Progress Primavera

Spring has sprung here, as the garden has exploded with the color of yellow and white buttercups, red/yellow/pink tulips, and lavender flox. And just as the yard and garden come alive, Ella, too, is doing the same. A sampling of some of the new things Ella can do:

1. Control her arms enough to reliably get her fist in her mouth in order to suck on it;
2. Manipulate her hands in order to separate her thumb from the rest of her fist and plug it into her mouth;
3. Hold her head up steady enough for Mom and Dad to no longer have to be constantly holding it (she still looks like a bobble-head doll, though);
4. Move her head up and to each side while laying on her stomach;
5. Grab things and stuff them in her mouth (towels are her favorite, but as you can see below, even her Bug isn't safe).

The biggest development happened just today, for the first time: Ella held her own bottle! Now, I don't mean the bottle was balanced atop her hands for a few seconds like my every effort to spin a basketball on my finger. Once I saw she had it her in hands, I pulled my hand away and watched the clock: at the 5 minute mark I shut down the experiment for no other reason than I had to burp her or risk the consequences. Had I not intervened, there's no telling how long she would've gone, because that bottle was steady as a rock.

Week Four of the Dad Administration has clearly started off with a bang, which is a good thing: Week Three was tough. Ella has moved into an expected fussy phase, according to a book Amber checked out at the library; knowing the phase was an expected and normal one didn't make it much easier to endure. But, here we are, and there Ella goes, growing more and more capable with each day.