Zoo Globe

Our zoo here has this really neat globe-type thing just inside the front gates. It is a big granite ball that rolls atop a fountain. And if you push it real hard you can change its direction.



Of course it is Ella's favorite thing at the zoo.

Redemption

Ella decides Santa isn't so bad after all. Especially after she sees the nice Pooh Bear and Baby Doll he left for her.

Santa

We didn't need to worry about the end of Fall, since pumpkin has been replaced by Santa as Ella's new favorite word. She's been chanting Santa over and over as she drags around the Santa doll Grandma Charlotte gave her. This has been going on for weeks now.



So it came as a bit of a surprise that when she saw the actual Santa she wanted nothing to do with him. (I know, I know, I shouldn't have been surprised at all)




One of the Moms from our playgroup invited Santa over and boy was he NOT popular! The first one on his lap started crying and it just snowballed from there.




Once Mama got involved Ella became calm enough for a small conversation with the Jolly Old Elf.

"Well hi there Ella."

"Bye-bye."

"Ho, ho, ho. Do you like my bells?" (jingles bells)

"Bye-bye. All done."

"Do you want to tell Santa what you'd like for Christmas?"

"No."

Nativity

One of Ella's favorite activities is to study our nativity display. She will name the animals; lamb, donkey, ox, fox (she adds that one because it sounds so good after ox).



She can point out Mary and Joseph. And always asks who the rest of those men standing around are.

Then she will point and say "Baby Jesus, Waaaa!" Because that's what babies do, they cry.

Standoff

"Okay, now very slowly... put the washcloth down and back away..."

Babushka Elmo

One of Ella's favorite things to do is make Elmo a Babushka.
And she loves carrying him around in a basket.



But of course she has to get into the basket with him.

Please? Please? Please?

I defy you to try and resist an 18-month-old who has learned to say "pleas-uh" with such sweetness and who just wants you to read this to her if it's not too much trouble.

And so it begins . . .

Yes, Ella has started to climb.

The first time she pulled herself up onto a dining room chair, Mark and I sat and watched in horror. With our mouths hanging open.




She likes to get up onto things and sit on them. Her favorite is this little step ladder at her Uncle Steve's house. She sat on that ladder the whole time we were there.

She does take the occasional tumble. Just yesterday during our neighborhood holiday open house she fell off a dining room chair. Who knew being the parent of a toddler was such an adrenaline rush?

Ritz

Ella with a mouthful of crackers.

Mark said to me the other day -
"You know, I have never in my life cleaned up more, and yet the house has never been messier."

Ah, the mysteries of parenthood.

Little Helper

"Ok Daddy, which faucet did you say needs a new washer?"

Spread the Love

At her gym class today Ella was all about spreading the love. She kept kissing the other toddlers!

It was so funny and sweet. I just had to watch and laugh. She would go up to them, put her hands on their shoulders and kiss them right on their lips. Sometimes they would even get a hug.

She often kisses her toys, but this is the first time she's gone around kissing other babies.

A Cozy Spot

Ella continues to show a deep love of tight, cozy places.


Here our heroine takes a moment to relax and catch up on her reading in the little nook behind the dresser and the rocking chair.