Happy Birthday!!!

It's very hard to believe it's been a year since our little angel entered this world; and, while this blog does a fair job of capturing some of what has transpired in that year, we wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the things Ellie is doing at this particular milestone (to be followed with an entry regarding height, weight, etc., when we see Dr. Betsy on Thursday):

• spontaneously says momma and dada
• uses sign language to ask for milk (I can't believe we haven't gotten this on video yet)
• arguably says wawa (water), doggie, baby and Jack (see next item) with some prompting
• dances/wiggles and claps her hands when her favorite tv show comes on
• responds to certain commands/questions such as "shut the door", "turn on/off the light", "where's the bus", "where's the doggies" and "how big is Ellie"
• loves to thumb through books
• crawling, cruising, standing in place and even taking a step or two
• loves to look at herself, be it in the mirror or in pictures (and will even kiss her image)
• greets mommy at the door when she comes home from work
• waves hi and bye
• gives hugs
• smells flowers
• has a low tolerance for baths even though she loves pool time and sticking her hand under running water
• loves fruit (especially blueberries and bananas)

Posted with much pride and love by Daddy (with lots of pride, love and help from Mommy)