"Dear Jesus...I thank you for my mommy & daddy, my nana & g.pa, grandma & papa, aunt B & uncle brad, rylan and baby bridger, uncle jefe, uncle ryan & aunt helen...mark & julie's pool...and cake...just a little bit of cake.  Jesus loves me.  Amen!" 

These were the exact words that came out of Ella's mouth the other night when we sat down in her rocking chair for quiet time before bed, and she promptly announced, "I'll pray!"  How can you argue with that?  We had been at my Uncle Mark & Aunt Julie's house that day for a graduation party (Ella adores their big below ground pool) and we had also eaten the most delicious bakery cake you have ever tasted.  Those things must have stuck in her little mind and she wanted to make sure God knew just how thankful she was!  I laughed so hard and got her so darn excited that it took me an extra 20 minutes to get her down to sleep...but it was worth every minute!!

Ella has thrived over the past month and a half (since she turned two) in so many different ways - it is difficult to remember them all.  She is walking more, talking like a grown up, starting to eat with a fork and spoon (soon!), drinking out of a big girl sippy cup, requesting what she wants to eat for breakfast, lunch & dinner, and remembering things that happened months ago that mommy has long since forgotten. Her cognitive listening skills are so amazing - you really have to watch what you say and promise her because she WILL NOT let you forget what you have said!!  It is wonderful to be able to communicate with her and have her tell us what she wants to do, or not do as the case may be many times.  Here is just a little example of something that happened the other day.

I was sitting here at the computer, typing an e-mail and Ella was playing one of her most favorite games that she made up herself called "carpet/tile."  She stands in the hallway and puts one foot into the bathroom (tile floor) and yells "tile!" while the other foot stays in the hallway where it is carpeted.  "Carpet!" she yells.  She will just thrill herself forever playing this game and laughing hysterically at herself like she has got to be the smartest, funniest girl in the whole world.  She hears me typing and starts to walk into the guest room where our computer is.  "Get on your lap and type, mama," Ella says.  She walks over to me and climbs up.  I have opened up a new page in Word so she can type whatever she wants.  "Type a letter to Grandma, mama.  With my name and phone number, mama."  She proceeds to spell her name and then tell me our phone number.  I let her bang her "letter" out on the keyboard.  "Turn on the music please, mama, " she says next.  We have iTunes on our computer so I ask her if she has any requests.  "Sweet Caroline, mama."  (What is this, a karaoke bar?)  I turn on Sweet Caroline, which she usually loves, but halfway through the song she says, "Turn off Sweet Caroline and put on My Girl, please mama."  Done with one click of my mouse.  She is now grooving in my lap to The Temptations and still working hard on her letter to Grandma.  "Down please mama," she says when she is done typing.  "Let's go to Ella's room and sit in the window seat."  All of the sudden the e-mail I had been working on becomes a distant memory and I am headed down the hallway behind my sweet little girl as she takes her itty, bitty steps with her arms stretched out in front of her, "looking" for the doorway to her bedroom.  She makes it there.  "Ooh, wood floor, " she says when she reaches her room and steps in.  She walks to the window seat using her crib as a guide and climbs up to stand in her window and knock - another favorite pastime.  "Hey daddy, what's up?" she yells out the window which faces the garage.  I say, "Oh Ella, daddy is not home quite yet.  He will be in a little bit and then we can yell to him."  "Oh," she says.  "Chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes and carrots for dinner, mama!" she yells next.  I guess I'd better get down to the kitchen and get to work!!

I am convinced that having my sister and her two boys in town and seeing them almost daily for a month helped Ella's social skills tremendously.  She still struggles sometimes with the noises that babies make, or with kids her own age in a play group setting - but she has come such a very long way.  She is trying to work through her issues and figure things out in that cute little head of hers.  After my sister was here about a week, Ella started changing the way she reacted to Bridger who is 3 months old.  Instead of getting upset or mocking his crying sounds, she began to say, "Bridger just needs his paci...or a bottle of juice."  When we could get my 3 1/2 year old nephew, Rylan, to sit still next to her for a few minutes...Ella would run her hands over his arms and legs and get a feel for his size and shape.  This seemed to help her tolerate him a little better when he would run into a room or bounce right next to her on the couch.  Kids are so unpredictable, and I can only imagine how she feels not having the visual connect to the sounds & movements that they make.  This is why I am so incredibly proud of her accomplishments over the past couple of months.  I see her learning, trying to interact and behave properly in situations, and trying to understand all that I am telling her all the time as I constantly explain what is happening.  And she is only TWO!  Wow - she leaves me speechless and amazed lately.  This is such a FUN as well as frustrating time in her life right now as she attempts to figure out the big world and just how she fits into it.  We laugh, we cry, we get mad, we are silly, we learn, we grow, we fall down and we get back up.  The long and winding road of parenthood & raising children...mostly a beautiful path, but as always there will be some thorny bushes to get around!!