23 months

23 months, really??  Besides being adorable, what is Ms. Ella doing at 23 months old??  Playing with her sister so much so that she's exhausted by the end of the night...that's a big one for this month.  She loves, loves songs & nursery rhymes.  She can sing so many little kids songs, a favorite this month is Baa-Baa black sheep.  They sing that each week at story time & I often hear her walking around singing it to herself almost all day.  One of the funny things about this is that she has picked up the "yes, sir" from the song & will say "yes, sir" or "no, sir" to answer me.  I tried to explain that she should say sir to daddy & ma'am to me like a proper little southern girl, but everyone is sir.  I think this is not a winning battle anyway, as people in the North consider being called sir or ma'am an insult.  So funny how different things are here--but that's another post for another time :)  She laughs constantly, mostly due to being overtired or something sissy has done, but it's a deep belly laugh, which is hilarious.  You honestly look around the room & expect to see a 300 lb man laughing, but no, it's Ella!  She continues to be such a good little eater, she will eat anything, including some new foods she tried this month: salmon with a teriyaki glaze, hummus, soft tacos with spicy chicken & peppers, and she will eat ricotta with a spoon if I let her, she loves the stuff.  She is getting more into drawing/coloring.  I continue to be amazed by her hand-eye coordination  she seems to be really good with her hands.  She holds things very precisely & is also very purposeful about her drawing.  She knows all of her shapes.  Circles are her favorite, she & sissy often get circle grilled cheese sandwiches at lunch...I know they're spoiled :)  She's wearing size 24 month up to 3T clothing, although, to be honest, I don't buy much clothing unless it's 3T b/c she's so tall for her age.  Doing pretty well on the potty, it's still hit or miss, but she continues to be very motivated to wear "big panties" like sissy, so I know we are getting there.  She's had several afternoons of total dryness & then several afternoons of repeated accidents.  Ah, potty training, how I do not like you!!!  Her new bedtime routine includes a lullaby CD, which has helped in getting her to sleep.  After some research on nasal sprays for kids & some trial & error, I do think her nose spray from the ENT was causing some sleepless nights.  It seemed to make her irritable & restless, so for now, she's doing great with sleeping & seems to be having no trouble while just taking the oral Loratadine.  She's still a bit of a cuddler, which I don't mind at all.  She often comes over and asks to be held.  She says please pretty well, we're getting there with thank you.   She continues to need to do everything her sister does & although, not as overtly strong-willed as her sister, we are seeing Ms. Ella exert herself more & more by the day.  The "naughty step" for time out is not working that well for her as it did for Jessie, but I guess time will tell.  That "naughty step" has seen a lot of action from her big sister & I was hoping I could use it with her also; again, guess I will know soon enough.  That's about all I can think of for now.  enjoy a few snapshots of our little one.  **Big sigh**, who will be 2 next month!!  Thanks for reading & have a great day :)

There's still a little touch of baby in her, that's why I like this one

The set of her mouth, or something about this one, reminded me so much of my sweet Gran-Gran, I just had to do an antique look to it; although she is not here to meet my girls, I know she watches over them :)