I am 21 Months Old!

Hi Everyone!

It is March already! My how time flies! My little baby brother was born last month. His name is Logan David Talan. He was 7 pounds and 20 inches long. He was born at GWU Hospital on the first night of the Winter Olympics at 12:14 PM. I will post pictures of him soon!

My Granny Huesca was in town for 2 weeks during Logan's birth and the first week of Mommy's Recovery. Grandmother Talan has arrived and will be here for 2 weeks as well. She enjoys taking me out for stroller walks in our neighborhood and to our local bookstore.

During the time Mommy was in the hospital, I was able to spend a lot of one on one time with Granny Huesca who read books to me and let me watch as much Elmo and Olivia as I wanted. I wasn't a really big DVD or TV watcher until Granny came out. She really enjoys her TV and I enjoyed it as well. I was also able to spend a lot of one on one time with my Daddy. He taught me how to draw straighter lines on my easel and on my sketch book. He is also teaching me the alphabet (on my play mat) and also my numbers.

My favorite book right now is Goodnight Moon. Mommy's friends from college threw her a baby book shower right before I was born and I received four Goodnight Moon books--one of them included a sing-along CD. I insist on listening to it at least twice a day, once in the afternoon and once before going to bed. I can point at every item on the pages and tell you what they are. For instance, there's a chair, three bears, a picture of a cow jumping over the moon. You get the picture. It's so much fun!

I am still babbling more than I'm talking. I can say a lot of individual words though like "cow", "cat", "towel", "eight", "hair", "girl", "baby", "trees", "teeth", "ball", "light", "moo", "cup", "hot", "cold", "chair", "high-chair", "ice", "bye-bye" and "hi". I really like to say the sound "ba". I use it to describe: banana, bottle, bacon, bite, bib and what a lamb or sheep says. I also like to do the sound "Meow"--although it comes out more like "Owmmmm". Isn't that what the cat says?

I am picking up a ton of speed and can run as fast as the next toddler. In fact, one of my favorite past times is playing tag at the bookstore with the other kids. I am learning though that not all kids like to play tag and so I have to learn to be nice and not hit or "tag" them on the shoulder, head, leg or face.

I have decided to be right hand dominant. I still eat with my left hand occasionally, but I do absolutely everything else with my right hand. I am learning my colors, the alphabet and my numbers pretty well. My dad has been spending a lot of time practicing with me while Mommy feeds my little brother and changes his diaper.

Welcome Little Brother Logan David Talan

My little brother Logan was born on Friday, February 12th at 12:14 PM at the same hospital where I was born, George Washington University Hospital. He was 7 pounds, and 20 inches tall.

Grandma Huesca looked after me while Mommy was in the hospital for 5 days. I didn't even miss her! When she came home with my new little brother, I just went about my business as usual. He wasn't very noisy at first, but after a couple of days I did try to help out when he cried. For instance, I would try and give him a pacifier. If that didn't work, I would try to give him his bottle and then my bottle. If Mommy said that he didn't need a bottle or his pacifier and he was still crying, I would try to hit him or pick him up and carry him into another room. Everyone is doing a pretty good job of not letting me hit him or pick him up like I would like to do. They're trying to teach me to help out, but I'm not quite sure what they mean. And I don't understand why they can't just get up and walk with me to my room and read me a book on demand. Hmmnnn, I guess I'll figure it out soon enough.

I'm 20 Months Old

Hi Everyone!

It's February and I only have about a week left before my little brother arrives! He's scheduled to be born on Friday, February 12th at George Washington University Hospital. I have learned some new things since my last post. For one, I saw a girl at the Georgetown Library skipping and I was able to modify that and turn it into a gallop. So now my favorite thing to do is to gallop like a pony. I also learned how to say my name. Now if you ask me what my name is I can say "Ella"! I say it by accentuating the "l" sound and sticking my tongue out like a little lizard. Mom and Daddy are hoping to have some video footage on here soon so you can get a kick out of it too. For some reason, they laugh and clap their hands when I say my name. I don't know why they're laughing, but I start laughing too!

I think I've outgrown my high chair. Perhaps it's time for a booster seat. I am beginning to enjoy eating my breakfast, lunch and dinner a little more. I was pretty picky until recently. Now, I am beginning to really enjoy eating chicken--which is my daddy's favorite food. And Mommy cooks a lot of vegetarian dishes (she's not a vegetarian, but she really enjoys vegetarian meals) so I'm learning to like different textures and different tastes.

Here are a couple pictures of me having fun dining out at Ikea in College Park. I had a couple Swedish meatballs, some broccoli, squash, and french fries. Yum! The other picture is of me mimicking Mommy practice Yoga. I am beginning to become quite good at it!

I am 19 Months Old!

I am 19 Months Old Today. Mommy tells me I'll be 20 months old when my little brother is born next month. Hmmmnn, I wonder what that means. Does that mean we'll have a baby in the house? No wonder she's been showing me pictures of babies and teaching me how to be "gentle" around other babies we see out on playdates.

I am growing really tall. I don't know how tall I am, but I have completely outgrown all of my 18 month old clothes. I now wear the size 2 T in most brands. I can still get by wearing some of my 24 month old clothes, but the tops are a little tight. The doctor said that I am 33 1/2 inches tall and 26 1/2 pounds today at my 19 month Check-up. I am in the 80th Percentile for Height and 50th Percentile for Weight. The doctor said that is "very healthy".

I have two favorite words I enjoy repeating over and over. The word "Car" and the word "Hot". I learned the word "hot" because Mommy says it all the time as she's cooking our breakfast and our lunch every day. She warns me not to get too close to the stove and oven because it's "hot". I also am learning the difference between hot and cold when I take my baths--which is still one of my favorite past times. It is very very cold outside, so I think I know the difference between hot and cold. Mommy says it's "coooooooold" almost everytime we walk outside. I can feel the freezing wind brushing my cheeks and nose. I repeat the word "Cold" so Mommy knows that I get it.

Today was one of the first days that I learned to use the Potty. There are varying schools of thought on the best time to learn to potty train. However, Mommy and Daddy thought that since I had been tugging on my diaper over the last couple of weeks to alert them that I had already gone potty that now was the perfect time to begin potty training. As soon as I woke up this morning, Mommy promptly took me to the potty, sat me down and ran the fawcet. It was like magic, I went within seconds. Hopefully this is a great start to my potty training. Cross your fingers for me!

Some of my favorite things to do now include: playing my Disney Ipod (which exclusively plays about 20 Disney tunes) and dancing with my ballerina doll. We both enjoy twirling together. Most of the time, I will also pull out all of my other toys that play music and press the "on button" on all of them and play a medley of tunes all at the same time and twirl in circles and do my favorite dances. I am also learning to gallop and skip to music. I learned that after watching an older girl at the library do it. I really love music! I enjoy listening to it and dancing to it more than I enjoy any other activity right now.

I also enjoy using my toy vacuum to pretend to clean our house. Here's a picture of me following Mommy around as she is vacuuming our floors with her "real vacuum". Here's another picture of me using the broom at our local Whole Foods Store. I can't help myself. I really enjoy cleaning, wiping things down, helping Mommy fold up laundry, load the dishwasher and pushing brooms, mops and vacuums. Everyone tells me "It's a good thing".

My parents set up my toddler bed for me tonight too. My crib was beginning to get too cumbersome and I didn't enjoy sleeping in it that much. I'd rather snuggle with Mommy and Daddy in their bed. With Mommy's ever growing belly--that arrangement lasted far longer than she liked and so they went and bought the bed guard rails and rearranged my bedroom and set up the twin size bed for me. I absolutely LOVE it! Now, if only I could actually sleep in. I should be able too. Mommy and Daddy had to take me to get my 18 month vaccinations today and my 19 month wellness check-up. Afterward, we are going to the Georgetown Library for a Play Date, Story Hour and Gingerbread House Making party.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ELLA!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

It is my second Christmas. This year we decided to stay in the DC area and have our families from Ohio come out here to visit us. It was an extra "Merry Time".

Grandma Huesca and Aunt Antasia came from Napoleon to visit us the week before Christmas. We enjoyed a "Pre-Christmas Celebration" at our new condo in Arlington. It snowed the day after they arrived. The following post will have some pictures of the beautiful "Snow Blizzard 2009" and of their visit. As you should be able to see, my Mommy is 7 1/2 months pregnant with my baby brother. Mommy really loves the snow! Even though she is very big, wobbly and exhausted--she really enjoyed going out to play in the snow like a little girl. She and Grammy Huesca went and made snow angels and threw the snow at each other while taking pictures.

I went on a Play Date with my friends Camila, Daniel and Thomas the day before my Grammy and Auntie arrived. Here are a couple pictures from our play date.

Grandmother Talan and Uncle Albert arrived on Christmas Eve and stayed for the entire week after. We also had a nice time together. They brought our doggie Lexie, who is staying with Grandmother Talan and her dog Sherman for a while on vacation. I really miss Lexie and enjoyed spending time with her and playing with her every day she was here.

Santa Claus brought me a Disney Table and Chair Set to host tea parties, a few sets of pajamas, 3 pairs of Pediped shoes, Washable Crayons and Washable Markers, several new books, a toy vacuum cleaner, an electronic musical keyboard and the promise that my little baby brother will be delivered sometime in mid February.

I hope you enjoyed your holiday season as much as I did!

Pre-Christmas!