On the MOVE!!

Towards the middle to end of November Ellie began scooting! She was pretty slow at first but quickly got faster. Then at Disney World she would crawl once or twice then sit, crawl once or twice and then sit again but mostly still scooting. When we came home from Disney World she gave up scooting entirely and is now a crawling MACHINE!! Ellie is also pulling herself up to everything but has not mastered walking along furniture yet. She even crawled up the stairs the other day, so out comes the baby gate!

Ellie brings such JOY to our home!!! She is ALWAYS smiling, laughing, squealing, or moving EVERY part of her body in excitement!! She jibber-jabbers constantly and in Gavin-fashion it seems to always be at yelling volume! My kids just aren't quiet kids! :) Her most frequent sounds are Ma-Ma, Da-Da, and Baa-Baa. But she still loves to blow raspberries and all sorts of other fun noises! She loves eating, especially whatever we are eating. She will often have her own dinner of baby food and then later want to eat our dinner as well. Right now she is in a finger-food only phase and will hardly touch the baby food, even the fruit. She loves the veggie, tomato and cheddar flavored rice crips and yogurt bites. We broke out the food storage and gave her freeze dried strawberries yesterday which she liked as well. She signs 'more' and 'all done' and occasionally 'milk' but we are still working on being consistent with them.

Since she stopped nursing at nine months she has really bonded with Jason. When he comes home she gets a HUGE smile on her face and starts waving her hands and kicking her legs in excitement until he picks her up. And boy is she NOT HAPPY if he happens to pick up Gavin first...she starts screaming and pulling at his pant legs. Jason cannot be holding Gavin without holding HER as well! She used to be such a mama's girl but now loves to do certain things just with her daddy! For example, she loves to sit on Jason's lap at the dinner table and eat off his plate every night.

Ellie loves to play! She loves things that make sounds and light up. Right now she is in a 'take everything out' phase. She LOVES to dump out anything she can get her hands on...blocks, the diaper basket, Gavin's little dinosaurs, the diaper bag, cars, trains, etc. The other day we were having so much fun; she would dump out the basket and then I would hurry and put more back in so she could dump them out on top of her head again. She thought that was a blast! She has also started playing hide and seek with us! She will cover up her face with her blanket and then quickly bring it back down with a huge grin on her face. She loves when you say 'where's Ellie' and 'there she is' to her actions.

Ellie is still wearing a helmet and doesn't mind it that much. She got her first ear infection last week. She had been fussy for a few days and both the kids had runny noses, but I thought she was teething because her top gums were swollen. Then she started putting her thumb in her ear, with the rest of her hand extended in a high five, but was easily consolable so I wasn't convinced it was an ear infection. But alas...it was.

Ellie is an avid hair lover and alternates from shyly, gently touching people's hair to pulling mommy's hair out! That girl is quick and before I know it she has a clump of my hair in her hands that is painfully no longer attached to my head! So...beware! I think it's hair envy. She still has so little hair of her own. Ellie doesn't like to be alone for long and when she realizes you've gone, she will stop playing and crawl to find you. She thinks her brother is both the funniest person in the world and also the meanest and will sometimes cry in anticipation of him doing something to her. And to her defense, Gavin is constantly on her or next to her. We are working on the concept of personal space with Gavin, but it is not sinking in and I am often found telling him to leave her alone. But for the most part they love each other and play well together, or as well as a 3 year old and 10 month old can.

Ellie is a social butterfly at church. She loves to stand facing the back of the bench and look at all the people sitting behind us. There has not been a single Sunday where someone hasn't come up and told us she is the happiest baby they have ever seen and that she was smiling at them all through Sacrament. Where ever we go and whoever we meet we hear over and over that we have the happiest baby people have ever seen and that Ellie has the sweetest smile because she smiles with her whole face! And to that I say, I AGREE!

I love you, my sweet sweet smiley Ellie girl!