Music

Ella has always been a great singer. This much everyone knows. But were you aware that she is also accomplished in many musical instruments.

From the age of 3 months old she was already a master of not only the air guitar



but the air drums,



(Can you believe how little she was!?!)

and most recently she has taken up the piano.

The REAL piano, no less!



Very avant garde, wouldn't you say?

Baby Face

Here are some pictures of Ella from this week that show off her best features:

Update on the hair:Oh how we love the post-bath do. But really, she's starting to get some real actual hair.

The eyes:

Ol' Chompey and the Nipper Twins (and that hair again!):


That fashion sense:
Isn't she something? And you can't even see her move in these pictures! Then you'd really be impressed. Just started taking off and crawling everywhere. Nothing is safe. Some moving pictures in the next post.

Ma-ma! Da-da!

This is Dada (A.K.A. Seth) writing this post.

I call myself Dada to Encourage Ella to do the same. And she says it too! But mostly she just says it when she feels like it and with no particular meaning other than that she's having a pretty good time at the moment and would like to make some noise.

Mama is different. When she says Mama, she has a very particular meaning. She means, "I think I would like to nurse now please." Although, usually she says it repeatedly, with much more enthusiasm, sometimes thee are other syllables mixed in, but you can usually discern a distinct "MA-MA-MA!" which indicates that she has had just about enough of whatever else is happening and that now it is time to nurse. We had a good recording of it, but blogger was having none of it!

The other night, at around 10:00, when she really really should have been sleeping, Lauren was long tired of nursing her (and it wasn't helping her sleep anyway) and I was tired of walking the halls with her (which was also not helping), I decided that feeding her might help. She ate pretty well for a baby that was supposed to be asleep, but at some point lost interest in the food, pointed directly at my face and looked at me with a sweet little smile and said, "da-da." Needless to say, I was overjoyed and I immediately forgave her for staying up past her bedtime and keeping me up past mine. Then a few minutes and a few spoonfuls of squash and apricots later, she again pointed and smiled and said, "da-da," in her sweet little voice, but this time she was pointing at her sippy cup.

"Wa-wa," I corrected.

Skillz!

Ella has been working hard and now has some new skills, with which to pay her tiny, tiny bills.

Skill number one:

Eating!

No, she hasn't just murdered a gazelle in a Bacchic frenzy. Those are beets. Yum!

After many failed attempts and much cajoling, she's now mastered the art of opening her mouth, taking most, but not all (as you can see), of the food offered to her into it, and swallowing it happily.

Skill number two:

Standing up on stuff (and kind of walking, sort of)



To date she is even more advanced at this skill that this video shows.

The technique includes, but is not limited to: (1) crawling over to some object, (2) grasping at its high parts, (3) hoisting her diaper-laden bum up onto her dainty feet, (4) looking around to see if anyone is impressed, (5) letting go with one hand, (6) pulling stuff out of box, (7) letting go with other hand, and (8) falling on bum.

And skill number three:

What we like to call, Doing The Boogie

No explanation needed.

Hair days

Good news!
Ella has finally got enough hair that she can have Hair Days (both good and bad).

An example of a good hair day:

"Spikey Tub Hair"

Another good hair day:

"Serious-Cow-Lick Hair"

And its companion:

"Oh-Dear,-What-did-you-give-the-baby Hair!"

All in all, any day with this much lush, glamorous hair is a good hair day.

The Incredible Expanding Baby III

(Guest post by Seth)

Yes, III.

I'm considering the posting entitled "Want To See Something Crazy?" installment II.

Remember the picture we sent out with her birth announcement? Our friend Abby took it when she was 6 days old. Compare it to THIS one taken at 6 months old!

















Don't try to figure out which one is cuter. It will make your brain explode.
My opinion: Both are equally cute, but she seems to have traded a quiet, wizardy dignity for a cheeky smile and sparkly eyes.

And remember when we used to wrap her up like a little burrito? Well now she's more like a big big cannoli (with filling spilling out both ends).

1/2 Birthday, First Solid Food

January 15th was Ella's 1/2 birthday (and Elizabeth's whole birthday!). As Violet's mom knows, I love 1/2 birthdays. We celebrated with half a cake for us (no, there never was another half, I only made half a cake) and some banana for Ella.

It was her first taste of solid food. A little dubious I think. See for yourself. (This isn't the best video--the very first taste she had was a longer video blogger couldn't handle, but you get the idea).




On the other hand, she seemed to really enjoy the cake I made: she grabbed a handful as I made her pose for this picture. Oops.
By the way: the banana comic is by Natalie Dee. You should check out her blog at Nataliedee.com.