-here's Amy and some of the kids picking away (very few moments were this seriously focused on actually picking strawberries)

Hannah's basket was full of stems instead of strawberries-she ate everything she picked! She's hilarious. Jen suggested that they should weigh the kids before and after picking so we can pay for the difference!

After picking we picnicked and played by the barns. For some reason Ella took a liking to this rock and "held it like a tiny baby" (her words) for quite a while. She only put it down for us to play "ring around the rosey" but then insisted we sing "ring around the rock" which made us all laugh :-)

Enjoying the beautiful sunflowers.

Jam making time! Ella washed 'em, I cut 'em, Ella squished 'em.

Her shirt got wet in the process and she was adamant that I needed to take it off for her. Then she helped add the sugar.

She's learning the art of controlled stirring so everything stays in the bowl-she did very well.

The finished product! After about step 4 Ella lost interest in the process and kept asking when we could put jelly on the strawberries-she didn't quite grasp that we were making the jelly-but we had fun until then! I'll report back about if it actually turns into jelly :-)

Father's Day 2008

We had a fun Father's Day Brunch at our house with my parents, Marissa, and my grandmother. Lots of good food, being amused by Ella, presents, and best of all we watched the Father's Day episode of the Cosby Show from 1984 which my family knows by heart-it was great!


Marissa's present to Chris-mimosas-which he loves!

A card she colored and a big hug for Popeye :-)

Chris in his new office chair! I was SO excited about this present and very sneaky :-) Out of nowhere two nights ago he almost bought one online and I FREAKED out but tried to play it cool and insisted that he needed to sit in it before buying it and though he thought I was crazy, he went for it-disaster averted and surprise saved :-)

Being the only grandchild on my side, Ella makes out like a bandit. Even on Father's Day she got presents!

Ella had some sweet moments with GG reading Daddy's new book about the VT Hokie's Game Day (really a gift for Chris and Ella). My grandmother thought the Hokie Bird was a monkey-oh well :-)

Playgroup at the Pool

Ella had her first dip in the pool of the season! We had so much fun and I was SO proud of Ella-she was scared at first and clinging to me but got so brave and independent by the end!


Floating all by herself! (and lots of flotation devices)


All three cousins swimming

Lunch time!

Hugs before getting changed into dry clothes.

Super Fun Day!

Yay Holly!

I'm thrilled to report that Holly (my "BFF" since the days when people actually used that term) joined her church softball team! I'm SO proud of her. I really almost teared up at the game we got to watch recently. This was a step way out of her comfort zone but something she really wanted to do so I'm SO proud of her very mature decision to just do it :-) She played really well (despite never having played before) and is having so much fun. Here's to you Hol-I hope I get enough courage to do new (potentially embarrassing) things just because I want to! You inspire me :-)


Up at bat

Playing with Hope and Ella

Ella took over Hope's booster seat when she was finished-in between cheering for Aunt Holly of course :-)

Overheard...

Overheard in Target yesterday

Son (about 8 yrs old): Can I please, please get goggles? I need them!
Mom: No.
Son: Please?????Please?
Mom: No!
Son: Mommm, please!
Mom: (loudly and clearly frustrated) If I buy you these goggles and you don't wear them, you will never get another pair of goggles for the rest of your life, no matter what. Do you understand?
Son: Yay! I get goggles!

A few minutes later, the same mom (poor woman had 3 kids in target and was at her wit's end)
Son:Why don't I get a race car and he (his brother) does? I want a race car! Why don't I get one??
Mom: Because you didn't just get a shot at the doctor. Do you want to go back to the doctor and get a shot? We can arrange that you know.
Son: ok, no race car

people crack me up!

In Ella news, we're cracking down on her bad behavior. She's been having an especially defiant week so we're trying some new discipline techniques and I ordered three new parenting books. She's also banned from TV because she's started begging for it all the time so it's no longer part of the daily routine. It seems to be working-she hasn't asked for it hardly at all since she got cut off early this week. We'll see how successful the new ideas are...I'm hopeful that with God's help, we can make it through the "terrible twos" without too much long-term damage to either party. Pray for us!

The last couple days...

Pics from the last few days...


On friday we had playgroup at our house and Ella and her friend H disappeared and I went to find them thinking they'd be up to some mischief....nope...reading books to each other in Ella's room...and they continued for a good half hour!

Uncle Drew and Aunt Ping took Ella to a little festival on Saturday. She got to ride a zebra on the carousel, wear a paper crown, and eat ice cream-a perfect day!

Yesterday we got to see our good friend and her baby Daniel. Ella LOVED holding him!

In the last couple days Ella has eaten 15 olives in a sitting as long as she gets to eat them off of her fingers-I'm all for it!

Mmmmm :-)

Play time :-)

We went to a fun, indoor, kids play place last week with some friends-Ella had so much fun we stayed an extra hour instead of joining our friends for lunch! Good times. If this heat continues we'll be heading back there often.


The firetruck is what Ella was most excited about riding.

The sand is a hit with Ella. She didn't eat it this time!

This is her first time using scissors!

Ella and J had great time using these miniature shopping carts and being "mommies"


And finally, Ella being her silly self ;-)

Stuff

So, today, Ella played in her playroom with no prompting from me, for AN HOUR. She has NEVER played by herself in our house for more than ten minutes without coming to get me or calling me or at least coming to show me something. It was SO strange and kinda freaked me out but also gave me a glimpse (hopefully) of the future! It was shocking but also seemed very healthy that she was actually engaged in a toy and enjoying herself for so long. Wow...it would totally change my life if this becomes a regular thing. I'm having the revelation that this is why some people don't feel compelled to leave their house all the time in order to keep their child entertained...their kid actually plays without almost constant interaction. This is a new concept for me...mind-blowing...
Anyway, not a whole lot else to report concerning Ella but here are some recent fun pics.


Uncle Dave and Aunt Julie graduated! We're SO proud of them!

Ella and Uncle Dave :-)

We went out to breakfast a while ago and ordered Ella a cinnamon roll instead of a whole meal and figured she'd mostly eat what was on our plates. Well, the cinnamon roll was as big as my head-literally. Ella was kinda scared of it and didn't eat ANY. Oy.

Ella helped us put together a new stool for her table and fell in LOVE with the drill.

Chris took Ella to an Air Show and she got to hang out in the cockpit!

And finally, one recent conversation:
(while changing Ella's diaper yesterday)

Ella:Mom, I went poo-poo
Me: I know, I'm cleaning you up right now
Ella:Mom, do you like poo-poo?
Me: No, poo-poo is kinda yucky.
Ella:Mom, do you like poo-poo in your mouth?
Me: No! Why? Did you put poo-poo in your mouth??
Ella: (apologetically) yeah...
Me:When??
Ella: Last Tuesday
Me: (laughing because "Tuesday" was a good sign she was just making it up) You're so silly!
Ella: I did! on Thursday! (to my relief, further revealing she was making it up)

Bath time banter

In the bathtub this morning:

Ella:Mom, I drank the bubbles and the water!
Me:Ella no! Remember we never drink bath water (and more explanation about how soap is toxic) do you understand?
Ella: No
Me: Ella...(with a scolding look)
Ella:No
Me: Ella, you don't say no like that to mommy, say "yes ma'am"
Ella: No!! NO!
Me: Ella...
(more back and forth until finally she revealed her reason)
Ella: I DON'T say "yes man" I say "yes girl" MOMMY is a GIRL!!