Random Cell Phone Gems...

I haven't been very good about uploading pictures from my cell phone but here are some from the last few months that are worth saving!

This was from November, 09-the first time Ella wrote her whole name!

A pic I snapped during one of Ella's hearing tests. Because her hearing hasn't changed we now only test (aided and unaided) every 6 months. She's also graduated through various testing methods and now for part of the test gets to clap when she hears sounds like a "big girl"!

Every few months Ella and I bring a stack of books or a coloring book and have a Starbucks date-this was a fun one recently :-)

I came in one morning and found Ella had unscrewed the top of the spray bottle we use for her hair and had put it in her drink and was spraying it into her mouth. Wow. Creative.

Ella needed help with the spelling but wrote this herself after she finished her dinner one night. Chris and I were cracking up. She'd only tell us what she wanted to say word by word and we'd spell it for her :-)

Nana's Family Dinner Helper

Somehow all 5 of the kids in Chris' family happen to live here right now. This hasn't happened in a long time so we're all enjoying this special season! One way I think my Mother-in-Law is able to really enjoy it is hosting Family Dinner at her house every single week, without fail!

Another thing Nancy (my MIL) insists on is spending a few hours each week with each grandchild. So, Ella has spent one afternoon a week with Nana for pretty much her entire life. This past year it's helped me out with one of the days I worked which happened to fall on Family Dinner night. So, Ella gets to be there for all the prep and fun of feeding 15-20 people every week at Nana's.

This week Nana took pictures!

Ella cut an entire cantaloupe with a plastic knife!! I'm SO impressed!

Ella got to add 4 layers of jello plus the whipped cream for this fun dessert! She is quite the intent cooking helper and I'm so glad Nana gets to experience her in this way too. Cooking has always been one of my favorite things to do with her!

Here's a little video Nancy took of the cantaloupe endeavor :-)

Stuffed Animal Love

In a very sincere way, Ella LOVES her stuffed animals. She didn't care about them AT ALL until maybe a year ago but as of a few months ago they are extremely important to her. All of them have names, mostly names related to what type of animal they are (Cat=catty, Cow=cowie etc.). Some have more specific names but what is very specific is their relationships.

Some of them are "friends" and others are not. Some are related (brothers, sisters, cousins, mom and baby) and others are not.

Interesting things she's done with them...

1)She'll tell me stories or definitions of words and when they sound strange to me and I question them she'll say "Well, that's what my stuffed animals told me"

2)I noticed the stuffed animals paired up or in groups of three in her bed one morning and asked her about it. She casually explained that she didn't want them to be bored while she was sleeping so before she went to bed she put them facing their best friend so they could talk while she was sleeping. HAHAHA! I love this girl. And she's NOT making it up for attention-she REALLY is concerned about them being bored. And these are not fickle relationships, Flamingy and Raleigh are always best friends and always sit together. She does not mix it up.

3) and of course the recent pic in the post "Sleeping Funnies" of her not wanting the stuffed animals to be cold or uncomfortable so she slept with them tucked into her shirt.

She arranges them in different ways on her bed and mothers them like any goo d mother would. It's really fun to watch her in this stage!

Cousins

Hannah and Ella blur the line between cousins and best friends and are certainly enjoying their summer together :-)

Hair Trim #2

Ella's first hair cut in life was almost a year ago and it's gotten SO long I thought it was time to do another one. After seeing the Cartoon Cuts people just wash her hair and cut straight across I figured there was no point in paying them again so I set up a "hair salon" in the living room, put on Team UmiZoomi and got to work. It was harder than I thought to "cut straight across" with her thick hair but if you don't look too closely, it's not bad :-) She had a lot of fun feeling pampered like at a "real" salon and also requested I straighten it afterwards. Cuteness!

Before

Curly, Wet After

Dry, Straight After


She couldn't stop flipping it!


Cutie!