18 Months

Ellie Tsion is 18 months old! When her pediatrician handed me her "toddler" packet I honestly thought she gave me the wrong one; I mean, I didn't realize we had a toddler! I still was envisioning Ellie as my baby.

Ellie continues to grow and thrive each day. She is walking and running much more steadily and talking up a storm! When we are at home she is just about the loudest thing you've ever heard - squealing and yelling and telling us all about everything! Most people don't believe us because out in public or in new situations, she is quite shy and almost whispers. But, ask friends and family who chat with us on the phone and they'll tell you they can hear Ms. Ell chattering away in the background. That or she'll steal the phone away and talk FOR-EV-ER. Her favorite phone buddy is Pop right now; I think he is THRILLED to finally have a little one to chat with him each day when he calls since Garrett hasn't ever been much of a phone talker.

Some of our favorite Ellie phrases right now are:

"Up-uh" = up

"Dow-nuh" = down

"AAAAA" = any live animal (go figure!)

"Ah-duh" = all done

"Heh-puh" = help

Of course there are all of the other slew of words but those are the ones we hear most often and the loudest!

Ellie is very much into playing whatever her big brother is playing. She also LOVES to be read books or will sit still and look through piles and piles of books on her own. Oh, and don't forget the numerous babies - our sweet girl definitely has a nurturing, mothering side to her! It's amazing how differently little boys and girls play.

We continue to be in awe of Ellie's transition and growth since arriving home three and a half months ago. Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined what we were missing until we met and fell in love with our sweet, sweet girl.