A New Olympic Sport

SpatulaBall. Look out 2024 Games. Our little pioneer is going to rock the sports world with this innovative take on modern baseball, golf, and hockey:

Special Note to Poppy and Uncle B: This bottom picture looks a little like someone wants to join you on the golf course. Don't bother getting her first clubs yet. She's got a spatula!

"I Don't Know!"

Ella is doing well with her words these days. She'll point things out and say them: Dewey, ball, Mama, Daddy, Poppy (just the other day, Poppy), duck, dog, cat, poop, etc.. At this point her recognition is much better than her language. Ask her to find something, bring it to you, or just point it out and she's on the money. For example, before a meal I say, "Ella, go get a bib." And she disapears around the counter and comes back with a bib (and then runs screaming towards her highchair because she seems to always be starving!). Or "Ella, go get Daddy a book and we'll read." And she runs to the book shelf grabs a book and plants herself in your lap. Sometimes she goes and gets 4 or 5 books before she really settles down, but that's OK.
So, all of this talking and language recognition is amazing and wonderful and very impressive! Right? Unless she's been attacked by the "I don't know" monster. From time to time, no matter how easy the question, and often to question after question, the answer is a shrug of the shoulders, arms turned out with hands pointed up, and adumbfounded look. As if she's forgotten all she knows. Just like this:


She thinks it is so cute. I think it is cute and a little frustrating. Don't you just hate to see a brilliant women act dumb just to be cute? Let 'em know how smart you are and make them deal with it, Ella Bean!!!

Well into her teen months

Happy 14 months, shorty!
Today you crawled and it looked funny to me because your walking is so good now. You're talking constantly. Words, words, words! You love to read books way more than I do. You're still eating like a champ. You go to sleep like you've been waiting all day to get back to your crib (this is huge) and you finally actually nap twice a day for 90 minutes consistently (also huge). You constantly smile and laugh and oddly love to dive and roll around on the floor and on the furniture.

You've learned to pat Dewey gently rather than smack him or poke him in the eyes. You did laugh when he got skunked but so did we. You didn't love swim lessons today but you tolerated it and by the end you'll be a fish just like one of your favorite Nemo (thank you Poppy). You're hair is finally growing out and your eyes continue to be absolute piercing perfection.
We love you tons and bunches and bunches and tons. Happy 14 months Ella HP!

at 4 months old

My 2nd favorite blog features Ella's two cousins and two very favorite nephews. Ezra, the younger one, turns 4 months old today. Happy Birthday little guy. Looking at their post today I was reminiscing about what Ella looked like at 4 months old and I found my favorite picture of my girls. Enjoy!

skunked

On Wednesday Dewey got sprayed by a skunk. Luckily I was in class and missed all of the fun except for the bath. You might be wondering where was the scene of the crime. In the woods? By a pond? In our local park? All good guesses but not quite. Would you believe that Dewey got skunked right in front of our house in urban Somerville, MA--population 75,000; five miles from Boston; most residents per square foot in the entire state of Mass. Believe it. It happened. The next morning our shock was further busted by two different sources. A nice old woman in our neighborhood coffee house said the city is full of skunks and was quoted to say, "If you hear something and think it is a rat, it is probably a skunk." What? And Ella's babysitter said her dogs got sprayed all the time growing up around here. Really? The shock is over. Skunk Happens!
For those of you that continue to think that tomato juice is the trick but worry about actually cleaning a dog with something bright red and kind of goopy we've found a better way. A bath of 3% peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap did the trick. Now we just have to get Dewey to stop chasing "rats" in the front yard and we'll be in the clear.

Walking Dewey

Ella is trying to be helpful around the house these days. Since she loves Dewey so much, walking him is obviously the coolest possible chore to be found in our house. To Dewey's intense dismay, she has decided to start practicing. For safety reasons we only practice indoors. It is really so sweet (and quite impressive) to watch her begin to actually mimic our movements and actions of walking the dog. I imagine it will be a while until she really gets the hang of it. And it will be even longer until she can actually take him outside just the two of them. I'll try not to let this cute new development convince me that my morning dog walking routine is going to change anytime soon.

"OK. See ya'll later. Dewey and I are headed out for a walk."

"Sit, Dewey! Good boy. Now come on...come on. If only my arms were longer I could give you a little tug. Let's go!"

Ahh! An age old dog walking challenge presents itself to our novice walker. How will she get the dog to get his leg untangled from the leash? Just wait until the first time he walks around the wrong side of a tree or signpost.

Hats

Ella is a lover of many things. But she is a hater of hats. She has never liked to wear a hat. No sun hats in summer, no fancy hats when dressing up, and certainly no winter hats in the cold of Boston. We got her a fleece hat with a velcro chin strap just to get through the winter. Now that she's stronger, wiser, and more agile with her hands and arms we may need to replace the velcro with SuperGlue.
Interestingly, she tempers her hatred for hats with a love for the free choice to put other things on her head. The other day she got involved with a colander and here's what we came up with.

Wearing my dancing hat!

Whenever we play bank robber, i've tried to explain to Ella that it would be much more comfortable and effective to wear panty hose as her disguise. She just doens't want to listen and insists on wearing her favorite colander every time.

Keeping Score

For those of you keeping score (see: Living in Holiday Duality post below), Ella had her first Hebrew National Kosher Hot Dog yesterday. She loved it and ate it right up. She also washed it down with a big sippy cup full of milk. This weekend we'll try bagels and lox with a side of bacon. Mmmm, Mmmm!