Ella is making vast strides in the walking department and this is huge. She can now take a few steps while just holding on to my hand with her right hand. She still needs spotting on the left side (shoulder) b/c her balance isn’t good, but there is clear progress. Ella is also more vocal and sometimes just bursts into a cacophony of sounds – undecipherable though. She does this funny laughing thing especially when Abba’s around or has just walked into a room. She pushes air out and tries to force a laugh. It is pretty funny. Ella had another playdate with her school buddy Nate. The teachers have told me that he wrote a song for Ella that goes something like: “Ella, Ella, Sweet Ella… I love you.”. Nate is 5 and quite the big boy around Ella. He loves playing school which is perfect for Ella b/c she just plays along. I think Ella is a little overwhelmed by Nate’s attention. Ella has been sleeping much better with her new brace (for the hip displacement problem). We have an appointment at the orthopedist this Thursday; this is for a second opinion with the top guy at Children’s. I don’t want to be wasting time with these braces if there is no way to influence the situation. Worst case scenario, in our opinion, is the need for surgery to correct this problem when Ella is older. Apparently it is a nasty ordeal requiring a body caste for some period. We certainly want to avoid that!