Not just a pretty face – Ella’s latest tricks

Ella’s been doing a lot of new stuff lately. Here are a few of her favorite hobbies:

1. Picking up her baby doll, giving her a kiss, then rocking her in a bassinett.

2. Kissing on command. She’ll give her stuffed animals kisses when I suggest it. They’re open-mouthed. And she won’t kiss me or her daddy. We’re working on it.

3. Repeatedly saying “ball” – and she really will be looking at a ball! Then she will even proceed to play catch with you. Except her version of throwing it is to walk over and give it to you. Then you need to move away to continue the game.

4. High five. A great trick Daddy taught her. Sometimes he teaches her weird tricks. Like wiggling her tongue. But, I have to admit I love the high five.

5. Climbing. This one’s a little scary. So far it’s just onto our small, soft ottomans, but I see dangerous kitchen chair climbs in our future …

6. Dancing. She’s been doing this occassionally for awhile now. But now it’s almost guaranteed that if you have music on, or even a cell phone rings, she’ll bop to the beat. It’s so cute.

7. Carrying a basket around like a purse and filling it up with things she finds. She learned this the day AFTER easter. Shoot!

8. Lifting stuff. Even if it’s really big and awkward it’s almost like a challenge for her. She wants to see just what she can or can’t pick up. Her little people airplane, yes. Her little people barn, no.

9. Sitting on daddy’s lap. Lately she’s found a new love for daddy. She’s always loved him, but if I was around, she’d chose me. Now, she’s starting to go to him and sit in his lap a lot. He’s very happy.

10. Help in the kitchen. Well, it’s not so much help as it is making a complete mess. But today she worked so intently on opening a bag of spinach and putting it into a bowl while I got dinner around, it was so sweet.