Ella Bella - 2 1/2

My sweet sweet Ella Bella,

I blinked and you are now 2 1/2.  In some ways it seems fitting, and others it seems impossible that you are that old.  Over the past year you have grown so so much it's almost hard to believe. 

You are such a beautiful girl, inside and out.  You are very sweet and loving (most of the time) You love to come up to me and give me big hugs and big kisses.  You grab my face with such force and give me a big wet one, and I love it.  You LOVE your Daddy so much and you light up when he walks in the room or when you see him.  You run to him and say Hi Dad!! And he scoops you up for a big hug and kiss and you are in Heaven.  You love Brayden and try to show him too but sometimes he's not that into it and my heart breaks a little when I see your hugs and kisses getting rejected, but I know this is all normal sibling behavior.  And Avery, oh you love her so! I think you really enjoy being a big sister. You look after her, play with her, make her laugh so hard and give her plenty of hugs and kisses.  She eats all of it up! You are also so sweet to Max and I know he enjoys the attention.

You are becoming such a talker! Something that has taken you a while to get going on, but now, you are full on talking and coordinating sentences that make sense and that I can understand! Of course you have your own way of talking, and most things are said with an Italian accent - such as, your "yes" is "yepp-a" or "no" is "nope-a" It's so adorable and your brother did the same thing when he started really talking.  Your first *real* sentence was in early January and you said "Mickey on please now" and from then to now you can say even more elaborate sentences.

You are a wild one Missy! You love to climb and jump off things and push the limits with us and it doesn't help that you have an older brother who coerces you into doing things you shouldn't.  You are still a very tiny girl so we still have to watch you and tell you repeatedly to stop doing things that can hurt you.  In December, we thought you could walk up and down the stairs by yourself because you were doing so good but one time, you fell down them.  It was so scary but you were OK and it made us realize you were not ready for that, so we still walk up and down with you.

You and your brother have become quite the little BFF's lately.  You follow him around everywhere and want to do everything he does.  Sometimes this is good, sometimes it's bad. The moments you aren't being BFF's, you are messing with him (or vice versa) You love to take his toys, look right at him after you do it, then run away and have him chase you.  

You are such a smart little cookie! You are counting to 13, almost singing the ABC song and doing so well with flash cards.  You love puzzles and have started to be able to put some 24pc ones together by yourself. You LOVE the memory game so we play that everyday and you have such a good little memory! 

You're really into coloring and drawing.  You can sit at the table and do that for over an hour.  You really love playing with your dollhouse and it is seriously so cute to watch and play with you.  Most of the time I'm the Mommy and you're the little girl but sometimes you're the Mommy when you play alone and I watch you closely and see you having the Mommy give the little girl kisses and putting her to bed and my heart melts!! You also enjoy play doh, painting, and recently I made a sensory bin and you are loving that too.  

You are POTTY TRAINED!! I can't even believe it! I wasn't sure you were ready but boy did you prove us wrong.  It took about a solid week before I left the house with you and you did great.  There have been a couple accidents here and there but sweetheart, I am SO proud of you!! You still wear a diaper for naps and bed but even then, 99.9% of the time you wake up dry!

Your favorite show is still Mickey Mouse but you have started liking some of Brayden's shows too. You both love The 7D and you will watch Paw Patrol too.  

You love to eat and you're always open to trying new things.  For a while you wouldn't try hummus but the other day you saw me eating it and you wanted some and you loved it! You always eat your food as soon as it's put down in front of you (a concept your brother still hasn't seemed to grasp) 

My beautiful daughter, I hope one day you will know how much I truly love you.  It is with all of my heart and more.  You make me so happy and you are at such a fun/cute stage right now I want to freeze time.  I hope you always stay sweet, yet assertive, loving and kind.  I want you to have a great life and I want to be there every step of the way watching you grow into a beautiful woman. I love you so much baby girl and that will never change.