Almost 2!

It is hard to believe that Ella will be 2 next month, although in some ways it is hard to believe that she will only be 2.  It feels like she has been here forever and is so strange to think that last year she had her first Thanksgiving and was only taking steps at Christmas-so hard to believe!  She continues to have such a fun spirit about her and is definitely full of spunk!  She is talking more and more each day and although I do think she is still a bit behind as to where she "should" be she is definitely improving so that is a good thing.  She has started to put two words together ("milk daddy" was the first one) and although it doesn't happen a whole lot at least she is starting to do it.  Her vocabulary is improving daily and her saying "peese" just has to be the cutest thing ever.  She can say most of the colors now (with "orange" being another super cute one) and is hit or miss with getting them right.  She actually enjoys listening to books now and always says "book" before naptime and then  "eeth (teeth) and book" before bedtime.  She is in the very repetitive phase where if we talk about something she'll continue to bring it up over and over again.  After we went to the doctor for Julia's three month appointment, she said, "Ju ju, ots (shots), du du (doctor)" repeatedly for many days!

Here she is-almost 2 with her big "eeese (chesse)" face!

Some of her favorite things to play right now inlcude: feeding her baby and rocking her/wrapping her in blanket, going grocery shopping in the pantry, playing anything with her brother, helping with Julia and doing anything outside (she is SO active-she loves jumping, balancing and jumping some more!) Last week I caught her jumping down the steps at the park and she did great-people are always commenting on how coordinated she is! 

 Playing grocery store

 Tried to get an action shot of her jumping but wasn't fast enough...

 Ella is our little rag-a-muffin, homeless child as her hair is always in her face (still won't let me put it up), her outfits are always mismatched (she still likes to pick her own out) and there is normally food on her face, but, man do we love her! 

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Crazy hair from the trampoline at the Kneller's home

 

 And, crazy after bath hair!

 She has started doing this hilarious look where if she doesn't like something (for example at dinner) she will close her eyes and turn her head with this craziest but cute look on her face.  I have tried getting pictures of it but it just doesn't do the real face any justice-she is definitely a fiesty/funny one! 

 She still likes to be carried a lot ("up, up") but in the past month or so I really feel like she has grown up a lot.  Redirection or distraction still works really well with her to get her out of a funk and when using those techniques we have been able to avoid a good amount of meltdowns.  She loves to sit on the island in the kitchen and help bake/cook or just sit so that always is an option instead of carrying her.

 Finally here is a picture of her when she had croup right after she turned 23 months.  She only uses the paci for naptime and bedtime (and occasionally if she is really upset about something during the day)-we've been talking with her about getting rid of them when she turns 2 but we'll cross that bridge when we get there!

 Sweet, sweet girl!  Can't wait to celebrate her 2nd birthday next month!!