136 Weeks

Give or take...Makes Ella sound old right?  She certainly acts all grown up.  Sometimes this girl sounds like a four year old.  She really talks so well.  At least for the most part.  There are still times when we can't understand a word she says.  Then there are the things that she says that we understand but aren't quite right.  For example, and I need to get this on video cuz it's super funny, Ella calls elevators "alligators."  And bobby pins "daddy pins"  That one she says wrong intentionally.  Uncle Bobby doesn't use them so they were "mommy pins" but then she decided she likes daddy more or something.  Not quite sure why she switched to daddy pins.  She also says "Mo-tatoe" for tomatoe, "Koo-wee" for kiwi, and her plurals are so funny.  For example she loves to color with her chalks, she walks on her foots until I taught her feet.  But then it was feets because plurals end with an "s."  Pretty stinkin' smart huh?
Ella doesn't say everything incorrectly.  And she picks up on everything.  For example, the other day she started screaming at the top of her lungs (outside of course, we've been working on our inside voices) "COME TO PAPA!"  No idea where exactly she learned that but obviously from the television.  She also likes to bow and say "thank you thank you thank you" when I'm done with her hair in the mornings.  That one she got from Little Rascals.  Also, thanks to Toy Story 3 Ella likes to play with the microwave and "beep boop beep" for the buttons EXACTLY like Bonnie does.
And as usual, I've got some funny Ella stories.  This girl really cracks me up.  And if I'm retelling any of these bare with me.  I just want to make sure I get them down.
She's been experiencing and noticing the sloshing sensation you get after you've had a lot to drink lately.  She thinks it's pretty funny.  Well, after her morning milk one day she was jumping on the bed and could feel the sloshing so she starts laughing and says "Mommy!  My tummy's jumping wif me!"
A couple weeks ago Ella spent the week with Shannon and her best friend Adam.  And they have a trampoline!  So she got to jump on the tramp with the sprinkler underneath for the first time.  And as usually happens, the mist created rainbows.  She was SO excited when she realized she was "jumping on rainbows."
And our most recent story, this morning I got ready for the day.  Complete with makeup and everything.  This is kind of rare these days since I spend my entire morning getting the girls fed and ready so once I shower and throw my hair up in a ponytail I call it good.  Anyway, I got ready and Ella's watching me check myself in the mirror and she says "Mommy, you don't yook coot."  I agree because I squeezed myself into some prepregnancy pants and had an epic muffin top.  But, whatever, my makeup was done and aside from the stress acne my face looked nice.  Then Ella says "Mommy, you don't yook coot.  You yook fabuyus!"  Totally made my day!  No idea where she learned fabulous but what little concern I had about the muffin top totally gone.
Ella has the most amazing memory.  We can drive down a street and she'll ask if we're going to Bobby and Cyndi's house because she recognizes the street.  If I promise her we'll do something after naps, first thing she does when she wakes up is remind me.  She can tell a song from the first few notes (so proud!) she corrects daddy if he misquotes one of her favorite movies (again, so proud!) and if mommy misplaces something she is kind enough to find it for me since she remembers exactly where I put stuff.
Her memory is great when it comes to singing songs too.  Although, she always has her own twist.  For example, "I Love to See the Temple" goes a little something like this when she sings it "I yuv to see da temple, a pace of yuv and booty, I pomise to obey."  She knows that whole thing.  She'll sing it with me like a pro, but once she's singing by herself I guess she just wants to sing her favorite parts.
Ella's getting really good with her colors.  Her biggest problem with colors right now is she'll forget what orange is called so calls it red since it looks pretty similar.  Other than that though she seems to have caught on.  She's also getting really good with shapes and counting.  She's been able to count to twelve for quite some time but she's actually figured out the concept of amounts.  So she now knows and understand that in our family there are four of us and three girls and one boy.  And if there are two cookies she wants "bof of dems" or "two of dems."  And yes, she says thems because there are two.  She's so silly.
Ella loves playing as any toddler does.  She loves playing pretend.  She loves playing with my hair.  She loves her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  She loves laughing.  Faking or real, doesn't matter.  She loves riding her bike, riding in daddy's truck, riding pretend horsies.  She loves dancing.  So much so that she'll purposely pick movies to watch with good music.  One of her favorites is Babes in Toyland and once that's on she HAS to wear her tutu while she dances.  She is still a major movie lover.  She has so many favorites that I'm getting sick of most of our kids movies.  Right before Livie was born we found a four pack of little girl movies and she has LOVED every single one of them (the good Annie aka the old one, Madeline, Matilda, and Pipi Longstocking)  I need to record her saying Matilda too.  There are just so many things that she says that are so stinkin' funny/cute.
Ella is such an amazing girl.  She's been through so much over the past couple of month and while she did have some award winning tantrums my sweet girl is coming back.
And last, but not least, Ella loves playing with the camera.  So enjoy some photos, courtesy of Ella.