BRAXTON BLOG | Ella’s Journey

So I’m trying again, but making no promises.  January and February brought lots of changes to the Braxton household.  We sold our truck in order to buy a “mini” as Mommy calls it.  She doesn’t want me calling it a minivan because that’s too uncool.  We love the mini, there is a ton of space now and it it so much easier to get Ella in and out of her car seat.  I wired in a DVD system with headrest monitors for long trips and Ella went nuts when we went for a test-ride.  It is by far a big hit with Ella!

We have an ever expanding vocabulary of signs and spoken words and an emerging toddler-esque attitude to go with it.  “NO” is our favorite word in response to Mommy or Daddy trying to get Ella to do anything.  Who knew putting on P.J.s would cause a temper tantrum.  Ella is growing right along on the standard charts and everything is great according ot the pediatrician.  She still isn’t independently walking, but she is deffinitely getting where she wants to go!  She has a few walk-behind toys that she can pretty much run behind all through the house and you’re advised not to get in her way!

“Curious George” and Elmo are two of Ella’s favorite things to watch.  Daddy actually like Curious George as well.  It is a pretty cute kids show and it is much more educational than what they show on Cartoon Network (which we don;t watch much anymore).  Thank goodness for PBS Kids.  Ella can recognize a few sign-language letters and several animals and words.  We can sign “good girl” to her and she knows what we are saying.  As much as we miss that tiny little bundle we came home with, I am loving every moment of watching her grow and develop her own personality and view of the world.  The simplest things to Mommy and I are new and wonderful discoveries to her.  Its like seeing the world for the first time through Ella.

Mommy went to a few Church consignment sales yesterday and cleaned up on new toys for Ella.  She’s been out-growing some of her toys either from using them so much and getting bored or from them being for younger kids than she is now.  But the new haul of toys was a hit.  As we were carrying them in, Ella was crying on the other side of the gate because she couldn’t play with them right away.  Now we just have to put away some of the other toys for a while or we won’t have enough space to find Ella in her play room!

Daddy has been extremely lazy in writing posts for the blog.  There have been several post-worthy things that I have missed due to laziness or just being so busy enjoying Ella’s life and new discoveries.  I am not making a resolution, so don’t hold your breath.  I’m not going to promise to write more frequently just to break it later.  I will however try my best to journal all the major things that occur.  Ella is not independently walking just yet but she does LOVE to walk.  Her grip on your fingers as you help her around a room is gradually getting looser and looser so I am sure she is close to ready to walk on her own.  At that point, Mommy and I are seriously concerned about how much work we are going to have in just keeping up with her.  Ella doesn’t really walk anywhere.  If she has no restriction on speed, most everything is a carefully coordinated half-fall, half-jog to wherever she’s going.  Her little walk-behind toyis the perfect mechanism for her to go all about the house.  She’s now figured out to walk around the toy and slide it if she gets stuck on a cabinet or in a corner.

We’ve been introducing all sorts of new foods.  Some she likes, some not so much.  Ella is a big fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and she loves sweets.  Fruits and veggies are still her big go to foods since she’s not so much into the texture of meats still.  She has eaten some significant amount of chicken when cut into a small finger-food size, but she’s a little picky with the meat.  She is also gaining significant independence in the realm of feeding herself.  She does not want her food in small pieces aymore and if you tear off a piece of something for her to eat she will bat it away and reach for the whole object.

Sign language has probably been one of the best ideas we could have had.  Ella signs for food and milk seperately with the appropriate signs and can say “please” and “thank you” very well.  In fact, “please” has suddenly flipped a switch in Ella’s brain that says “I can get whatever I want if I sign please first”.  This has led to many a tantrum from our little angel as she learns that sometimes, even “please” isn’t all that magic of a word.  We taught her the sign for baby and her interpretation is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.  You are supposed to cradle your hands at your waist and rock your arms back and forth like you are holding a baby.  Ella puts her palms on her belly and shakes her whole body back and forth with a big smile on her face while she says baby (or rather, bah-bee).  She can also point to her nose, her ear and her teeth; and she knows how to show your her tongue.  Sometimes, she can even tell you how old she is when you ask.  It took a little while to teach her how to do that one but it is very cute to see.

We gave Ella her first “big-girl” bath the other night.  She has graduated out of her little baby tub and into our large garden tub.  I’m not sure who had more fun that night, Ella or Daddy.  Mommy was sad to see another milestone come and go, but it was a good thing.  Ella had so much fun that she wouldn’t let us take her out of the tub when it was time.  I would ask her if she was ready to come out and she would shake her head no and turn away from me.  In her old tub, she would gladly hold out her hands and reach up to be taken out of the water.

I’m sure there are plenty of things I have missed that she has done since my last post, its been a busy time since she turned one.  I hope in the coming year I’ll be a bit more able to post timely milestone achievements and keep this blog as entertaining as I hope it has been in the past.

Today was another first in Ella’s journey through life.  Those first few tentative steps without any phyical support.  Our baby girl “walked” today on her own.  We play a little game where I hold her up and then let go and she falls forward into my lap.  She laughs and giggles and really enjoys the game.  Today she changed it on me when she stood still for more than a few seconds without falling after I let go.  She started to move her left leg just as she started to fall over.  I tried again and she made a full step before falling.  Mommy was filming and wanted to be in on the action and she got almost four steps out of Ella in a row!  I’m sure this changes more than just the little fall over game we play as we are about to move into the mobile child stage of life and we are behind the curve on baby-proofing and safety devices…I am going to be busy

What a resounding success Ella’s first birthday party was!  With so many people in our home, we were reminded of the smallness of the rooms in our house, but it was so much fun to have so many friends here just to celebrate our baby girl’s first year on Earth.  There were so many little kids here for Ella to play with and I think she had a blast with them all!  We got so many nice things for Ella that we’re going to gradually let her have a few new things at a time just to keep her from being overwhelmed.  Mommy and Gamma did an awesome job on decorations and thanks to Jen, we had food rolling out to the tables with time to spare.  Thank you to everyone who could make it to the party and special thanks to all those who helped setup!  I’ll try to update this post with some pictures after I get them ready.  If I don’t succeed with that, they will be in the gallery.

Today was Ella’s first birthday.  Its so hard to believe that a year ago today, this sweet bundle of amazing came into this world.  So much changes in that one short year.  She has such a little kid look to her now compared to when we first brought her home.  It is so amazing to watch her grow and learn.  I can’t wait to share her special day with all of our friends at her party this weekend!