Anthon and Ella on the Train

The day before Quinn was born, Shelley, the kids, Shelley's parents and I spent the day in and around Shinjuku - going to parks, lunch and what not. We took the train. On the train, Anthon decided he would have a little vocabulary lesson with Ella. This is the result. Hang in there till the end:





While I'm not the biggest fan of Anthon using some terms so liberally...I do have to laugh that Ella seems to know the difference in placement between the bum bum and the penis.

More importantly, I love the kindness that he's showing to his sister. I'm glad that I caught this on tape, so it can remind me that my kids do love each other...even when it doesn't seem like it at times!

Ella is talking...a lot

Ella is growing up and becoming quite the talker. Shelley and I have always talked about how great Anthon's was verbally growing up, but Ella is starting to really ramp up her words and sounds. We took a video when Anthon was 18 months old and quizzed him on certain words. Now that Ella is days away from being 18 months, Shelley took a quick video of Ella talking and making noises.

On a personal note, it's been within the last month, month and a half that I've been able to develop this nice father-daughter relationship with Ella. She is quite a charming little girl and I am smitten. She wants me to sing songs to her at night and will try to sing along with her favorite ones. When she wants to give you a kiss she'll place her hands on my cheeks and guide my face to hers so she can kiss me. She loves giving tight squeezes around my neck and will grunt like she's squeezing so hard. She loves reading books. At night when I come home I can hear her yelling "dada, dada, dada" as her little feet are running towards the door. She can't quite beat Anthon to the door. He's pretty swift. But Ella isn't far behind. She's so polite. She says thank you for everything. She'll fold her arms and listen patiently through the prayer, even long ones and give out a very enthusiastic "AMEN!" at the end.

We're amazed at what new things she is saying, learning and doing from one day to the next.

Mamamama

Ella has started to say "mama." Shelley is rejoicing. I kid you not, this girl is exploding in confidence and curiosity. She's everywhere, into everything, saying new sounds and for good measure finds being awake so much more fun than falling asleep. We're not as big a fan of the latter development.

Ella Says Dada...I Think

Our cute Ella is 6 months old and continues to be a sweetheart. She's eating rice cereal, apples and pears. She's getting close to scooting around which should add another dimension to her life.

The other day I caught Ella on video talking in her soft voice - saying the beautiful word that is "dada." I'm try hard to convince myself that 1)she actually said it; and 2)she has associated that first formation of words to me. Click on the picture below to see the video and decide for yourself.

Ella is a talker

Ella is finding her vocal ability...and we're finding out that she can jabber on quite loudly! During these first four months of life Ella has actually been a fairly quiet child. She's certainly more active and VERY LOUD. It shouldn't come as a surprise, as I'm sure with Shelley and I as her parents she was definitely coming into this world hard wired for talking. Just as there are families who have to fight for food around the dinner table, we have to fight to get our time to talk.

Click on the picture below to see a a video of Ella talking about something - probably politics, or maybe her thoughts on the current financial crisis.