No!

"No!" Sometimes I feel like I don't say anything else all day long. She's testing her limits and equally testing my patience at times.

Yesterday -- after having pulled her out of the fake ficus at least ten times I removed it from the living room and put it on top of the washer and dryer. Later -- Ella made her way into the laundry room and managed to get hold of a branch and nearly pulled the whole thing down on her. So -- I put the stupid thing on the back patio. When daddy came home he went out back and exclaimed, "Have you had it with the ficus or what?". The wind had knocked it over making it look as though I had just opened the back door and thrown it to the four winds. Which might have crossed my mind. He returned it to the living room and said, "she has to learn what's off limits." He may be right -- but we'll see how he deals this weekend when I'm picking up an extra shift at work!

I wrote a few days (weeks?) ago that Ella had started pulling to a stand. She then decided to pull herself up at nap-time. Which created a big deal when she grew increasingly more tired but didn't yet know how to sit back down in order that she might go to sleep. My friend Rob told me she would figure it out -- it was just a phase and she'd grow out of it. Yeah! She has. But now she's started a few other things....

Yesterday -- while we were outside chatting with several neighbors -- Ella started screaming. Every few seconds her face would get red and she'd yell at the top of her lungs. I was so embarrassed. Everyone else seemed to think it was funny. Please tell me this is just another phase.

She's banging on her highchair top and it has become a real problem. We used to say "no" and she'd stop. Now she seems to be intentionally trying to defy us. Any suggestions? We tried hand squeezing.

Every time we put her down for a diaper change she rolls over and pops up into crawling position. She's fast! We flip her back which is usually met with a great tantrum. I've tried using those flimsy straps on the changing pad but they don't do anything. My sister-in-law said she had to resort to changing cousin Zach in the floor because of his rolling over antics. Anybody else have a better idea?

Okay -- enough of that.

We have been having lot of fun too. Today she's wearing her pink sparkly pants. I love them! You can sort of make out the sparkly silver stitching on the pockets -- but the camera didn't pick up the glittery effect on the pants. They remind me of B.B. Harris Elementary night at Skate-Along U.S.A. Such fond memories of disco lights and sparkly pants of my own. Oh -- and trips to the concession stand during couples skating.

This afternoon before nap time we took a stroll to the local Burger King play place. After I scarfed down some food and Ella ate a Gerber "pinwheel" we hit the play area. Ella was very interested in playing with a cute little girl -- maybe 14 months. I guess my stroller was the wrong brand because the mommies quickly packed up and left -- taking Ella's playmate. So all alone -- she and I crawled through the giant steps, bubbles and slides. It was fun until we started inching towards nap time. Now she's napping -- and hopefully she'll sleep well having played, played, played.