One Proud Mama

20 month birthday

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

All moms think that their kids are the greatest, this mom included. Aside from seeing pictures, many of you don't get to hear and see the neat things that Ella does that I think make her so great, especially for a 20 month old. I am amazed each day at all of the information that she retains, the things she is curious about, and how we can have little conversations with her. So, here is a little list of things that Ella has been able up to lately:

• can say the ABC's
  
• can count to 14
• knows most of the colors (including blue, red, orange, yellow, green, pink)
• can identify circles, ovals, and triangles
  
• can say her address, including city and state
  
• remembers how to get places from our house (e.g., points and says, "playground, right there" when we get to the alley of the playground)
• loves to sing songs, including The Wheels on the Bus (with hand motions and sounds), Row, Row, Row Your Boat (sings the last word really loudly and shakes her head at the same time--"life is but a DREAM!!"), The Itsy, Bitsy Spider
• can climb up most any playground equipment, even curved monkey bar today. She likes to pull-up on bars and lift her toes up to touch the bar.
  
• says please, thank you, sorry, and bless you, and almost always without being prompted
• always laughs, smiles, and waves to people
• knows our neighbors names
• talks in phrases or short sentences most of the time...here are some things that she's said recently:

"Mommy's turn (to) push Pinkie in (the) swing"

"Ella helped baby dance (with) Elmo"

"Daddy playing baseball (in the) rain"

"Ella wear froggie boots (at) Baba (and) Pappy's house...go (in) sandbox"

"Ella, Mommy go library (to see Mr.) Jim. Charlotte come, Xander come. No Zene...Zene (at) home (for) nap."--telling Rob over dinner what we did that morning

• is curious about so many things, like worms, dirt, books, tools
• names the plants that we are watering (basil, 'matoes, pepper)
• asks her dolls/stuffed animals questions and makes a different pitched voice pretending they are answering her back (e.g., "Pinkie, okay?"..."Yes!")
• loves to help---me with cooking or carrying laundry, Rob with his tools and fixing things
• wants to do everything now by her "self"--buckling her the belts in her carseat, drinking from a "big girl" cup (especially those time-consuming and messy things)
• asks for movies she wants to watch or books she wants to read (This morning she asked, "Mommy? Watch Texas Telly, Triangle of Destiny, please?")
• makes up things about characters in books (e.g., We were reading a Sesame Street book and on the page that had a picture of Elmo with a boo-boo, she said, "Elmo has boo-boo finger...Snuffy kiss Elmo, make better."
• knows the ending word to the lines of many book pages or songs and can add them in when someone else reads or sings (e.g., Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are...")
• folds her hands and prays before meals, saying "Thank you, Jesus, (for our) food."
• knows the names of my favorite stores (or the ones that we always go to together), Target and Giant. If you ask her what she's going to buy at Giant, she says, "groceries...pizza, milk, bananas!"
• has been adding endings to many verbs, like "Man is running," or "Daddy is sleeping."

Of course, Rob and I are so proud of Ella and all that she can do. But most of all we are proud of her because she is so full of joy, excitement, and wonder, and always knows how to put a smile on our faces.