I know I say this all of the time, but I still cannot believe how fast time is flying. Ella is already 15 months old and continuing to learn and grow more every day. At her 15 month check-up, she weighed 21 pounds (25
th percentile) and was 31 inches long (75
th percentile). She is no longer walking but running. She doesn't even let a scraped knee slow her down. I have to hold her down just to put the band aids on. Fortunately, she plays hard and sleeps hard!
Most days she wakes up smiling and talking up a storm, ready to start another fun-filled day. Every day must start out with a waffle, preferably blueberry, and a cup of milk. She runs into the kitchen and starts patting on the refrigerator door. She no longer wants to sit in her high chair to eat breakfast. It must be served in the snack cup so that she run around as she pleases. Fortunately, she still eats her other meals in the high chair. Well, most days! Other than waffles for breakfast, some of her favorites foods include green beans, carrots, pasta, beans of any kind, cheese, and chicken. She would probably eat yogurt all day long if I let her. Daddy got her hooked on bread, so she will eat almost anything on a sandwich or toast. She is still not a big fan of fruit. She will eat fruit mixed in other things but not a piece of real fruit by itself. At least we love the veggies! While
Gramma and
Grampa Riley were visiting, Ella experienced her first apple pie, which was a huge hit. Who doesn't love a piece of the world's greatest apple pie with vanilla ice cream??
As I said earlier, Ella sleeps great. We had a rough run for a couple of weeks when she was sick with ear infections and thrush. The night she slept almost the entire night in our bed, I knew we had a problem. Gene and I had to get tough, and let her cry it out a few nights. Fortunately, she did not put up much of a fight, and everyone is sleeping in their own beds again. When she is tired, she wants to go to bed. Recently, she started waking bye-bye to me when I put her down. However, you must meet certain criteria in order for her to be ready! Her belly must be full. Pacifier in mouth (may even need to pick out a new one).
Sunggle Bunny in tote. Special
blankie must be in bed. Sometimes we need a book or two to settle down with first. She still takes one or two naps a day and in ready for bed by 7pm or so and sleeps 12-13 hours! I feel so blessed!
Although she is great sleeper and loves to be active, we definitely have our not so great moments. She is a beautiful, determined little girl to say the least. She has her own agenda and do not dare interfere with it! The temper tantrums have started long ago. If she does not get her way, she immediately cries and throws her self back onto the floor. In order to prevent daily skull fractures, I usually have to catch her and lower her to the ground and then let her cry it out. She's a mess! I have no idea where she gets it from. Must be from Gene's side! HA!
Ella's
favorite word is mama. She is all about Mama! She points in the mirror or at her baby pictures and says "Ella! Ella!". She also taps her chest and says her name. Sometimes she likes to say mama, and I have to remind her that she is not the mama. This, of course, is just hilarious to her! She is also saying baby, dog, bye-bye, and go-go-go (that's what we say when we are going somewhere). If you say car, she goes "
vroom-
vroom!". We are working on our animals and what each one says. She seems to think that everything
growls.
Eating some of Nana's yummy banana pudding!!
Eating some gold fish at Nana and Poppy's house on Easter Sunday. Little Miss Priss would not pose to save my life, so I had to take what I could get!
Cousins Grady and Lindsey on Easter
Ella riding her first pony! She was very unsure of the whole experience. I got a couple of smiles and then she completely freaked out and wanted off immediately. We had to stop the ride and get off. But we got our money back!
Farmer Reagan with his big tractor! He definitely wanted to ride in it all day.
The guys getting impatient while waiting on Reagan to finish getting his fill on farm animals.
One wore out cowgirl!
Ella loves her comfy chair that Nana bought her for Christmas! I had just bought her a new snack cup. That day I filled it some cheese puffs and gave her the cup. I walked out of the room to check on something. When I came back, she had climbed up into her chair and was watching Friends on tv. She was watching so intently like it was her favorite show.
Ella decided her dump truck was a ride-on toy even though it is a push toy!
I think I took these pictures back in December. It was a really nice day outside, so Gene decided to get to work on raking the 10 bazillion leaves in the our backyard. Of course, Ella wanted to get out and help. For the first time, I let her get as dirty as she wanted as she explored each area of the yard. I was a nervous wreck and hovered over her like crazy! As you can tell from the lack of smiles, she is still not crazy about the grass. She would much rather run on the concrete.
As you can see, it was a polka dot party! Ella had a wonderful time with her family and friends on her special day. Uncle Preston, Aunt Jenn, and Reagan couldn't miss out on all of the fun and visited for the weekend. Good thing Aunt Jenn played photographer because Mommy realized after it was all done that she had only taken 2 pictures! Ella received musical instruments from Reagan, a Winnie the Pooh ride-on airplane from cousin Gaylon, a Little People farm from Jay and Michelle, building blocks from Granny Linda and Papa Mike, a wild pink outfit from Hudson, and a book from Kate. Nana and Poppy want to get Ella a swing set for the backyard, so we will hopefully find one soon.
In hopes of making the trip a little easier, we tried flying in and out of Houston instead of Tyler. On the way home, we stopped for lunch with Uncle Preston, Aunt Jenn, and Reagan.
While we were in Indy, we had an early birthday celebration with some cupcakes. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first. Then she realized it was kind of fun tearing it apart. She really wasn't too crazy about eating it, though. She does not like getting her hand dirty. Her hands were caked with icing, and she started freaking out. Mommy and Gramma had to quickly come to the rescue. Unfortunately, we didn't clean it up before she rubbed it all in her eyes, which I still think it led to the eye infection she had the following week.
