"Where's Ella?"

Ella started playing peek-a-boo at Thanksgiving with her Grandma and Grandpa Morris when she was first able to raise a blanket over her face and understand the game. She loves hiding behind towels, cloth diapers, toys - anything that will block her view - and then dropping it down with a triumphant smile.
Here is a brief video clip of a peek-a-boo game that Ella played two weeks ago when we were having a baby party at our apartment with two 10+ month-olds, another 8+ month-old and one 4+ month-old... I find this clip particularly sweet because Ella misses the mark at one point and only covers half of her face while she peeks out at me with one eye.

First shots from Maui

We arrived to beautiful, warm, sunny weather and a nice cool breeze at the Kahului airport. This is our view from the condo, with pods of humpback whales speckling the ocean view.

Recent pics from CT

Playing with Bianca, Cheerios and laundry...

From Hawaii with love...

Just one week shy of nine months and Ella is having a lot of firsts! Her first trans-Pacific flight, first tumble off the bed (onto carpet, thank goodness) and first nose-scrape, first tooth (!!), first experience with a five-hour time change, first steps on Hawaiian soil and more... Though she is still far from walking on her own, she is finally talking steps as we hold her hands. The one tooth that is popping through is the bottom left. It is causing a bit of fussiness and a fair amount more drool, but, boy, is it cute!
We all got up quite early this morning, due to jetlag, and we've been watching whales breaching from our lanai (patio). It is gorgeous here - high 70's/low 80's and the perfect amount of humidity to heal our chapped Eastern hide. The big news around here is that my dad, Ralph, won his final case for the SF Bay Guardian, a small independent newspaper from the Bay Area. He ended his legal career on a real high and now we all have a week to celebrate the victory!
We will be sending more updates this week (including some recent videos!), but I'll just add a few more things that Ella is doing these days before signing off: loving Cheerios, eating real banana bits, cooing at ceiling fans, slapping five, flirting with strangers, playing in the pool, laughing a lot and really communicating in any way that she can... Oh - and she is always in constant motion - a real wiggler!

A few recent pics of the little girl

At eight and a half months, Ella is treating us to new tricks all the time... She is still clapping like a champ - that's probably her favorite - that and the motorboat/raspberry noise that she makes with her mouth... She now likes to slap you five and not only give you kisses, but lick your face. It is surprisingly endearing. Her days are filled with "ba-ba-ba"s and "ma-ma-ma"s and, most recently, "da-da-da"s - none of these sounds have meaning yet, but they sure do have charm.
As you'll see in the video, she has been pulling herself up wherever she can and is becoming quite strong. We've realized lately that, in comparison to other babies, we've got a real wiggleworm on our hands. She is constantly straining and grunting and reaching for the dog, a stack of papers, a remote control or some other verboten item. She keeps us on our toes.
Her inflatable water toy should arrive in the mail on Friday and then we're off for a Hawaiian adventure, filled with lots of pool and beach time and snuggles with both east- and west-coast grandparents.
Much love to all!

Ella Standing in the Bath

Well, it won't be long now...Ella pulled herself up in the bath tub tonight, all by herself, so we figure it won't be long before she is fully, independently mobile.

The last week and a half...

Ella is becoming so much more active and mobile. She is rolling around, constantly pulling at our clothes, reaching for toys and wanting so much to move independently. She continues clapping those hands and even knocking two toys together with a huge smile on her face. One of her favorite toys right now is a little stuffed soccer ball that she likes to bat and kick around. She also loves her two jumpy seats, which let her bounce and turn around so gleefully. She'll be eight months old on Thursday and we're loving this age...