I couldn't be prouder...

Before her lesson; after the lesson...

This is hard for a baby!!!

This past week has been very, very exciting for me... Ella has had a lot of success using the toilet (with help, obviously!), and she did so well during her swim lessons... She is floating and kicking but we'll have to help her to use her arms more. Glendy said to focus more on that- and specifically, don't do a lot of underwater stuff with the baby! Well , just once every month or two in order to maintain those skills? I better confirm with her- anyway it's not necessary to do that with her often. And as she gets stronger she should get better at holding on to the edge of the pool. We'll have to go over to Ryan's parents house sometimes to practice : ) Ryan and his mom both came to the last lesson to watch, and I was able to get in the pool to practice working with Ella myself. I was a little nervous doing it but we did alright. Ryan was so impressed with it all that he's already agreed we should have Ella spend another week with Glendy next year, to help her reinforce old skills and learn some new skills. I hadn't anticipated doing it another time (mostly because it was a little pricey for me) but we liked it so much that we are planning on doing it next year too. It was worth it, definitely.

Thursday (Day 4 of lessons)

Friday (Day 5 of lessons)

Back to why this week has been so exciting! In addition to learning to swim and using the toilet a bunch, I think that I might be able to officially say that Ella crawled! She really wanted to get to those things she can't play with (the remote control, a tray for drinks) so she did some forward lunges utilizing all her limbs and made her way to those "fun" adult things! And then I put them farther away, how frustrating! So I think she just needs motivation to really get moving... She also has her first tooth coming through her bottom gums! You can hardly see it, but you can definitely feel it! Ryan just discovered it this morning. Everyday it seems to be something new now! I know teeth are inevitable and nothing to be proud of, but somehow I am!!!

Ella's comprehension of things is starting to amaze me too... Like today I asked her, "do you want to read a book?" And she immediately looked over at the books on the shelf next to the bed, where I keep some of her books. This actually happened twice today, so I don't think it was a mere coincidence or that I was mistaken (Ryan was there one of the times, and he agreed she clearly understood what I was talking about.) I'll try to incorporate some signs for things we use/say a lot: book, duck, milk, potty, lights on/off, etc - I don't know if that's helping but she does look intently at my hands when I do- and when I'm signing duck she smiles with amusement : ) I think it's because she likes to play with her rubber duckies in the bath tub, and there's also a cute stuffed duck from Ryan's parents that makes a quacking noise- she likes that. Anyway, I can't say that she's signed anything back yet- sometimes it looks like she might be signing milk but I think she's just wiggling her fingers... Still, I think that it's helping her to develop language comprehension skills... and eventually it may lead to some preverbal communication!

Here's another, AMAZING thing I don't even expect you to believe it but I'm going to tell you anyway.... Ella watches a DVD everyday (once or twice daily) that is ultimately supposed to help her learn to read. The written word comes on the screen, it's spoken, there's some image to associate meaning to the word, and there are parts to make it interactive also- the multisensory approach. Anyway, so Ryan was watching the DVD with her Thursday evening and the word "kick" came on. Ryan encouraged Ella by saying the word himself and demonstrating the motion. In response, Ella said "kick"! Clearly. This isn't the only instance either. About three weeks ago she clearly said "cat" after seeing and hearing it- and later in the week she attempted to say "dog" after seeing and hearing it (she didn't get the "g" but her attempt was right on cue). It's so exciting to see that she's really tuning in to what she's learning- and yes, she does enjoy it!

Well, I can't wait to share more of Ella's accomplishments- but I think that blogging 3 times in one week means I probably won't blog at all for the next week. It takes me longer than I'd like to spend doing it!

Amazing Baby!!!

So here's another video to freak you out. I do feel a little bad watching Ella do this, but I know that her having developed some survival skills is a worthwhile thing. I wish that the video didn't show a freeze frame of Ella the way it has it set though- face down in the water! I did not do that on purpose! Anyway, her lesson went okay today. She seems to be picking things up pretty well. I guess I might sound a little less than enthusiastic just because I know that it's stressing her out- however temporary it is. Just as soon as I handed Ella over to Glendy to get started, she cried in protest. But then afterward, she calmed down pretty quickly and smiled at Glendy a couple of times. And the rest of the day she was a pretty happy camper. So I know she's okay. I thought I was totally okay watching her swim lessons, but it does still make me hold my own breath a little!!!

If you're reading this and thinking I must be a crazy nut, then you might as well stop reading now because here's some more craziness... Ella used the toilet 4 times today! I know I said earlier that we're not potty training but now it's seeming like it's just naturally happening, honestly! When I changed Ella's diaper this morning I held her on the toilet, and without much urging at all, she peed! Then while I was feeding her breakfast, it seemed like she had to go number 2, so I took her out of the highchair and took her to the toilet. No luck. We went back to eating breakfast. Just a little bit later she farted (big time), so I took her out of the highchair and took her to the toilet again. It was just the right time- I don't think I needed to do anything- she immediately pooped in the potty! It may sound weird, but it was soooo exciting when it happened! Then later on in the day, after she'd had lunch, nursed, and napped for 2 1/2 hours, I thought we better do a diaper change/go to the potty. Her diaper was dry! After lunch, nursing, and a long nap? I think she must have held it. Once I put her on the potty, she peed liked she'd been saving some up! The last time she went, was with Ryan while he was getting her ready for bed. This has just been so amazing... She still does have dirty diapers, but I think if we just keep up with watching for her cues, I don't know, maybe she'll be out of diapers sooner than we'd anticipated. Anyway, I'm thinking of taking a video of Ella on the toilet- would that be weird? I don't know if I'm a good judge of what's weird anymore (or ever.)

Okay, well I am awake at 2am. Too much to do.....

Hold your breath!!!

Ella started her waterbabies class this week. It's a little non-traditional: private lessons 5 days in a row with Glendy Herron. You can look her up on facebook or myspace to find out more about her; her business is called Glendy's Waterbabies. Anyway, at the end of the week, Ella should have enough skills to roll onto her back and float, swim to the edge of a pool and hang on! So obviously, it's not a "fun" swim class- it's all about survival. Hopefully Ella will never be in water without an adult right there with her, but the reality is that drownings are a leading cause of death for young children, so better safe than sorry, right? Plus won't that be great when she can swim! Starting in May we'll be taking a "normal" waterbabies group class at the Kingwood Athletic Club. We'll probably continue taking classes throughout the summer, but we'll see how that goes in May first.

Yesterday was Ella's first lesson with Glendy and she did well, although she definitely cried a LOT! Afterward she held on to me sooo tight, poor thing. But later on she was as smiley as ever. Today's lesson went okay- I think it would have gone better but she didn't get a good nap in (more like a 5 minute snooze in the car!) I felt pretty guilty about that, since it was due to our going to watch a hula show right before. Anyway, tomorrow it is back to our usual routine so she'll get in a really good nap and have more energy for her lesson. And then I won't cringe as I watch...

Here is Ella with Bernie, who also has a baby girl right around Ella's age, Malia. I had a baby and I haven't really done anything with myself yet- Bernie, she's performing hula! So is Eri who's baby, Kai, is only a few weeks older than Ella. I think I should join their group, huh? I danced with Eri back in college (forever ago, hehe). Anyway, here's their website if you want to check it out...

http://www.alohapele.com

How time flies!

My cousin, Lisa, with Ella

Where has the time gone? Well, let's see... I took a short trip to Chicago - on fairly short notice. My cousin, Lisa, was going to be visiting my folks for a few days, and we hadn't seen each other since my wedding so I decided- heck, you can manage flying just you and the baby! And you know what? I really did! I'll admit it took me almost all morning to get myself together for the trip, and I almost missed the flight since I did not get there early enough- especially considering the check-in line was both super long and stagnant. In desperation I checked in at the "carry-on" kiosk even though I definitely intended to check my bag if not there then at the gate- so I just whizzed through security hoping that no one would give me a hard time about my hefty luggage- and no one did. But I did have a baby strapped to my chest; I'm thinking that may have had something to do with it. Ella slept for most of the flight, and upon waking cooed like the little cutie she is! Coming home I thought I would definitely have a hard time, since the flight ended up getting delayed, but I got lucky again - she nursed and slept while we waited to board, and this time we had the whole row to just us so I could really spread out. And sitting right behind us was an elderly couple that really engaged Ella every time she could peek through the space between the seats. Anytime she got a little fussy I'd just lift her up a little and point her at them, and they'd get her smiling : ) Oh, and the other thing I was worried about was having to use the toilet (I wasn't sure what to do with Ella if I had to go!), but for once I didn't even have the urge- it may sound funny, but that right there felt like divine intervention because I've been on the plane before and had to pee so bad, there was no waiting for that "fasten your seat belt" sign to go off... TMI? Sometimes I just don't know where to draw the line...

Hmm, anyway... the trip was good, short and sweet : ) Mostly a family visit but I got to see a few good friends which is always nice! One day I felt so nauseous in the car, I rolled down the window as far as it could go to see if I could fit my head out in case I needed to throw up suddenly... It reminded me of how I felt when I was pregnant with Ella... Well I did end up throwing up, but it was nothing to do with being pregnant - I checked, hehe...

Well, this seems to be a long post already so I think it's time to wrap it up. We're been busy, but you know it's mostly our daily routine (eat/sleep/eat/sleep/eat/sleep, hehe), not a whole lot to blog about... although at the risk of being judged, I will just go ahead and say that one of the most exciting things for me today was Ella going pee in the toilet! I'm not potty training Ella, but when I'm pretty sure she's got to pee, why not put her on the potty? She seems amused to be on the potty (you should see her smile), plus it seems more hygienic that her waste goes down the toilet versus her sitting in it... And I wouldn't say that I'm all that "green", but this would count as being environmentally friendly (okay now you can see I'm just throwing out all kinds of justifications for this.) Some people are really against early potty training (which like I said I'm not even really potty training), but the norm used to be to potty train your kids by 1 year, and doing some online research, it seems that a good portion of the world potty trains as infants... so as long as she's smiling about it, I'll keep doing it... And whether or not she pees, her smiles are always returned : )

I took this picture last week...

Ella was all excited about her little chair from Aunt Chris!!!

Soooo cute!!!