Ella's First Birthday

Ella turned one year old on August 2nd!  Here are some of the highlights:

Daddy made her some special smash cakes!

We had lots of fun eating the cake.

Ella didn't smash her cake, though, just ate little pieces.

Ella got some fun toys for presents: a doll, sorting blocks (her favorite block is a purple plus sign), a ball, bubbles, stacking rings, a book from the library, and a stroller (which came with a card that Ella proudly carried around the house!)

Stroller Walk

Elissa's parents decided to get Ella an early birthday present -- a fancy stroller!  I'm pretty sure this stroller was designed to go off-roading*.  We didn't want to wait to try it out, so we took a walk with it.  Here are some pictures:

Strapping her in.  "What did I get myself into?"  "Thanks Grandma & Grandpa, that was fun!"


*Elissa assures me this stroller is probably designed for sidewalks and mostly-flat trails, but it will tell you the temperature and the time.

First Steps

Ella has started taking steps on her own! Usually it is just one or two, but sometimes she will get excited and take 7 or more without realizing it. She mostly uses this skill to walk to something to balance with (couches, tables, pianos (and piano benches), baby gates, chairs, walls, shelves, and especially grown ups!)so that, ironically, she can walk!  Also notable, she has started "coloring" with crayons and paper.

More of Elissa's Projects

I've been working on my bench project lately. If you all remember from a few weeks ago, I got a $5 bench at the Goodwill. I figured for $5 we could use the wood for making a project if we decided the bench wouldn't work.

I had a curtain panel I got from a garage sale that I was going to use for my last project which ended up blue and in my living room instead of the piano room. I had enough of that fabric to go around the whole bench, and I decided that I would get some fabric from Joann's to do the lid. I went to the remnant bin and ended up getting two kinds of fabric because I couldn't decide. (I ended up saving $50 on a $20 purchase.)

Long story short, here are the results of my project.

Ella at 11 months

I've been practicing walking and standing.

• I can stand up on my own if there is something to pull up on. 
• I love to walk with Mommy or Daddy holding my hands. Sometimes I practically run down the hall with them in tow.
• Sometimes Mom thinks I look like a ballerina

I'm learning to use my fingers: I can turn off a light switch as well as feed myself.

I like to talk more and more. I am learning to say all kinds of sounds.

I know that  parent noses make sounds, and if they don't, I sometimes make noises for them

I got a couple more teeth this month.

I love reading books (or trying to read books as the case may be)

We visited the children's museum for the first time and had a good time

I may be getting big but not too big for an occasional snuggly church nap

A Trip to the Thinkery

Here in Austin we've got a place called the 'Thinkery'.  It's a children's museum, but it's different.  The only way I can think to describe it is that they seem to have taken the montessori idea to the extreme in a children's science museum.  I don't recall seeing any signs or plaques with information about displays on them.  In fact, the displays we saw were more like playgrounds than the typical museum display.

On Wednesday, we decided to meet up for cookie time (at my work cafeteria, they start serving freshly baked cookies at 3:00 most days), then spend the afternoon hanging out as a family.  We decided to go to the Thinkery.  We also ate out at Verts, by the way, which was a tad expensive, but very tasty food.  I approve.

Ella found the Thinkery to be really fun.  They've got a couple of areas that are appropriate for kids her age, and we started with the 'sprouts' area (it's themed about growing food or something, I think).  Here she discovered the wall of mirrors and the tunnel of mirrors.  I'm not sure why mirrors and growing stuff go together, but she thought these were awesome.  I couldn't resist getting this picture.  See if you can decide which Ella is the non-reflection Ella.  I have it narrowed down to 2, but I can't decide between them.

They also had a ridiculously large water toy.  It had waterfalls, buckets that would tip over when they were filled, and generally anything else which would help illustrate water current.  ('Currents' happened to be the name of the area, I think).  Ella was a little young for this room, but we found some spots (here, and here) where she just had a blast.  If you're curious about why her hands are moving so furiously, so are we, but this video may help (it starts a little slow, but the end is worth it).

Daniel's First Father's Day

This is Daniel's first Father's Day. We started the weekend by giving him a project to do. We finally got around to putting up a baby gate. (and an unspecified me didn't think to measure stairwell wall) Daniel got a saw, and Ella was his little helper on the project!

While some people remembered to get cute "Daddy's 1st Father's Day!" pictures, others of us got "Daddy is Really Patient!" pictures instead.

Sometimes Daddy has clever ways of playing with Ella. (also, Ella Fishing)

We look like this when Daddy comes home because we love him so much.

She gets excited every time we call someone on the phone because she thinks that it will be Daddy (or a Grandparent)

Ella just loves her Daddy.