Coloring, reading, and grocery shopping

Ella has been getting much better at playing on her own lately and acting like a "big girl." It has been so nice to be able to prepare meals or work on the ironing while she plays in the room and entertains herself (whew...a couple of Decembers ago I thought this day would never come!).

She enjoys:

• coloring (on anything---including coloring books, papers, and Rob's special drawing papers from work)
• putting Pinkie and her other friends in boxes or other containers and taking them places
• filling up her shopping cart with my spices and lining them up on the table
• using her cash register beeper to "check out books" in the house
• lots of make-believe play---e.g., makes cakes out of blocks and sings "Happy Birthday" to her stuffed friends, goes to the apple orchard to pick apples
  
• reads books to herself
• makes 'nests' and 'eggs' and 'beds' out of pillows
  

coloring on friend, Char's, easel

wearing Rob's shoes and pushing "Chocolate Monkey from Ohio" in the shopping cart


filing up the shopping cart with spices


coloring with Rob on his special papers


coloring


never tired of coloring and writing letters


playing in the leaves outside


climbing (anywhere she can!)


running (everywhere she can!)


resting in the grass (but only for a second---her downtime is never long)