Then and now...

When we first got to Washington back in the end of July, we took this video of Ella walking between us. She has gotten a lot more adept at the skill over these four weeks, so we'll put another video up soon, but this will show you how silly she thought the whole thing was - and soon we will realize just how silly we have been as parents to encourage her independent mobility!

Random

Here are a few more random pictures from the Ella Collection... Some very Berkeley pants, a little kissy face in the kayak, some impressive curls, and the spoon with which she insisted eating. Good fun.

Where are your legs, EB?

While the cousins were in town, we went up to a lake on the northern end of Whidbey Island and Ella had a grand old time playing in the sand. In fact, you could barely see her legs by the end of the day, they were so camouflaged.

Rocks and sand

Whether it's been in Upper Jay, NY or Whidbey Island, WA or Alpine Lake, CA, Ella has spent a great deal of time this summer playing in rocks, sand, mud and water. Those are her favorite toys. Here are a couple favorites of Ella playing with her grandparents out at the Whidbey cabin.

Canada is great for walking...

So about two weeks ago, we had the opportunity to go visit our cousins and second cousins up in B.C. and had a wonderful overnight with them. While we were there, Ella was really trying out her walking skills. She seemed ready to go, go, go, but since then, she's been a bit reticent. Here is a quick video that captured a few of those steps.

One more image

Eating has been a bit more of a struggle lately. With her two top front teeth coming in, Ella has been more particular about what goes in her mouth (at meal-time, that is) and has been adamant about feeding herself, which is, of course, rather messy, but quite endearing at the same time. Here is a sweet-potato shot from tonight's dinner. XO to all, H

With Grandma and Poppa

Ella has had some wonderful quality time with her West coast grandparents this month, to everyone's great delight. She is a charmer and has loved giving kisses to everyone. It seems that each kiss has a preset destination, because she will walk around the room with great purpose and only plant her lips on the chosen one...
Here she is walking with Grandma, looking in the window with her Poppa, making her sweet kissy face and then showing all that she's found her nose.