Maybe in a rush to show off her skills before she turns 3 (in two days) Ella BLEW me away tonight. All within an hour or so she did three things I've never seen her do and didn't know she could do!
1. She pulled out my Bible and said to a group of friends we were with "Want to know what this says?" We all nodded and with no pauses between letters she shockingly quickly said "H-O-L-Y B-I-B-L-E" I knew she knew her letters but when I ask her to "read" letters it usually involves long pauses, loss of interest, and lots of "ummm...what's that one called again?" It was pretty awesome.
2. She wrote her name!!! We have not been working on this much at all and certainly not recently (she's still so young!). I was shocked! And it was totally legible!!
3. She drew a face with all of the correct parts! Generally Ella prefers painting or stickers over coloring or drawing so I have yet to see her draw much that actually resembles what it's supposed to be. I'm very impressed.
Guess she just wanted to squeeze a few things in to give us some bragging rights so we can say she did each of these things when she was still two :-) Yay Ella!
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Random Adorableness
I've been saving both of these pictures for a week or so but they don't really fit with anything else so here you go-two ADORABLE moments with my soon-to-be-three year old. I'm getting nostalgic and teary about her birthday coming so there will probably be lots more gushing over Ella in the weeks to come. Be prepared :-)
So, Ella's cousins, Amy, and our friend Erin were here for dinner after the apple picking adventure and were trying to find Ella to say good bye. This is where we found her...
what is she doing you ask? Flossing. With the entire box of floss on one end and about 3 feet of floss pulled out on the other side. I did not teach her this!
A couple days later, for various episodes of bad behavior, Ella lost all of her bedtime books. She was horrified and begged to take a book into her bed. I told her that was fine but that I was still going to turn out the light. She again seemed horrified and I felt bad for her. I said she could use her gloworm to see but she said it's not bright enough. Thinking quickly, I offered her a flashlight and gave her some instructions (turning it off when she's done etc.). She was thrilled and happily snuggled under the covers and started to read. I had to take a picture. Isn't this what big kids do? It just seems so grown up to me! She melts my heart.
So, Ella's cousins, Amy, and our friend Erin were here for dinner after the apple picking adventure and were trying to find Ella to say good bye. This is where we found her...
what is she doing you ask? Flossing. With the entire box of floss on one end and about 3 feet of floss pulled out on the other side. I did not teach her this!
A couple days later, for various episodes of bad behavior, Ella lost all of her bedtime books. She was horrified and begged to take a book into her bed. I told her that was fine but that I was still going to turn out the light. She again seemed horrified and I felt bad for her. I said she could use her gloworm to see but she said it's not bright enough. Thinking quickly, I offered her a flashlight and gave her some instructions (turning it off when she's done etc.). She was thrilled and happily snuggled under the covers and started to read. I had to take a picture. Isn't this what big kids do? It just seems so grown up to me! She melts my heart.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Ella's favorite things
These days Ella's favorite things are:
Painting
Dress up
Milk
Being read to or "reading" by herself
Ni-Hao Kai-Lan (She LOVES this show, and has learned some Chinese from it!)
The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Soundtrack
Jumping off of everything
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches
Play-doh
The Color Pink (she's been able to articulate for a few months now that it is her favorite and
requests everything possible in pink)
Here are some recent pictures of some such activities :-)
Painting
Dress up
Milk
Being read to or "reading" by herself
Ni-Hao Kai-Lan (She LOVES this show, and has learned some Chinese from it!)
The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Soundtrack
Jumping off of everything
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches
Play-doh
The Color Pink (she's been able to articulate for a few months now that it is her favorite and
requests everything possible in pink)
Here are some recent pictures of some such activities :-)
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Ella's Antics
It's been another abnormal week-Chris is home but jet lagged, I started school this week and we're moving LOTS of things around in our schedule to accommodate my new full-time student status. Should be exciting (and stressful). I've been able to get some breaks from Ella since Chris got home which has made me MUCH more excited to spend time with her. Napping is still not happening but that's partially been our fault (we've had reasons that she hasn't been home at nap time 2 days in a row) so we'll see what happens when we start to try again tomorrow. I'm hopeful...here's what she's been up to...
Dressing up in her 4th of July Dress from Aunt Bobby
She sat in this chair and read to Raleigh for 30 minutes!!! I love this child.
Making Monkey sounds for Raleigh
Dressing up in her 4th of July Dress from Aunt Bobby
She sat in this chair and read to Raleigh for 30 minutes!!! I love this child.
Making Monkey sounds for Raleigh
Friday, September 28, 2007
Big Talker!
Ella has started talking a lot!! The phases have gone like this:
1.Signing
2.Jibberish
3.Using a few words
4.Few words plus new jibberish
5.Lots of words
6.Lots of words plus new jibberish.
She just started #6 this week. I had gotten used to understanding most of what she said but now there's a lot I don't understand. It's exciting though because all of that will turn into real English if the trend continues.
It's been a big week for her. She has started singing songs for the first time. She'll sing along with CDs and also sing to herself while playing (recognizable songs!!). It's SO cute to listen to! She's also started to kind of verbally summarize things she hears. If I'm reading to her and the page says "Elmo ran into the house as fast as he could" as soon as I finish she'll say "Elmo house fast." She's also been picking up books to "read" (which she's done for a long time) but she points to the words and pictures and says things that make sense! She's learning so much so fast!
My favorite things she's saying right now are...
"Hew-oh" (Hello)
"Honan" (Hold on)
"Honan a mini" (Hold on a minute)
"Eya Hode it?" (Can Ella hold it?)
"cholit mi?" (Can I have chocolate milk?)
"coo" (cool)
"hee-ya-go" (Here you go)
"hey-now" (playground)
"eena" (music)
Not sure how the last two fit but they really do sound like the real words if you say them enough times. Apparently "approximations" are all that is expected at this age so I'm enjoying this fun phase of Ella-ese. I'm hoping to get some videos posted here of her talking so we'll never forget how cute her "learning to talk" period is!
1.Signing
2.Jibberish
3.Using a few words
4.Few words plus new jibberish
5.Lots of words
6.Lots of words plus new jibberish.
She just started #6 this week. I had gotten used to understanding most of what she said but now there's a lot I don't understand. It's exciting though because all of that will turn into real English if the trend continues.
It's been a big week for her. She has started singing songs for the first time. She'll sing along with CDs and also sing to herself while playing (recognizable songs!!). It's SO cute to listen to! She's also started to kind of verbally summarize things she hears. If I'm reading to her and the page says "Elmo ran into the house as fast as he could" as soon as I finish she'll say "Elmo house fast." She's also been picking up books to "read" (which she's done for a long time) but she points to the words and pictures and says things that make sense! She's learning so much so fast!
My favorite things she's saying right now are...
"Hew-oh" (Hello)
"Honan" (Hold on)
"Honan a mini" (Hold on a minute)
"Eya Hode it?" (Can Ella hold it?)
"cholit mi?" (Can I have chocolate milk?)
"coo" (cool)
"hee-ya-go" (Here you go)
"hey-now" (playground)
"eena" (music)
Not sure how the last two fit but they really do sound like the real words if you say them enough times. Apparently "approximations" are all that is expected at this age so I'm enjoying this fun phase of Ella-ese. I'm hoping to get some videos posted here of her talking so we'll never forget how cute her "learning to talk" period is!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Comics at Starbucks
Yesterday Chris and I weren't feeling well, mostly just exhausted from a busy week, but we were stir crazy by about 5pm and needed to get out. We made a little trip to Starbucks in Glen Burnie and I was very amused when I noticed that all three of us were sitting contentedly drinking our drinks and reading the newspaper. Very relaxing evening.
PS-Random thought...we thought of the name "Ella" at a Starbucks in Tucson when we saw an Ella Fitzgerald CD by the cash register. Yesterday we were talking about that and then when we walked in there was an Ella CD at the cash register AND a Dave Matthews Band CD....is it a sign? Will there be a Dave Matthews Heiliger among future children? Hahaaa...I highly doubt it.
PS-Random thought...we thought of the name "Ella" at a Starbucks in Tucson when we saw an Ella Fitzgerald CD by the cash register. Yesterday we were talking about that and then when we walked in there was an Ella CD at the cash register AND a Dave Matthews Band CD....is it a sign? Will there be a Dave Matthews Heiliger among future children? Hahaaa...I highly doubt it.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Ella's World
Ella is amazing me with what she knows and can do! When she "reads" books she has started (thanks to Dad's teaching) pointing to each word and making some kind of sound for each word. It amazed me because if there was just one word on a page she'd just say one word and move on-she actually gets that each word makes a sound not a paragraph worth of words. It's really exciting to watch her little brain work. Chris read about how pointing to words as you read to your kids allows them to understand the concept of reading sooner and they then learn to read earlier. Go Ella!
Also, this morning I was counting animals out loud on a page of her book and I got to six and she picked up pointing to each animal and said "eight, nine, ten" clear as day! She skipped seven but who needs seven anyway.
She's also much more confident in trying to say almost any word. She used to only say words she knew but now she'll repeat almost anything (usually the right number of syllables but depending on the letters involved, it may not sound anything like what you just said). She doesn't say many words with p, j, l, s and probably others. I've heard her say all these sounds but I think they're harder for her so she skips them. For instance, "sun" is "hun." She has started saying "bye bye" instead of "dye" (thanks to Amy for getting her excited about saying "babababa-bye" which she practices in her crib during naps). She still insists on "dady" instead of "baby" but she'll get there.
Words/phrases she has added to her repertoire....
Monkey
bird
playground
chicken
Chris (her cousin, not daddy)
read a book
raleigh is outside
in your crate (a command she gives the dogs-wonder where she heard that?)
tv (not ideal, I know)
possessives-ella's toy, mommy's car, lexie's book
color (she loves coloring these days)
probably lots more that I can't think of right now....more later....
She's also obsessed with buckles. She has been for a few weeks now. Anywhere we go she goes around to high chairs, infant car seats, anything that has a buckle and faithfully buckles them all. I can shop in kids stores because she just goes down the row of car seats and does all the buckles!
Her cutest habit these days is sitting down somewhere and then pointing or patting the seat next to her and saying "mommy sit down?" or "daddy here?" It's really the cutest thing ever, especially because no one taught it to her (not on purpose anyway) so I don't mind stopping to sit next to her when she sits on the bottom step of every staircase we encounter or on the couch or really anywhere. I'm gonna enjoy every one of these days when sitting next to mom is still cool :-)
Also, this morning I was counting animals out loud on a page of her book and I got to six and she picked up pointing to each animal and said "eight, nine, ten" clear as day! She skipped seven but who needs seven anyway.
She's also much more confident in trying to say almost any word. She used to only say words she knew but now she'll repeat almost anything (usually the right number of syllables but depending on the letters involved, it may not sound anything like what you just said). She doesn't say many words with p, j, l, s and probably others. I've heard her say all these sounds but I think they're harder for her so she skips them. For instance, "sun" is "hun." She has started saying "bye bye" instead of "dye" (thanks to Amy for getting her excited about saying "babababa-bye" which she practices in her crib during naps). She still insists on "dady" instead of "baby" but she'll get there.
Words/phrases she has added to her repertoire....
Monkey
bird
playground
chicken
Chris (her cousin, not daddy)
read a book
raleigh is outside
in your crate (a command she gives the dogs-wonder where she heard that?)
tv (not ideal, I know)
possessives-ella's toy, mommy's car, lexie's book
color (she loves coloring these days)
probably lots more that I can't think of right now....more later....
She's also obsessed with buckles. She has been for a few weeks now. Anywhere we go she goes around to high chairs, infant car seats, anything that has a buckle and faithfully buckles them all. I can shop in kids stores because she just goes down the row of car seats and does all the buckles!
Her cutest habit these days is sitting down somewhere and then pointing or patting the seat next to her and saying "mommy sit down?" or "daddy here?" It's really the cutest thing ever, especially because no one taught it to her (not on purpose anyway) so I don't mind stopping to sit next to her when she sits on the bottom step of every staircase we encounter or on the couch or really anywhere. I'm gonna enjoy every one of these days when sitting next to mom is still cool :-)
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
June extras
I have a TON of pictures and lots of stories and very little time so here's a quick wrap up of June...
We finally figured out that "GG" for great-grandma is the best thing for Ella to call Mama on this visit to Mama's hospital room (she had congestive heart failure and a bad bruise from falling but went home the next day!)
Chris got some new shoes and Ella tried on his size 15s before he did.
Ella disappeared and was very quiet. I found her almost in her closet, sitting in this box reading to herself, I watched and took pictures very quietly and she kept reading for at least 5 minutes (a LONG time in toddler world).
Last but not least for this post is Ella and baby Hope. She definitely has a maternal instinct and loves "babying" Hope and playing with Aunt Holly :-)
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