Ellen just amazes me every day. She loves to climb on anything and everything and has no fear... even when she should!! We've been putting the couch cushions on the floor in front of the couch so she can climb from them to the couch and then back down by herself. When going down, she wriggles down head first and tries to do so even when the cushions aren't there and it's a long drop from the top of the couch to the floor. Last week I started trying to get her to go down backward - I'd say "go down backward" and turn her around and show her how. This morning, she did it all on her own. It *looked like* she did it on purpose, but I wasn't sure if it was or if it was just coincidence, but she has done it all day. Here's the funny and amazing part: If she's on top of the couch with no cushions to step down onto, she will go down backwards. Then, when there are cushions there, she will go down forwards (head first) onto the cushions and then turn around and go down backward from the cushion to the floor... even though it's the same height from the couch to the cushion as it is from the cushion to the floor. So that means that she associates getting down from something to the floor with going down backwards. I guess it would be better for her to associate getting down from any significant height to anywhere with going down backwards, but I'm still amazed. I'm actually really amazed too that she learned it so fast - I kept showing her but felt like she wasn't catching on, but apparently she was!! So smart my baby is.

And my belly has popped!! It snuck up on me, I'm not sure when it happened, but I definitely feel pregnant now. Baby boy wriggles a lot but not quite as much as Ellen did. However, I think I can feel him and his body parts through my belly more clearly than I could Ellen. Maybe because her placenta was attached in front and his isn't?