Ella at 18 and 19 months

Ella had her 18-month check-up in early January, and it went very well.

Weight: 24.5 pounds (50%)
Height: 32" (55%)
Head circumference: 90%
(Percentiles show where Ella is ranked relative to a large sample of children her age.)

She's adding new words to her vocabulary (car, please), learning how to use the phone (when she hears someone answer their end of the phone, she'll say "hi"), and is just starting to put words together to make phrases like "one more" and "please up". She makes the corresponding animal sound when we say "cow", "dog", "cat", "snake" and "lion".

She enjoys dressing up, and her grandmother Moira, sent her a darling fairy costume for Christmas. You can see it in action here:
Ella in Fairy Costume from /ella jean. on Vimeo.

Shown below is a picture of Ella and Oona in princess and fairy costumes, respectively.

Moira also sent her a musical toy, and Ella loves to watch and listen to it. The first time we introduced her to the toy was in October when Michael brought it back from his visit to family in Australia:
Ella admiring Jemima the Duck from /ella jean. on Vimeo.

Here are other pictures of Ella taken in the fall and winter of 2008 and this month (January, 2009). I had one celebrity sighting on the trip home to California for Christmas. When we were waiting for our luggage at the baggage claim, a girl complimented Ella on her big blue eyes. The girl asked me how old Ella was, and I realized it was Monica Lewinsky! She is prettier in real life than she looked in photographs and on television.

Harvest Festival

Today my father, Ella and I went to the Park Slope Harvest Festival at JJ Byrne Park. Ella had her first pony ride and fed the pony and a small goat. I thought she might cry or ask to get off when the guide took her from my arms to put her on the back of the pony, but she was content to ride. I think I may have been more excited about the ride than she was.

Clicking & Typing

For a couple of weeks now, Ella has been holding objects (the TV remote, the ceiling fan remote, our cell phones) up to her ear and 'talking'. She jabbers in her unique language but the pitch of her voice goes up and down and whatever she is saying seems to take awhile. She is talking on the 'phone' like her parents...

When Michael or I are sitting in front of our computer, she is quick to climb into our lap and participate. Initially she used to bang on the keyboard with her fists, but lately she has started to move the mouse and click like she's observed us doing. She hasn't figured out the relationship of the mouse to the cursor on the screen, but we wouldn't be surprised if she figures it out in the next month or two.


Ella typing. from /ella jean. on Vimeo.

Posted here are videos of Ella at the computer and Michael on the Nintendo wii Fit doing a hula-hoop test.


Michael hoola-hooping. from /ella jean. on Vimeo.

She Passed with Flying Colors

Ella had her one-year doctor appointment today, and Dr. Sarnoff gave her a good review.

Weight: 20 lbs 6 ounces
Height: 29.75 inches
Head circumference: 46.5 centimeters

He said she's in perfect health and is back in line with the growth curve by which children her age are tracked. She weighed 19 pounds at 8 months, and 19 pounds 3 ounces at 10 months, so Dr. Sarnoff had been concerned (at 10 months) that she wasn't progressing well on the rate of weight gain. Now she is back in line with where she should be relative to other children in her percentile bracket, and he is satisfied that she's eating enough, so Michael and I are relieved.

Here's a brief summary of Ella's activities so far:
+ walks independently
+ picks things off the floor and can stand up from a sitting position without holding on
+ holds each of her feet up to allow me to put her shoes on while she's standing up
+ climbs the stairs with her hands and feet, and sits down on each step to descend
+ says "ma ma", "da da", "hiiiii"
+ waves bye bye
+ sometimes greets strangers with a handshake
+ bops ('dances') to music, tries to sing along to familiar songs and tunes (with single syllables....)
+ plays ball with people
+ responds to most of our directions: "can I have that, please?", "Sit down", "Can you put that in the garbage?", "Come find me", etc.
+ "talks" a lot
+ plays games: peekabo; pushing her wagon into my ankles to get a laugh; walking back and forth between Michael and me to give us hugs (repeating many times); playing ball; putting foreheads together; trying sunglasses on together in front of the mirror
+ enjoys 'Music Together' and swim classes
+ focused on getting into cabinets, drawers and baskets and emptying them
+ likes to move furniture (pushing chairs)...

June Babies Group Meeting today

This week's mothers group met at our place today. Here are two videos taken this afternoon.


June Babies from /ella jean. on Vimeo.

In the video below, the order goes (from left to right): Henry, Matteo, Stella, Ella, Soren, Naomi and Oona. All the babies wore their "Golden Child" t-shirts in honor of Thomas Golden Randolph, who is a charter member of the group and the only guy missing from the original 8.


Golden Children from /ella jean. on Vimeo.

10 Months Old

Ella is 10 months old today. Recent developments include the arrival of several teeth; louder squealing and shrieking; 'cruising' on her feet; pointing; nodding her head 'yes', and talking with a lot more vowel+consonant combinations.

Foods she's eaten this weekend:
+ fried egg yolk on toast (now becoming the breakfast standard)
+ guacamole & hummus on toast
+ hamburger
+ lettuce
+ lots of cheerios

Our attempts to persuade her to eat steamed or fresh vegetables and fruit have not been successful yet. She feeds herself by using her hands and seems to dislike foods that have a wet or moist texture, so fruit or vegetables that have been cooked in any way have not been popular.

She had her 9-month checkup today (though she is 10 months), and she passed with flying colors except for weight. Two months ago, she weighed exactly 19 pounds and was in the 95th percentile for babies at 8 months. Today, she weighed 19 pounds, 3 ounces, and had dropped to the 50th percentile for babies at 10 months. The doctor indicated she should be gaining weight consistently and staying in roughly the same percentile range each visit. We'll keep trying with the food every day, and hope for better results at her one-year checkup.

Her walking is getting better and better. The push wagon has been a welcome addition to the toy collection, and she loves getting pushed up and down the hall on the scooter. Walking around the playground and watching kids play at the park is one of her favorite activities, and she tries to get along holding only one hand instead of two.

Here's a video taken two days ago after Michael got home from work.
Ella pushes wagon 3 from /ella jean. on Vimeo.

We're guessing she was at least partially inspired to raise the volume level on her shriek as a result of observing all the other shriekers at the playground in Prospect Park, which is usually crowded and noisy when we visit in the afternoons. Now she could be in a varsity shrieking league. She shrieks for fun and to signal displeasure or impatience (e.g. when I'm trying to wipe her face). We're expecting the hallway mirror to crack any day now.

She went to the first swimming lesson yesterday at Berkeley Carroll school and liked it. As soon as I put her down in the pool area, she walked to the edge of the pool and would have stepped right in if I'd let her hands go. The instructor laughed a few times when giving us instructions: she felt Ella's expression said "Do you really think it's a good idea to put us on our backs in the water and blow bubbles near our ear?". Her music class instructors say they have to work hard to get smiles from her too, though she'll break out the happy shriek when the puppets, bubbles, parachute and live guitar playing are featured in class.

The separation anxiety phase seems to be fading a bit. She is slowly accepting her sitter, Maryanne, and she now willingly goes to Michael and looks forward to seeing him in the mornings and when he gets home from work.

Best news: she had taken two bottles of breastmilk in the past week, so we're realizing the bottle resistance was due in part to disliking formula.

Oona on a roll

Oona came over this morning to test drive the Radio Flyer wagon. Here's her first run:


Oona pushes Wagon 1 from /ella jean. on Vimeo.

And here's another video of Ella pushing the wagon yesterday (Thursday).

Ella pushes wagon 3 from /ella jean. on Vimeo.

Ella pushes wagon

Two videos taken this morning of Ella pushing her new wagon.


Ella walks with wagon 1 from /ella jean. on Vimeo.


Ella walks with wagon 2 from /ella jean. on Vimeo.

NY Aquarium Visit

Today Amanda, Oona, Ella and I visited the NY Aquarium in Coney Island (Brooklyn). Here are videos of Ella and Oona taken at the Walrus exhibit, courtesy of Amanda.


Ella & Walrus 1 from /ella jean. on Vimeo.


Ella & Walrus 2 from /ella jean. on Vimeo.

Milestones

Recently we've started to find Ella sitting up in her crib in the mornings and after naps, and yesterday she crawled a few feet on her belly to reach a toy without crying even though we were all sitting nearby in the living room. The only thing that has motivated her to crawl in the past is to reach one of us, but yesterday she was heading for a toy. She may be realizing the benefits of being mobile without waiting/crying for someone to help her walk.

Her preferred method of locomotion is still walking, and she's getting braver by the day about walking while using only one hand for support. She has started to let go with both hands to stand unassisted. She's bonked her head a few times but doesn't usually cry.

This is a video of Ella doing the belly crawl a few days ago while crying. At the end of the video, you'll hear her switch from crying to chattering as soon as she's up on her feet (about the span of a hearbeat!). The first part of the clip is a good example of the 'complaining' cry, and shows how quickly she can turn it off when she gets where she wants. I'll try and film a happy crawl and a clip of Ella sitting up later this week.


Ella crawling. from /michael. on Vimeo.

9 Months

Dear Ella,
You turned nine months old last week. You have a great smile that features one tooth in the middle of your bottom gum. You're quick to smile, and enjoy joking with me by putting your fingers or paper in my mouth to see what reaction you get, playing peekaboo, accomplishing new feats like turning the bedroom light on and off, pointing the remote at the radio, banging on the xylophone, etc. Your hair is growing in and starting to curl in the back -- you may have inherited some natural wave from your father! You are still not wild about 'solid' food. Somewhere along the line during our month-long trip to California and Australia, you decided not to eat solids on a regular basis, and I still haven't convinced you to resume a regular eating pattern. Last week you started clapping, and you've been a good jumper since you were five months old. You're not a cry-baby: when you got your second flu shot last Monday, you didn't cry, and when you tumble at home, you don't get upset unless it's a bad fall. You enjoy the books we've been reading to you since you were less than two months old, and can open the flaps of your "Spot goes to [the farm/school/etc]" books by yourself. You also follow all the instructions in 'Pat the Bunny' and you like books by Sandra Boynton, so we've collected the whole set. You smile whenever the phone rings and we answer it, and playing with the phones, going for walks in your stroller, and especially walking with assistance at home are three sure-fire ways to cheer you up anytime of day. Lately, you and I have become especially close. You're in a 'mom' phase right now, and when you get tired, you prefer to be bathed by and hang out with me, but you'll let your father read you bedtime stories and put you to bed, and you'll allow almost anyone to hold your hands if they'll walk you around the house. You have proved you can crawl by scooting along the floor using your hands and legs 'commando' style, but you cry the whole time, and only do it to reach me if I sit a few feet away and refuse to help you, which I don't do often (or often enough). You prefer to practice walking with help, and are happiest if I park you at the coffee table to explore, or in front of the glass doors of the office, where you can talk to your reflection. Every day, you 'talk' a little more and thrill us again with your smiles and laughs.

Here's video of clapping, and some recent pictures from Easter Sunday (walking with your Uncle Ben), crying, and a smile that shows your tooth.
Ella clapping from /michael. on Vimeo.

First Tooth

Ella's first tooth came in a few weeks ago but it has been hard to see. Today I finally got a few pictures of her tooth and while wearing her winter hat (the only one she wears without trying to pull it off). These were taken just before we left the apartment to walk to her weekly music class, called "Little Maestros". Here's a short clip of Ella in class today. I was sitting behind her while filming, so it's not ideal in terms of seeing her, but most of the squeals that you hear are coming from her.


Ella at Music Class from /michael. on Vimeo.


Ella in Music Class 2 from /michael. on Vimeo.

Playdate with Naomi

Keri and Naomi came over yesterday for a playdate in the afternoon. Naomi, Ella, and Keri and I have been friends since the first Mothers' Group meeting last summer, and they live on 15th Street too, 3 blocks east of us. Naomi was born on June 8th. The first 60 seconds of the video have the most interaction...


Playdate with Naomi from /michael. on Vimeo.

6-Month Check-up at 8 Months

Ella is eight months old today, and had her six-month appointment this afternoon.

Weight: 19 pounds (75%)
Height: 28.25 inches (90%)
Head circumference: 45.5 centimeters (92%)

The percentiles show where Ella is ranked relative to other 8-month old girls; for example, at nineteen pounds, she's heavier than 74% of other 8-month old girls taken in a survey by the American Pediatric Association a few years ago. The nurse quoted slightly different percentiles than the doctor; we've reflected what the doctor quoted.

Her two front bottom teeth are coming in, she's 'talking' a lot and making raspberries, nodding her head when she likes a toy, putting her thumb and index finger together as though she's going to snap her fingers, jumping in the jumperoo, and practicing walking (her favorite activity). We're working on a regular eating schedule now that she's started to eat solids again, and longer sleeps at night (she's been waking 3 times a night since the trip in Dec/Jan).

Here is a video of Ella and Michael reading a book called "Spot Goes to the Farm" just before Ella went to bed tonight. The book was a gift from our friend Delyth Harris and the Harris family, and each page has a door or gate that needs to be opened to reveal a farm animal. We started to read this book to Ella 4 weeks ago, and it's become one of her favorites.


Reading from /michael. on Vimeo.

First Solid Food!

Today Ella sat in her highchair at the dining room table and had solid food for the first time: rice cereal mixed with breastmilk. She was up for the experience and ate almost all the food I prepared -- and the rest ended up on her face, hands and bib.



More videos and photos as always at http://ellajean.name/.

Video of Baby Movement

Michael took a video of the Bean moving, and it is here: http://sooper.org/baby/film/ This is at about 33 weeks.

Dad is arriving in New York to visit us and help with the move to Brooklyn. Mom (and Dad) will come back in June to be there for moral support at the Bean's birth and after the arrival, and Moira plans to visit in July or August.