Hands that Grab

As of this last Saturday, Ellie is beginning to understand not only that she has hands, but that she controls them! Before we've had lots of hand-watching, and she has been a grabber when something is within reach since she was only a couple of weeks old, but Saturday those little hands found purpose.

It was so fun to see her study the elephant rattle on her playmat and then reach out with purpose! She played with that same toy for a good 15 minutes or more. It may have been like watching someone with Parkinsons, and I would have been frustrated in her situation, but she stuck with it. Today after church we got a few pictures of her playing with another toy on her playmat. This one works even better with the multiple flat surfaces for her to grab.
If you look closely in the close-up picture, you can also see another new development. (Or maybe you'll just have to take my word for it...) Today she rolled over onto her side a few times from her back. Rolling all the way over can't be too terribly far behind. Hooray for someday having a rolling machine to chase after around the floor.

We're so proud and excited each time we can see Ellie figure out something new.

Lots of Ellie Videos

So this blog is basically just playing catch up on some of the cute videos we've taken of Ellie in the past few weeks. Unfortunately, between my being too slow to grab the camera at times, and the fact that Ellie is always distracted by the camera and tends not to react as much and go spacey while it's on her, none of these are the greatest videos of what we're talking about, but at least they give you a sense of the joys of Ellie.

This first one is supposed to show how focused Ellie gets on her night-time stories. This girl LOVES her books. She stares at the pages, tracks the books when we move them to turn the pages, and sometimes joins in the telling of the story by adding her own side comments. This night she was a little floppy and distracted, but you still get the basic idea.

Next we have the kicking game. If Ellie is upset, you can almost always make her smile and stop crying by doing this with her legs. Even on her stomach! Too bad she appears to either be taking a break from this game or outgrowing it. Either way, I'm glad we got it on video, even if she's not smiling nearly as big as usual.


Next, laughing! This video makes me both very happy and very sad. Happy, because I love to hear Ellie laugh and she's not doing it all that often still and I'm glad we got her early laughing on video. Sad because Steve had her laughing hard for like 5-10 seconds at a time right before this and I didn't even think about videoing it until he told me to get the camera and she's already had her best laughs. But still cute! Enjoy the winding down part of this game with the ever entertaining Daddy.

Lastly, our video of her falling asleep in the jumperoo. I love the random movements as she fights to stay awake, as well as the hand sucking. Oh yeah, and that's our Christmas tree!

Do you see how we can't help but be in love with this adorable funny girl?!

Thanksgiving

As Steve only had a couple of days off work for Thanksgiving this year, we decided to go and spend some time with Grandpa and Grandma in Spokane. We always love visiting family and it was great to spend time relaxing.

We have let Ellie try little tastes of things in the past, just a tiny bit on our finger tip of things like soft-serve ice cream, chocolate pudding, etc. However, Ellie isn't supposed to eat solids till she's 4-6 months old, but we figured that in the spirit of Thanksgiving we would try giving Ellie some mashed potatoes as every kid seems to like them - so we've been told as we obviously lack that experience.Ellie staring down the mashed potatoes in her "my first Thanksgiving" outfit Grandma Kerry got for her.Now for the video, which most of the experienced parents out there probably expected - mashed potatoes did not go over well. We know, silly parents, all she has had so far has been sweet. When we put her on actual solids in a few weeks, we'll keep this in mind.

And what comes after a Thanksgiving feast? A nap where Mommy and Ellie both crash.
And as soon as you've eaten leftovers once, everyone starts thinking about Christmas. Grandma Kerry got Ellie a Christmas dress and needed pictures before we left, so we had a little photo shoot.
And guess who showed up??? Santa!
Or maybe not... Steve says that Ellie gave him such a confused look when his voice was coming from a totally different looking face.
And, once we got home, our tree was already up and waiting for us. Ok, so I may have been excited when we got our first full-sized tree the weekend before and put this up the Sunday BEFORE Thanksgiving. Before you all cry blasphemy, I have an excuse that even made Steve ok with this. We're going to be visiting family for all of the holiday season and I wanted to be able to enjoy our tree for more than two weeks between trips. So up it went!
Thanks to my Dad and Kerry for a great Thanksgiving trip! They also got Ellie a fantastic new convertible car seat which will make our holiday travels much nicer for everyone. We loved spending Ellie's first Thanksgiving with them and are always grateful for the hospitality and generosity of both our families!