Ella is making progress all over the place. Really, her development is taking off in small ways and big ways. She’s very sturdy on her feet most of the time although not walking completely on her own. She holds on to one hand and finally enjoys walking in her walker. Sometimes she’ll “ask” to walk by pointing somewhere and looking like she wants to get up (often by trying to “jump” off the toilet). In her walker, when we take her to the gym at the JCC she just flies and she really seems to enjoy it. She starts her run across the gym with a scream, tilts her head forward and she’s off. The only things to fear are the basketballs flying all around her. Communication skills have also improved. She’s back into saying “A-l-l D-o-n-e” that she confuses sometimes with A-B-A (daddy). She is pointing and nodding when she wants something which makes it harder to control her. From the minute she wakes up she is asking for things in her own way — like that the music be turned on. Then she has this new game with Netta (or against Netta, I should say). She screams “all done” at her and then Netta gets upset and screams back to her, if she doesn’t break out in tears. She says: “Ella don’t scream at me”. Sometimes, Ella yells the word “Aba” at the top of her lungs. Then Netta yells back “Don’t say ABA!” and Ella is even more incentivized to say it. On and on it goes. Ella has also been having some break down trantrums which we are not sure what to do about. She absolutely refuses to cooperate and screams and cries, often for what seems like no clear reason. Today, Kim, her teacher is coming over for a consultation on behavioral techniques. We’ll see what she has to suggest, especially for her antagonizing Netta. It is great that she is fearless and has her own ideas, but it is also hard to discipline her and encourage her development at the same time.