Ella's First Thanksgiving

Here are some highlights from Ella's first Thanksgiving in North Carolina. Thank you Uncle Joshua and Aunt Sharon!

You see Ella's tray tray is almost empty. And you see the sleepy turkey chemical is kicking in. But you should know that she kept going. "Must keep eating..." she muttered in baby speak as we hauled her off to bed. (Thanks for the cool bib Grammie)

Caleb and Ella welcome baby Ezra to the gang. Welcome aboard little guy!

Ella wasn't listening when we told her this was supposed to be the serious shot.

New Trick: Standing

Look world...No hands!

Sharing

DISCLAIMER: No babies ate dog food in the taking of these pictures. She did get licked real good though.

Ella is waiting her turn for dinner. Unfortunately Dewey isn't sharing and her dinner can be found a few feet away in her highchair. Nice try shorty!

Singing? Kissing? Yelling? Nose-eating? Who really wants to know?

Head Size Correlates to Smarts (we hope)

At a recent doctor's appointment Ella's 11 month measurements were taken:
25th percentile for height.
50th percentile for weight.
90th percentile for head size.
Now that's a noggin! If in fact head size correlates to brain size and brain size correlates to intelligience then our little big-headed baby is headed for greatness. It should be pointed out that someone in our family noted that the standard deviation for head size in 11 month old baby girls is probably really small so the 90th percentile is not all that big of a deal. That someone was not the member of our family who is currently taking a graduate course on statistics, testing, and measurement. It was the other member of our family for whom standard deviation is common language. This could also be another factor (genetics) in plotting the future of Ella's brain power. Or dorkiness. Only time will tell.

Look at the size of that HEAD!!!

A New Strategy

Andouille (Dewey) has made a change in his life. In the past few weeks Ella has become a speed crawler and a professional cruiser. All this makes Dewey much more vulnerable to her pats, pinches, tugs, and beautiful smiles. Just like the rest of us he can definitely handle the beautiful smiles. It is the pinches, tugs, and pats that he isn't so much into. Dewey has always been a couch dog. But recently his normal perches on the couch have not be quite so comfortable.
Enter the new strategy. The fort. Check out how Dewey has found his way in between the couch back and cushion. Out of reach of a mobile baby. Sorry Ella. I guess you'll need to learn how to walk and climb if you want to continue to eat Dewey's tail and pick his nose. Give it a few months (weeks).

A Visit from My Uncle B

Ella and Dewey (and Kelly and Zach) had a wonderful visit from Uncle Brendan this past weekend. We walked all over Boston, hung out at Harvard Square, ate a lot, and slept some. Follow our fun in pictures. Ella will tell you all about it.

Uncle B took me on my first Donkey ride.

I taught him how to feed me Cheerios. You see he looks shocked that I keep shoveling them down but it made me happy and that's what Uncles are all about.

We sang opera together at a tasty pizza place in Boston's North End neighborhood

Is it time? Can I wake him? I'm ready to play! Uncle B! UNCLE B! Time to get up!

The (baby) Human Vacuum

Ella has really found her groove in the eating department. Actually she's had her groove for a really long time but this is its first mention on the blog. The girl can eat!!! And now she's learning how to ask for food--ask makes it sound so much nicer than it is. And she's even learned how to find it when we're not fast enough on the draw. Follow this progression...
Good Eats!!!

I just took the Cheerios off the shelf myself. Opened the box, reached in, and started eating. This accomplishment has made me very happy!!!

"Either the box is empty or my very short arms can't reach anymore Os. I'm sad. And I'm still hungry."

"I give up. I give up. I'll just eat the floor."

Fall Leaves

Ella had to travel all the way to Indiana to find some good fall leaves to play in. So much for fall in New England.

Rolling in the leaves.

Falling in the leaves. Ooops!

Meditating in the leaves.

Thanks for showing me around the leaves, Grammie. Next fall we'll go jumping in the leaves.

Ellaphant

Ella's First Halloween!

Is that an Ellaphant walking across my kitchen floor?

That's a happy Ellaphant!

Ellaphants love to read!

The Ellaphant was overheard saying, "I don't know about this CANDY everyone keeps talking about but I love Halloween!"

And Halloween makes Ellaphants very tired.