Greetings and Salutations

No pic today, but I would like to post a video soon. It will likely have Ella saying her two new favourite words, "hi" and "bye". She understands when to say each of them and especially loves to yell "bye" when we are leaving daycare. They are often accompanied with a wave. It is so cute. She also now loves to say "Daddy" - she's graduated from "Dada". It is amazing watching her language develop. She has a quite the impressive vocabulary already. However, she enjoys saying the following 9 words regularly: Mama, Daddy, BaBa (Bronte), Oma, Papa, Hi, Bye, Ella, and LaLa (our nickname for her pacifier). She also says "kisses", variations of "ball" and "book", "turkey", "chicken" and has started to say "me" and "mine". Daycare said that she even understands the concept of "mine" as Ella will point to herself when she says it. She also will point to herself when she says her name.

She still loves to give hugs. All you have to do is ask for one and she quickly rests her head on your shoulder and nuzzles into your neck. There is no better feeling than that hug on the plantet!!!

Every day we are in awe of her new discoveries. It has been such a joy watching her develop as a little person. She is also quite sassy!!! Oh gosh, we are in for it! She hates to be told no or to be denied something that she longs for. The temper quickly emerges. She will flail herself on the ground and have a little meltdown. Truth be told, it is funny to watch (for now, anyway). She is very determined and stubborn. She has Mommy's sass and Daddy's sweet, loving side for sure.

Miss Independence

March Break went by too fast! It was so nice for Mommy and Daddy to have a week off with Ella. We all regretfully return to reality tomorrow.

Ella is getting very independent. She has discovered spoons and insists on feeding herself. Tonight she ate a whole serving of cherry-applesauce (something she's never been a fan of) because she was able to do it herself. When Mommy tried to help her, Ella refused to eat. And so, Mommy happily continued to add more applesauce to the spoon and Ella joyfully (and proudly)ate her food. These are pics of Ella serving herself some raspberry sorbet (all organic, no dairy, of course). She actually moans in enjoyment when feeding herself. It's quite amusing to watch her.

This last pic is of Ella cleaning the floor with a wipe. Great Oma would be very proud - we see that the Dutch-clean-obsessed apple hasn't fallen too far from the tree. Ella took great pride in cleaning the floor.

Wagon Ride

Ella went for her first wagon ride this afternoon. What a beautiful day it was. She received the wagon as a gift for her first birthday and it was finally nice enough to enjoy a little tour. She quite enjoyed the trip and enjoyed having a snack in it afterwards.

Zoo Stories

What a fun day! The family joined Uncle Andrew, Auntie Lisa, and cousin Matthew for a trip to the Zoo. Ella and Matthew (and Auntie Lisa) had never been before, so it was extra exciting. It was a bit cold in the morning but everyone faired the weather well. It was lots of fun to see all of the animals. Everyone was tired after a few hours or so. Here are some highlights (our apologies for the not-so-good quality of pics - we used our video camera for the shots).

Sunshine!

Here's our Sunshine enjoying some fun outside. The family went for a nice walk along the lake. We saw many snowmobilers and lots of people fishing. It was such a beautiful day.