The power of love or our crazy family- you choose

Ella has really begun to understand what it means to have aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. and can tell you through yes or no questions who lives where and what they are to her. We had a wonderful Christmas with Dave's family, and Ella loved playing with her Chicago cousins. We heard so much expression and had some really big moments like when she told her cousin (who loves to play teacher) - "No! Three. One, Two, Three." Everyone was in various rooms and got really quiet. I finally said, "Did Ella just count to three?" Ella has known "two" and "three" for awhile but we go through times when everything is "two" or "three" depending which is easier for her to say but its been clear that she knows when she has two things or when she has three. I have heard "one" maybe a handful of times. It was a really big moment!

Then we had a few days recovering at home and we worked with flash cards to keep the momentum. On New Year's Eve we left for Cleveland to celebrate the holidays with my family at my sister's. My family is anything but quiet when we get together. It's loud, crazy, and often dramatic. My daughter fully embraces the insanity and becomes a part of it. She gets so excited about everything that she just blurts words out left and right. We got full sentences and tons of random new words. I heard a lot of "I need...", "I want..." which isn't totally new but to hear it all day long is incredible. She told me she wanted "apple juice" instead of signing it. She talked about "snow", told us there were three dogs, and pointed out every "E" to let us know that "Ella" started with "e". The whole weekend was full of very proud moments. And to see her face, when she said what she wanted and we understood...wow.