Now that I have your attention, you’ll be pleased to know I’m not talking about poop. In fact, I’m talking about poor Ella.

The first year I blogged about Zoe ended up being quite a thick book filled with stories about her every, well, her everything. Words, sounds, movements, teeth, you name it. If I took all the Ella-specific stats I’ve shared so far, I think I’d fill a pamphlet.

And so it goes with Number Two.

I’m lucky. I’m Number One. Sure, there were two of us, but I was 11 minutes first. And yes, I know that the “twin story” is a unified one – we had two of everything, and while we did pass certain milestones at different times (most often Shawn first), neither of us was Number Two.

Not so for Ella.

I DO have a list of some “Firsts” for her, but most of her stories are muddled in with those of her sister – or family vacations. So this post, I want to put some things on the record (as I’ve done with earlier, guilt-ridden posts like “I have not forgotten Ella” from over a year ago).

Here are some Ella stats you won’t want to miss:

• She is obsessed with buckles. There are a series of stuffed “Buckle Toys” out there (they are pretty cool, actually), and Ella will buckle those toys over and over again – all you have to do is unbuckle for her and watch her go to work. (She says “Buck-Um”.)
• She is equally obsessed with shoes. Any shoes. Big ones, small ones, boots or slippers, though she particularly loves Zoe shoes.
• She has some interesting food favorites: Tofu, edamame, broccoli, ham, green peas, scrambled eggs (sorry, Alison), cheese and she’s never met a noodle she didn’t like. She will also eat black beans for as long as you put them in front of her. It’s amazing to watch (and a complete mess).
• She is NOT a great sleeper… She has slept all night, many times. But her all night ends between 4 and 5 am usually, and as of about 6 weeks ago, she can get out of her crib. So the sleep training window (“cry it out”) has passed.
• She IS quite the talker. She has lots of words, most notably “BABA”. You’d never mistake it for anything else. She’s currently in the phase of repeating the last word you say, which is great when you want her to say “Yes”. Just put it last. “Ready for night-night, yes?”
• She wants to do absolutely anything Zoe does. I know this is normal, but poor Zoe. That kid hears NO almost as much as Ella does at this point. “Think what you just taught your sister to do.” It’s a big responsibility.
• She can count (sort of). More like she can repeat “1-2-3” (she can go up to 10), though I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know that those are numbers. Comparatively speaking, she is much more coordinated and mechanical than Zoe was at this age and loves to take things apart and put them together. Zoe on the other hand was singing, dancing and wearing sparkles…
• She loves Elmo and Minnie. In fact, we have an Elmo app I’m not sure we can live without called “Elmo Calls” where you can FaceTime with Elmo. What is it with kids and Elmo…? I may never understand.

Anyway, I feel better. Ella Documented (better, for now).

Overall she’s a confident tiny kid, who is skeptical of strangers and knows exactly what she wants. If we can survive this in-between sleeping window (too big for crib, too small for to be loose in a room with a bed), I think we’ll all be OK ;)

And in the meantime, at least she’s cute!