    | Ella is getting really good at picking tiny objects and putting them in her mouth. so far it's been baby snacks; we should really keep small objects away from her. luckily she can't crawl yet, or the scroogim would lose their dinners. |
Dec 29, 2009
I spent a beautiful afternoon at the zoo with Ella, Smadar and Ori. as i mentioned before, most of the animals are wintering away somewhere. but the cats were out and about. this guy who was walking out in the snow roaring, gave us a good show.
this time Ella stayed awake for most of this visit. 
it was coooooold, one of those beautiful sunny days where the clouds don't serve as a blanket and the little warmth given by the sun quickly escapes. 
[picture of me & ella from smadar's camera]
when the sun disappeared behind the buildings, the lights on the trees turned on. this time ella was up for the sight and was very excited by the pretty lights.
we spent christmas with the family in Cadillac. ella had fun sitting/lying/rolling on the floor, and so did grandpa and grady.
on the night before Christmas ella must have been too excited to sleep (or maybe she wanted to catch Santa). she woke up every two hours. needless to say that we didn't get much sleep either... i heard that there's such a thing called "conservation of energy": the more energy your child has, the less energy is left for you. it must be true, as she was wide awake and happy on Christmas morning, and we were... well... tired.
Opening presents on Christmas morning: luckily Santa was informed of our whereabouts -- Ella got plenty of cool presents from him! and so did everybody else.
Ella gave everybody presents that she made herself. she liked opening the presents and play with the ribbons. 
Kevin and Megan came for a visit, and after we were done shopping we went for a walk in the Lincoln Park Zoo. most of the animals weren't out for viewing, but the zoo was all lit up for Christmas. Yayy! there are some more pictures in the album.
it was cold and raining, so we had to bundle Ella in her winterized stroller. we had a lot of fun, but poor Ella fell asleep. she'll have to go back next year! 
Eating
After being spoiled by Safta Dalia, Ella wasn't really into eating solids (using this term loosely to describe mushy-mashed-up vegs and fruits). she would close her mouth tightly and not allow anything in. she liked playing with the bowls and when she got herself distracted and opened her mouth for a piece of bowl she sometimes got a spoonful of puree instead.
this turned out to be very frustrating, especially since she was such a good eater earlier. eventually we figured out that she likes bananas a lot, and gradually we're getting her to eat more and more!
December was the Israeli month in our building. The Naozim moved in at the beginning of the month, and Dod Assaf came to visit us for a few days. Being jetlagged, Assaf got to spend a lot of quality time with Ella at 6 in the morning :P
For some reason or other Ella finds this incredibly funny. [movie soon!]
The holidays
this is our very first family Christmas tree. in the last few years we hung up some lights and ornaments, but never had a real fake tree. this year we do! it's plastic so it doesn't need watering.
Hannukkah 2009 -- first candle with the Naozim, and Assaf. we had sufganyot and champagne. it's nice to have people to celebrate the hebrew holidays with.
Ella got a pink snow suit :)
it's nice and warm (though a little too big)
which reminds me to post her picture looking at her first snow, on thanksgiving weekend:
