Interesting things about Ella....

1. She has taken to asking very matter-of-factly "Yes or No?" when she asks a question and is known to say it over and over if she doesn't get the answer she's looking for. She's very sweet about it but will ask again and again like she didn't hear you say no.

2. She REALLY cares about making sure I close cabinets and if I ask why she says "because that's the way we do it"

3. She is really into wearing slippers and lines them up very precisely next to her bed. She says she learned this from watching Caillou at Aunt Ping's house (probably about 4 months before she got the slippers).

4. She calls nipples "nickels" and we don't correct her.

5. She tends to mix up white and yellow but only sometimes.

6.Even though she's understood "yes" and "no" for 2 years now, she sometimes seems to get them mixed up and say things like "No! I'd love to!"

7. She is very disturbed by people wearing coats (or sweatshirts, or shoes) in the house and will physically pull it off of you and ask you to "please stay a while."

8. Ella LOVES to drink. She drinks about 48oz of milk/water/diluted juice each day and would happily drink more. Milk is her favorite but she's never turned down any drink.

9. Ella calls her wooden stool a "standing holder" and we have all adopted the term and use it daily.

10. Most days Ella asks that her hair be done "down and curly" not in a pony tail.

11. Ella loves animals and has only shown fear of people dressed in animal costumes, not real animals. (maybe rightly so...)

12. Ella would happily watch cartoons while drinking milk all day, every day if I let her.

13. When she has to go the bathroom and needs help she will alert you by saying "my pee pee is coming! my pee pee is coming!"

14. She can easily "write" her name on anything with a keyboard (phones, computers).

15. She tells me I'm beautiful almost every day and never in opportune manipulating moments. She hasn't learned yet that that would probably work.

16. She can never remember what seahorses are called and just skips over them when naming animals.

17. She has really good fine motor skills. I think it's because she's been pulling her hearing aids off since she was really tiny and got good at grasping small things. I notice it now because she likes to put my earrings on for me and 99% of the time she sticks it right in the hole and never has to stab around.

18. She thinks mints are "spicy" and won't eat them.

19. Ella loves sweets but will happily leave a half a bowl of ice cream or a donut with two bites out of it. She actually listens to her body and stops eating when she's full. I'm learning a lot from her.

20. Ella chipped half of her front tooth off a year ago and it has been repaired 5 times because that same piece has fallen off (or been knocked out) again. We just repaired it in January and it fell out again last week.

21. She calls day time "happy time" and ignores you if you correct her.

22. She's very good at cooking (pouring, using the hand mixer)

23. She couldn't say "pillow" for a long time and called it a "hobo" and now we all do.

24. She was born in Sierra Vista, Arizona and looked like an Eskimo for a few days (swelling and such).

25. She shares a birthday with Gedeon, our "adopted" Compassion child in Rwanda and it was totally her idea to save the money in her piggy bank for him because she knows he doesn't have much stuff.