It seems like forever since I wrote…and Ella has made so much progress. I especially saw it after returning home from being away for almost 4 weeks in Europe. Ella seemed to me much stronger in her walking and also much more able to carry on a “conversation” of sorts. One has to know what kind of sentences she can answer and also know how to prompt her. Most of the time, I really enjoy figuring these things out. For example, this morning, while trying to figure out how to fill the time until the morning babysitter arrived, I suggested that Ella and I walk around the house singing “Chitty, Chitty, bang, bang” songs. She is really into the music for that movie. She knows all the songs and can certainly get her idea across about what song should be sung when. So she was all for that idea of walking around the house and singing. Thinking about the “conversation” I am not sure who actually suggested it. Just goes to show, Ella really does communicate and is a master of her own fate.
Lately, Ella gets really exhausted in the evening. So much so that she can barely walk up the stairs without me pulling the left side of her body up, step by step. And the last couple of days she hasn’t been able to take off her own shoes and socks as she had been doing every night with me. I hope it is because she is getting so much exercise with her babysitters.
This week is free. School is over and her camp starts next week. Yesterday she was at the zoo with Stef. Day before that, she took the T (train) to the swan boats in the public garden. That includes tons of walking and tons of excitement for her. On the one hand that is great exercise for her. On the other, we get “zombie Ella” by the end of the day!
By the way, Ella is now 7 yrs. old. We celebrated her birthday last Sunday. It turned out really nice for her. About 12 of us were there. All the Portman cousins, Angela, Greg and Karen. Everyone sang “Happy Birthday” and Ella just about flew around the room from excitement. This year, as Etan said, we were sure she understood the whole birthday ritual.