Pool Party

On Friday (as a break from bike shows), Ella and I went to the pool to
cool off from the scorching summer days we have been having. At first
Ella would not go in--just stood on the side of the baby pool and
watched in her red swim bottoms and matching hat. Finally she ventured
in but insisted that I go in too. So the two of us sat in the end
playing for a couple of hours with the buckets and balls that other
children had left there She kept getting braver and braver, eventually
even allowing her feet to float up as the placed her hands at the
bottom of the pool and walked along! Whenever, I tried to get out and
sit on the side, she ordered me back in: "Vickkk...in." Grandpa and
Mom came later and we all had a wonderful dinner on the deck! An
afternoon at the pool with Ella (and of course John and Susan)--pretty
close to heaven for me! Grandma Vickkkk

NO bike show!

So, the tour de france is in full force which basically means that Jared tries to confine Ella to the family room so he can watch hours of the race. Sadly, Ella has begun to resent this and now says things like, "no bike show dada!" Instead, what she really wants is a "BABBEEE SHOW" which she is now slightly obsessed with. I'm not sure what the deal is with those Baby Einstein videos, but Ella can't get enough of them (and she always chooses them over Elmo.... "No Emo mama").

Wake

Ella can now pretty much repeat anything you say to her. Of course, what she repeats is not perfect, for example:
We're celebrating the July birthdays last night (for Jared, John and Jason) and for some reason the subject of menopause comes up and Mike asks Ella if she can say "menopause." She says, "meepakes." It seems like most things Ella says end in this hard consonant sound. Like when you ask her if she is tired or sleepy, she says, "NO.. WAKE!" (like, no I am not sleeping now mom, I am awake!)
She is also very cute now in her questioning of the world. She often says, "wass dat?" or "where mama go?" or "what dada do?" It is super cute and you can't help from responding to her and then she'll say something like "ooooohhh." Kindof like the "yeaahhhh" she did a while ago, but now doesn't say that like that anymore. Jared is, of course, so proud of her endless curiosity as it is the one thing he prides himself on the most. Let's just hope that Ella's curiosity lands her in med school, rather than someone who could watch endless hours of tv because "there's so much to learn from tv!"

Holiday Weekend

Jared, Ella, and I spent the weekend house-sitting for my parents. Other than the dog, Sadie, running away and going crazy with all the fireworks, it was a grand ol' time. Ella liked going for boat rides. Jared asked her who's boat it was and she'd say "VICK." He then asked her who drives the boat and she'd say "VICK." Jared then said, "oh, your dad is going to love that one."
Ella and I were talking about her upcoming 2nd birthday party. "Ella, how old are you now?" "two." "Not quite yet, you will be two very soon and we are going to have a birthday party for you. What do you want to wear for your birthday party?" "CAKE!!!!!" Apparently Ella has associated party with cake, so every time a party is mentioned, she looks at you excitedly and says "CAKE!!!" She also says CAKE whenever you go into a fast-food restaurant as she associates all of those with Dairy Queen when we had ice cream (aka CAKE!).