big girl

My baby is 21 months old! The last few weeks she has started playing a lot more and seems to be a little less clingy. In fact, for the first time I can ever remember, Ella has asked me to put her down a few times this week! She still asks me to "hold you" throughout the day, but after some Love and Logic discipline, she seems to be better at understanding that sometimes she needs to wait and be patient. Ella has recently fallen in love with the stuffed bunny Abuela gave to her last Easter. Ella loves to take care of "Bunny." She tries to feed her and give her water and has a very hard time understanding why I won't let her. In this first picture she is putting lotion on bunny (I think she did this for almost 20 minutes and I was in heaven because she is just barely starting to play independently).

Ella likes to put Bunny down for naps and night time (yes, she is still obsessed with pacifiers and no, I have not taken them away at bedtime or for naps yet.)

Like most kids, she has always been intrigued by our computers so my parents got Ella her very own laptop on her first birthday. Whenever we're on the computer we tell her to go and get hers so she runs off to her room and brings it in with us so she can play.

For the past month or so in an attempt to get Ella to stop whining I've been telling her to use her "big girl words" or to act like a big girl so now she climbs up on things and proudly exclaims "BIG!"

She also stands on random objects to "balance" and gets so proud of herself.

She isn't interested in potty training, but she demands privacy when she is going to the bathroom. She hides behind something (usually the couch) and doesn't want you to come close to her.

Ella is still very in love with shoes (and clothes). These adorable Minnie slippers are a hand me down from my sister and Ella loves them. I had to include this random picture because she is just so cute!

Here are some other fun things about Ella right now:

• Ella loves clothes and shoes so much that she has a say in what she wears every day. I can get her excited about going somewhere by telling her what we can wear (her coat, boots, a dress- you name it!) My sister Eleanor asked me if it was hard to get Ella to wear tights and my response was, "Are you kidding me? She asks to wear tights!"
• Ella is becoming a better eater. Still not good, but better.
• Ella loves to play with Daddy. She is still a mama's girl, but she is being much nicer to Daddy and even cried the other night when he was leaving.
• She is starting to string words together. Usually not more than two, but the other night she said "baby movie here I go" which meant that she wanted to watch the Baby Signing Time movie, "Here I Go."
• She has very good manners. She always says please and thank you. Gustavo is currently teaching her to say "excuse me."
• Ella loves our neighbors Jen and Ian and asks to go play with them almost every day. When Jen and I go walking, Ella gets paranoid if Ian is ever out of her sight. Ian is 4 so even though he likes Ella, he considers her a baby.
• She loves bubbles.
• Getting her to stay in nursery is still difficult, but she has gone 4 of the last 5 weeks.
• She loves singing so much that it is usually the only way to calm her down when she is upset. Her favorite songs are "Popcorn Popping", "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man", the alphabet, and "If You're Happy and You Know it"
  

*As a disclaimer for many of the random outfits, or lack of pants in some of these pictures let me explain that those were days where I was sick or days where Gustavo had gotten up with her and I hadn't gotten her ready yet. I do dress her, I promise :)