Potty Update

Ella continues to wet her diapers but has not once pooped in them since the 1st. Twelve days, twelve poops on the toilet... isn't it the pooping that is the hardest part of potty training??? She could care less about wet diapers, but is quick to tell us "Ella have stinky bum" to which we whisk her off to the toilet and she goes with no problem. Potty training is odd, we're just winging it and we figure she'll get it eventually.

Just Beachy

Ella is still doing well, her appetite isn't totally back to normal but she's active, drinking and eating toast and cheerios so all is well. Today we went to Ko'Olina. Ella has a new swim ring and she's so brave. She floats out above her head and has learned to kick to turn herself around. She's not quite kicking enough to propel her through the water but she is happy to float and be out in the water. Without the swim ring she'll walk out to her head and ends up with a wave over her. Despite this, she insists on being on her own and when I pick her out of the water and bring her back to where she can safely touch, she can't get away from me fast enough. She wants to swim so desperately, especially now that Sebastian is with us and he has so much freedom being able to swim. We will be more than ready for swim lessons in March...

Almost Normal

Ella is doing fine, she hasn't been sick since we left the hospital and we didn't have to give her any more medicine. We all went to bed really early last night and had an excellent night's sleep.

Funny, unrelated note about boys versus girls. Ella, as I have said many times is very sweet. She loves giving kisses and hugs and will make Ron and I kiss each time we kiss her when she's getting ready for bed. She gives Eskimo kisses, butterfly kisses, and blows kisses. She kisses and hugs all her toys, her blanket, her bike... she carries around her baby dolls and Barbie dolls and gives them bottles, wraps them in blankets, puts them to bed... the list goes on. She is very sweet to her friends and to ours, always running up to my girlfriends to give them a big hug. Did I mention I have a very adorable, sweet little girl??

I have been watching Sebastian for week and he is a very polite and well-behaved 10-year-old... but is it a gene boys are born with??? So far he's wrestled Ella's Elmo chair, pile-drived her dolls, "smashed" Elmo into the carpet repeating "die, Elmo, die.. aggghhhh (dying sounds)", and held a boxing/death match with her stuffed animals. Now granted, we don't have any "boy" toys in the house and he's surrounded by girlie dolls and pink stuffed animals, but really, "die, Elmo, die"??? Ella of course, was horrified, then intrigued, and then thought the whole thing was hilarious. I put an end to it and explained that while, yes, he does have brothers, and he is used to video games, Ella is a little girl who is sweet and we want her to stay that way. He is a great kid and has headed my warnings: if he can't stop torturing Ella's things, he's not to play with them at all:) There's to be no death or destruction in the house... that, I'm sure, will come later because didn't we all rip off Barbie's head at some point??? LOL