A Mixed Bag of News

We begin with sad news. Ella's Great Grandmother passed away yesterday (Mommy's grandma). She was ninety-two years old and died peacefully in her sleep. As Mommy's aunt is away, the funeral won't happen until next week. Mommy is a maid of honour for a dear friend's wedding next week too. It will prove to be a busy time. Here is a lovely picture of Ella and her Great Grandmother together.

On the happier news front, Ella has her first pair of big girl shoes. A right of passage is going to Zona's Shoe Store and getting some great fitting shoes. Zona's staff are experts in kids' shoes so Ella has a great pair (all leather) to help her with her walking skills. She continues to cruise around the house and is starting to let us walk with her (holding her hands). Although, truth be told, she would rather crawl at lightening speed. Daycare is working on her walking daily which seems to help a great deal. Daycare has also taught her a few new things. Ella now says "chicken". She still loves to scream her own name. Her vocabulary now includes the following words: Mum, Dada, BwaBwa (Bronte), Papa, Turkey, Chicken, Cookie, Ball, and Ella. She was also taught how to blow kisses and when asked what a doggy says, Ella responds, "Woof Woof". She will attempt almost any word you present her and is extremely keen to have a "conversation" with us. She LOVES daycare. She is happy all day long and desperately wants to join in on the action when arriving every morning. She is very affectionate with the staff and enjoys the other babies a lot too. One of the boys was kissing her on Friday. Ella also tries to comfort the sad ones by giving them hugs. Here are some pics of the new shoes in action and of her blowing kisses to Daddy (we could only get a shot of that trick from the back).

Ella also enjoys standing on her head (it would appear that she is desperately trying to stand up on her own) along with brushing her own hair (okay, she does have SOME hair now). We will try to get pictures of those 2 acts soon.