A Handful of Hancocks: Ella-19 months

Man this blog post is way past due. Totally a slacker mom here.

Oh well. Better late than never.

Ella is a light in our house. Everyone wants to play with her and everyone wants her to like them the best. She loves to go upstairs with the kids and just play and be with them. I can trust her for the most part to stay out of trouble and just hang out with them. And they do a pretty good job of looking out for her.

Ella calls all her brothers by name, but when she wants to talk about them as a whole she calls them “the boys.” She calls Darrin daddy, and she rarely calls me by name, but when she does it’s usually just ma or mama. I try to get her to call me mommy, but she won’t do it. She also calls her friends Katie, Hudson, and Kylee by name.

Ella is still a pretty good eater. She usually eats the most dinner out of all our kids. And that’s no joke. She’s a girl that likes variety though. If she ate 2 graham crackers today, she most likely won’t want another one for a couple weeks. It makes snacks and lunch food a challenge. She likes fruits and veggies. And loves to dip things in ranch or other dips. She loves popcorn and when given Oreos will only eat the cream in the middle. She definitely knows what cookies are and will ask for them at the weirdest times.

Ella loves music and loves to dance. She will drag her brothers up to her room, turn on the keyboard and then want to have a dance party. She loves Luke’s bed and will pretend to go to sleep in it. She recently figured out how to climb on Josh’s bed (the lower bunk) and get into his stuff. Josh’s loves it.

She knows most of her body parts. She calls any button a butt. So that’s what she calls her belly button. The boys think it’s hilarious. She still loves baths, but can be found in the shower with mom most of the time. She lays on the bathtub floor on her stomach and plays in the water while I shower. She has to be the one to wash her body with soap and keeps asking for more soap until I say enough. She’s not a big fan of getting dressed, but likes to have her hair blow dried.

Ella’s sleep seems to be back on track. She takes naps every day again and doesn’t fight me anymore. She usually goes to bed between 8-8:30pm and wakes up 8-8:30am. Nap is from 1-3ish. She still sleeps with her binky, but we put it under her pillow during the day. She fights me on it sometimes, but is getting used to it. She still has a favorite blanket as well. The other night she was playing in her crib before she fell asleep. She had put her binky down her pajamas and couldn’t get it out. When I went in there, it was clear down past her knees. Silly girl.

Ella is still not a fan of nursery…notice all the drool on her dress? That’s from lots of crying during nursery a couple weeks ago when these pics were taken. She’ll get it soon. I just know it! She’s much better about going to Katie’s to play on Wednesdays.

Ella loves her daddy. I’m pretty sure he’s her favorite. In the last couple days she’s figured out that daddy’s at work when he’s not at home. She’ll tell me that’s where he is if she can’t find him.

She loves to help me do household chores. She’s getting very good at sorting the laundry. She also likes to empty the dishwasher. At dinner she can be found on a chair watching me cook or at the sink doing dishes. She’s pretty much my little shadow.