Key Moment in My Life

Diella and I just returned home from running a few errands. It's one o'clock, just in time to put her down for a nap. She begins whining & wouldnt tell me what's wrong, little tears on her cheeks... finally she says "bed" ... I said 'yes honey, we're gonna lay down soon as we finish getting you dressed' ... a minute later, I lay her down & cover her up, she says "kiss" :) so she stands up to kiss me... I lay her back down, cover her up, she says "hug" :-D so she stands up to hug me... and as I lay her down once more, she says "love you" !!! I say it back, and cover her up with her blanket once more & she just laid there, looking at me with tired eyes and a beautiful grin, as though to say thank you. It was a very special moment for me!

I Need to Start Blogging Every Day, theres So Much!

She still attempts to dress herself, and does pretty well. She still needs my help of course. I took a bunch of pix of the process. The rest of them are on my MySpace & Facebook pages.

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Diella loves spelling her name. Cant do it on her own, but she tries. When we help her with it, letter by letter, we say 'what does that spell?' and she enthusiastically says. "Ella!" ... now whenever she sees letters & says them, then at the end she goes "Ella!" as though those letters also spell Diella, hehe

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You should see how well Diella drinks from a regular cup! She can do it totally on her own, but most of the time she'd rather walk around the house with it & we cant let her do that, hehe... so as long as someone is right next to her, she does great using a big cup all by herself!

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One of her videos has the song Head Shoulders Knees & Toes on it, she's always liked the song, but never really attempted it herself before til jus the other day... its just so cute to watch her sing & do the motions... I love it!

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She has been getting So good at counting, quite all of a sudden. There are these little mini candles that she likes to count, there are ten of them, and she almost always does it right (sometimes skips 9)... plus you have to help her take her finger and do them in order, one at a time, otherwise, her finger skips all over them, not in order & then her numbers are outta order too, like 2, 6, 3, 8... hehe

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Diella loves to help with laundry & dishes! Here are some pix of that. She's such a good helper, too! Oh, and other times she'll get out the broom & "clean" or wipe the tables with a paper towel, I'm thinking this is a good sign!

She has lately, for I have no clue what reason, been sticking her fingers in her ears, as though she's plugging them. But its at random times, not neccessarily when something is too loud or whatever... but then she pulls them out with this concentrated look on her face... I think she's just trying to hear the difference between the two, how things sound with & without her fingers in her ears... weird

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Sometimes when Diella will ask me to take off her boots or socks, she'll say 'off' ... but I repeat, "you want me to take em off?" ... and so once in a while when she says off, it comes out as "moff" cuz she's hearing me slur "em-off" ... its so funny!

This one night, Diella asked us to go to church, we told her we werent going for a few more days... so she goes to get her coat, I help her put it on but tell her we're not going to church today... she persisted... she said "zip" then "hood up" ... and then "gloves" so we continued to get ready for church, but then we asked her "are you driving?" she nodded... so we handed her some keys... its was adorable & heartbreaking at the same time, cute that she wanted to go so badly & was willing to get herSELF there, but sad cuz we werent going... she never got mad that we didnt go tho, at least... I think the reason she was asking to go is because we were playing dress up & she has that dress on, so maybe she thought it was Sunday?

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Oh my gosh, lately she has been sitting & laying in these positions that are so 'adult' looking... like laying on her side, propping her head up on her hand... things like that... I dont have any pictures YET, but it is Adorable!

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Its funny how we cannot get her to say 2 words back to back, like Yes Please (it comes out like P peez)... and she just will not form sentances... but then she does things like name 4 things in a row on a page of a book, like 'flower - doggie - chair - baby' ... or she'll pick up a phone and say "Hello? Hi? Ahna? Buh-bye" ... its crazy... c'mon girl, get these words back to back!

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Oh and also, with words... its funny how she can say certain words perfectly like shovel & icicle, that arent really simple words, but then she still makes up random words that are so unclear, like "booka" is her word for things that she doesnt know what they're called... and its also very similar to when she says "Bucka" which is 3 different things! - butter, puzzle, and oh I forget... one other thing, hehe

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She's still struggling with colors... she did learn a new one & has been consistent with it, Brown. How funny! She's gotten it right many times, then last night, she pointed to my brown eye shadow & said 'brown' ... I thought that was cute

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So funny, lately, when she asks to sit on my lap... uh I dont have one, hehe

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We have this hand held mirror that she likes to look into at times, and once I said, 'is mommy in there?' And she couldnt find me, so I helped her angle it to where she could see me... now when we get out the mirror, she immediately turns it to the side & looks into it at different angles to try to find me (I sometimes have to put myself in line with it so she can see me) but I think its smart that she knows to do that!

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The other day Diella & I were sitting on the papazon chair. She would put her hands high up on my chest, leaning on me, and get this angry look on her face & stare and me until we both laughed... then over & over again, she cracks me up! I thinks its awesome how she can purposely make these expressions on her face AND know that it was just for fun. Sort of like this other new thing we do... I've shown her when I'm sad, how my face looks sad, now sometimes Diella says (in a very sad tone) "saaad" ... and we'll play this pretend game that we're sad, then happy, & back and forth... its cute.

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I have begun to use "Time-out" with Diella (for when she disobeys), it works! She does well, I set her in whatever spot (just whatever we're closest to, a chair, or spot on the floor by the wall, not one specific time out chair)... and tell her to sit there until mommy says she can get up. Yesterday she found a green high lighter & wrote on mommy & daddy's bed sheets (she KNOWS to Only draw on paper)... and so she had to sit in time out for it... and she whines while she's there, so I'm hoping this is effective! I'm glad :)

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Ok, we do this thing we call "taco" ... I wrap her in her blanket, real tight around her body, her arms are kinda pinned down... we giggle & say taco... well the other day, we were playing taco & she went to walk with the blanket around her like this... well she tripped on it... and had no arms to catch herself, so she face planted into the floor! I felt terrible, cuz that hurt & of course she cried a little... but I was laughing so hard cuz it just looked hilarious... well when she was done crying, guess what she said... "Genn!" ('again') lol!

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Well we got the other crib up in her room for the new baby... and I put her in there. The mattress is SO springy, so of course she immediately started jumping. Eh, I figured couldnt hurt, so I let her... later, she asked me to go in there again to jump, I was busy doing something, so I casually said, "Diella, if you can get in there by yourself then you can go ahead & jump" ... she said "ok" ... well my back was turned to the crib, and but a minute later I hear her jumping, I turn around & sure enough! She had gotten in all by herself! I called Jake in & he had her do it again, so we could see it... its hilarious, once she gets to the top, she flops over the edge, her little feet go straight up in the air & she's in! Its so funny!

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Right now she's hanging from the edge of the dining room table, swinging her legs, saying "swing!" Hahaaa, I love that she's so daring! Heehee

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And one of her new favorite things to do is to play with her play kitchen in her room. She says "make." Well she'll bring us a plate & a cup (or any 2 pieces) and she'll stir, or she'll pretend to pour, and its so sweet, cuz I dont think we ever really taught her to do these things... she was using her imagination all by herself! Then lately, she'll hand us a plate & say "have it" and she'll say 'make' ... then she'll say "hot dod" (hot dog), she makes us hot dogs! and even lately she'll say ketchup! She makes us hot dogs, and french fries, and pours us drinks... its so cute! She's pretending! I LOVE IT!!!

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She Just Now did it again... got her coat & boots on & said 'drive' and 'church' awww

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She still Loves to draw... the past few days, she'll make a mark on the paper & then say a letter or a number, like thats what she's drawing... its never really even close to what she says it is, but I like that she seems to be attempting, or at least has the desire to draw the things she knows!

More Everyday!

These are pix of Diella being silly! she's so good at that, I'll tel ya. She walked in with the pants on her head & just stood there until I laughed. Was hilarious! Then she's playing the drums, as she loves to do. The one in her high chair is also her just tryin to make me laugh :) ... and that other one is from tonight. She asked her dad if he would take her for a walk (around the house of course, its still too cold for outside here)... and so she put on her boots & hat & off they went.... so cute!

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Usually, when Diella is done reading a book, she closes it & says 'all done' but all of a sudden the other day she says "A end!" (the end)... and I dont think I ever said that... and so I asked Ahna to see if Diella had picked it up from her, nope! Silly girl! Dont you wonder where they pick stuff up from? So neat!

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ok, so as I said, she's been jumping for almost 2 months now.... well she has taken it to a new level... she likes to jump OFF of things... first it was just from her dad's back (while he's laying on his tummy) to the floor, then it was off the seat of her rocket, about eh a foot off the ground... then the other day, she crawled onto the seat of the glider (rocking chair) in her room & jumped to the floor! I was surprised, cuz the seat glides! Its not even a solid ground to jump from! ... sometimes she would hafta fall to her hands to catch her balance, other times she would 'stick it' ... and then 2 days ago, she got onto the couch in the living room (probly almost 2 feet) & looked as though she was gonna jump... I just stayed close, curious to what she would do... sure enough, there she went! She had so much momentum, that she had no choice but to catch herself on her hands as she propelled forward, then of course her face continues to the floor! It hurt a little, I bet, but she didnt seem upset... cuz of course 2 mins later, she tries it again... and, hehe, same result, so a 2nd face-plant, sigh* She hasnt tried it since, so I think she might wait to attempt that death-defying stunt again, hehe

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She can finally count to five on her own, and knows most of her numbers by sight, still confuses 5 & 6 I think.... and not much progress with colors either (although I only blogged what, 2 weeks ago?)... knows purple & orange... sometimes gets red, blue & pink right... still working on em..

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Some of the things she says alot are "Watch!" when she wants us to watch her (so, *cough* all the time, hehe)... but she says it like Botch (like watch with a B sound at the beginning)... there are some words that start with S that she leaves the S off, like snack is nack... but then randomly once in a while she'll ADD an S to words that dont need it, hehe... like she's been saying the word 'more' for I dunno how long, then all of sudden lately, it has turned to mores, hehe.. soometimes she says more, sometimes mores... silly girl... She also says 'there it is!" all the time! (sounds like 'de diz') whenever she finds something. And She Always says Woah, and its adorable! She'll spin in a circle (jus bein hyper), and go "woooooah" you should hear the inflection in the voice, different ways she says it, SOOO Cute! ... oh and then once the other day, she left the room to get something & said "B Back" (cuz I do that all the time when I leave a room, tell her i'll be right back)... and she did, she came right back, hehe.... she's also starting to catch onto the names of the rooms, cuz I'll ask her where something is & she'll point & say "boooom" (room) and go get it from that room, or I'll tell her to go get something from the whatever room & she always gets the right one!

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My last blog said how she loves saying the letter L now, cuz she finally can do it correctly, and how she calls herself "Ella" ... well we go over writing & spelling her name alot & she loves that... so we'll do one letter at a time & then I say 'what does that spell?' and she goes "Ella!!!" ... sometimes I ask her to try & spell it & say 'what comes first?' ... only once or twice she started with D, and I think only once she did D & I & E... but I think that was luck, cuz she usually says A or L first, hehe

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ok, now a few fun things.... We've been getting her to practice saying the names we've picked out for the new baby... she's really good at them! :) (Sayda & Ethan)... only Ethan sounds like E-tin, but the 'th' sound is hard, cmon! ... hehe, I just wonder if she'll call the new baby by both names, since we've been teaching her both & not just one, hehe

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I also said in my last blog how she picked up a few signs from this new video she has, on her own, without my help... it was just 2 or 3 new signs, but after a few more times watching it... this girl has learned 14 new signs, by herself from this video! They are tree, flower, cup, bowl, refrigerator, ball, bear, bed, swing, chair, table, mirror, computer, & book! I mean, she hasnt perfected them... alot of them are tricky with the finger movements, but she knows what she's signing & does them on command, its pretty incredible!

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My last blog said how she's close to getting her own pants on... well the other day, she came SO close with not only her pants, but her shirt too! Dressed herself about, eh, lets say 90% on her own... I only tugged on the material maybe once for each, the shirt & the pants, the rest was all her! She did great! .... Other thing she did almost all by herself the same day was... (oh man, it jus freaks me out thinking about it...)... get out of her crib!!! I didnt expect this til she was at least 2 years old! this girl is a climber! (got out of the pack'n'play the other day at grammie's house, so they said I dont need to bring it anymore, hehe, sigh*)... she calls me & I go in to get her from her nap & she's laying across the railing on her belly, hanging onto the corner, held her hand out & said help... i said 'no, silly, you gotta figure this out' ... so I finally held her hand to get back IN the crib, then I put the side down to get her out... she yelled at me & goes "No! Up!" ... lol, so I put the side back up & she attempts it again! Same thing, laying on the edge, hanging onto the corner, then her feet begin to dangle over the side (I'm staying very close, ready to help, but curious to see how far she'll get on her own)... so she finally lets go & I catch her on the way down... she lands fine getting off our bed & my parents' bed, which are both pretty high, but I was more concerned with her hitting her chin than falling to her butt... so I think it might be a matter of days (MAYBE a week or two) til she can do it herself completely! Noooo!!!

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like a few times she has called picture of people Mama, Ahna, or Papa... like once she called a pic of Cinderella- mama, and the guy in the yellow hat on Curious George, she calls papa, and once a girl in a magazine was Ahna... at first, I thought she was thinking Cinderlla was me & that guy was was her Papa & that woman was her Ahna... but then we realized she's saying that girl is A mama, and that guy is A papa... like today in the waiting room, she pointed to a lady & said mama, and to a guy & said papa... so they're not specifically HER mama or papa, but someone's mama or papa, hehe, aw

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ok, at the end of "Evan Almighty" the song "Everybody Dance Now" plays... and I had Caeden & Jeff over this day... so the 3 of us get up to dance to it & Diella just squeals with excitement & joins right it! Then its over & of course she says "Genn!" so we play it again, and again, and again... she could not get enough, it was hilarious! Then today in the car, I played "Jump, Jive, & Wail"... same story, she asked me to play it over & over... good songs choices, Diella! :-D

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And the BEST story... Often times when we're just sitting, relaxing on the couch at night before bed, I will stroke her hair or just run my fingers along her arm of back, she has always loved this, she calls it 'ticka ticka' (like tickle)... but then the other night, after I played with her hair for a lil bit, I put a pillow on her lap & laid my head down on her lap, so she gently stroked My hair!!! Not only that, after a minute, I lifted my head and she said "Down" & pointed down to the pillow... so I lay my head back down & she continued! It was a Very Special Moment for me!