The First Year

I realize that I'm more than a month overdue, but I had to make some notes on Ellie's first year. I am sad to report that I've written in my journal less this year than for more than a decade and therefore, I've probably missed recording so much of her first year, but it's been such a fantastic year with Ellie. I love Ellie so much and I'm so grateful to be her mom and have her in our family. Ellie is a fantastic little sister, which means she loves to follow around her sisters and try to get in on the action. Katie and Ellie love to play doggie, and they both crawl around on their knees and bark. When Katie hides around a corner and then comes out barking to chase Ellie, Ellie startles a little, then laughs and crawls away as fast as she can. It's hilarious.
Although she's not walking yet, Ellie loves to climb--climb up on stairs, chairs, stools, piles of books, bikes, boxes (and climbs IN boxes), laundry baskets, beds, piles of pillows or blankets, etc. I finally cleaned off our yard toy slide and brought it in our house last month to give her something a bit safer to climb. She's ALL over that! And she's gotten more brave about the slide despite going head over once or twice.Ellie is a great people watcher and on a few occasions when the older girls have an activity that Ellie can't participate in, she will usually be content to sit on my lap and watch the action for quite a while. This has made church a bit easier too, although we are now reaching the limits of that (only 4 1/2 months until nursery!). Ellie loves to put necklaces on. She loves to scribble on the magnadoodle that Charlotte and Levi gave her for her birthday. We pulled out the princess ride on car a week ago and Ellie has already figured out how to get on and off by herself, and push herself forward on it. This is despite the fact that she's so small her feet barely reach the ground!Ellie loves animals and loves to make animal noises. She loves to play with the animal magnets from Grandpa and Grandma Greer. She LOVED going to the zoo for her birthday party and seeing the monkeys and an active tiger that growled back to her! I love her "WOW" that is so breathy and takes up her whole face--eyes and mouth that are just big O's.Since about 9 months old, Ellie has been a great sleeper, although she's an early riser (exacerbated by her excited sisters going in each morning to "see if Ellie's awake"). Katie and Amanda love to get in Ellie's crib with her in the morning. They make her lie down so they can read stories to her. She doesn't always appreciate it!
Ellie is still a momma's girl. I get some pretty good hugs and these awesome, open mouth kisses that she follows with a smack of the lips to make the sound. If I'm in the kitchen, she comes in and hangs on to me by my pant legs so I can't go anywhere until I reach around and pick her up. Just this past week we played the "Foot Book" game with the Dr. Seuss book. (on slow feet, quick feet, we put her foot in the book and first move it slowly across the page, then quickly across the page). Now, every book I pull out, she puts her foot in it! Poor Ellie inherited her dad's sweet tooth. Her older sisters were pretty good vegetable eaters--preferring carrots and broccoli to watermelon! But Ellie is hard to get veggies in and she gobbles fruit. She's started saying Banana (nana) and I think is trying to say Manda. She still says lots of wow and uh-oh. Ellie signs "all-finished" when she wants to get out of the high-chair (when she's finished or doesn't like the menu!~). Ellie signs "milk", which sometimes means drink or food. She signs "hungry" and a version of "more"-which is one finger into the other palm of her hand. Ellie folds her arms to pray too (at least for the first 15 seconds of a prayer!).
Ellie is pretty social with other babies. She watches them for a minute, then crawls over for a closer look. She'll often reach out to touch their face or hair. She has a darling friend, Clara, who is about 6 months older and they give cute hugs. She often gives her mirror friend kisses and cheers too.
Christmas was so fun with Ellie too. She wasn't great at opening presents, but definitely gave some great big "wow"s. She did really well with the tree (it was still the three year old that pulled it over). She gave loves to her new doggie toy and loved to put on Amanda's cowgirl hat. She still loves her Penny Penguin, but has also attached to the stuffed Tigger she got for Christmas, as well as the lullaby Minnie from Disneyland.
I love Ellie-Bellie and I am amazed to see her learn and grow and share in her wonder and affections!