Ella and her birthday cake.

My mom made Ella a homemade, pumpkin birthday cake with cream cheese frosting. Yum!! We were all dying to see what she would do when we placed that cake in front of her and let her do as she pleased (a family tradition on both sides). She took her time exploring the gooey textures, starting with gently poking the frosting with her little, chubby finger, and eventually moving to full hand squishes and highchair tray smacking. I think she had an actual taste of the cake only a few times (although she did offer squishy handfuls to multiple party guests).