Busted!

Unfortunately our home computer is busted! Well, not completely busted, but for some reason it won’t connect to the internet. So I haven’t been able to upload any of the fabulous new videos of Stinkerella. I’ll get them up as soon as we can figure out what to do. (Here is my shameless plug for someone to help us fix our computer…for some reason it won’t connect to our network…are there any computer geniuses out there who are willing to help us out?)

In the meantime I’ll fill you in on some of Ella’s newest tricks. First…books. I started reading to Ella when she was about a week old. I would take books to the hospital and hold her and read. I think a few of the nurses thought I was nuts, but I was (and still am) adamant that reading to children at an early age helps their language development. Now, Ella loves books. She reads the same ones over and over throughout the day. And just to prove how much she reads these books, she can completely quote some of them. Last night I was reading “8 silly monkeys” to her and started reading it to me. Of course she can’t actually read (she’s a genius but she’s not that advanced…yet), but she knows exactly what to say and when to turn the page. She read the whole thing. Granted, it says the same thing on every page, “8 silly monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head. Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” But the fact that she could remember it all was so fun to watch. And it's so funny how she puts in the exact same inflection that Joe and I do when we read. She is also very into reading her bible. She asks Joe to read it to her every night during her bandage change. It’s a children’s bible that our church gave us when Ella was born and on each page is a little 1-2 line prayer. With every page turn she says, “Dear God” then Joe finishes reading the prayer and Ella finishes with “Amen!” Then they talk about what is on the page. Her favorites include Noah, John, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, baby Jesus and of course, Jesus’ Mommy.

Ella has several new songs that we’ve been working on for our trip down south (we’re going to Texas to visit my extended family). Among her favorites are “Uncle John Had a Farm” (he has some very interesting things on his farm including a choo choo and a lion. I hope we don’t run into that lion when we’re visiting), and of course the Gooch family song, “The more we get together.” She has also recently taken an interest in “5 little ducks.”

Last night I decided to change things up a bit for Ella’s dinner, so I gave her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (not real peanut butter but actually soynut butter…it tastes the same). She was really excited about it at first. I ran upstairs for a minute and when I came back down she had pulled the sandwich apart and had a piece of bread in each hand. She was looking at it with a very concerned face and saying “Oh No!” I went over to her and she looked at me like there was a problem and said, “Oh no, mommy!” It was obvious that she was very concerned that she had taken her sandwich apart. Unfortunately she didn’t really grasp the concept of the sandwich, so when I offered her leftover pizza she happily accepted.

Ella continues to be such a joy to us! She is so much fun and laughs and plays all the time. We are thankful every day for God blessing us with her.