Ellie likes wearing our footwear, especially her mom’s as they are smaller and lighter. The other day, however, she wanted to put on her mom’s winter boots, which became hip waders on Ellie. She was only able to take one step before she fell over..

Ellie has recently received a new pink bathrobe from her great grandmother, so she gave it a test drive after getting out of the tub.

She has also been giving the word “no” extensive test drives. Actually, I think she is done testing it and has signed the lease on that word. You hear it frequently now.. “Do you want a bottle?” “No.” Sometimes she can be defiant in using the word, but most of the time she is just sharing her opinion. “Hey little wrinkled girl, do you want to get out of the tub yet?” “No!”

It is taking me some time to get used to this new verbal interaction. It’s still very new to me to have my questions actually answered..

Naomi told me a story the other day about how Ellie walked around the kitchen pointing to each of the things she isn’t aloud to touch (the stove, microwave, refrigerator, etc) and said “No, no” to each in turn. She then went to the living room and identified all the “no no” objects there too. Of course, that doesn’t stop her from touching them.. she just wanted us to know that she knows the rules.