James and Ola Jordan are chatting about little Ella for their HELLO! Strictly Parenting column, but they are keeping their voices down while she is fast asleep in her car seat, tired from a day out. "We went out to get some shopping and she's in the hallway sleeping," James explains. "We're scared to wake her, so we're just looking at her in the hallway." Ola jokily chimes in, saying: "Good parenting that is!"
READ: James and Ola Jordan open up about wanting baby number two
The pair have been focusing their attention on little Ella after a very difficult week following James' dad Allan's diagnosis with a brain tumour. The pair, who have previously said that their daughter has been a light in their lives during Allan's illness, reveal that they have introduced her to solid food for the first time, and that she has been loving it - see the video here...
WATCH: Baby Ella tried solid food for the first time this week - and she loved every bite!
"I just think that sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling and my mum intuition is that she's ready to try solids," Ola explains. James adds: "For the last month, if we have her at the table and we're trying to eat, she's foaming at the month! She watches every mouthful."
Chatting to her husband, Ola asks: "Maybe she can smell the food that I cook?" to which he cheekily replies: "It's not that good!"
READ: James Jordan shares poignant tribute to dad after heartbreaking diagnosis
James continues: "She's really saliva-y, she gets really excited when we're eating. So I thought, 'She's definitely ready!' Also with the reflux, the doctor said early on that maybe we should try to wean her earlier because of that, because they suffer from it less when they're on solids."
Baby Ella has been eating potato and carrot - and loves it!
The pair began by feeding her mashed carrot and potato, and James fondly opens up about her initial reaction to the grub. "She absolutely loved it," he said. "Her legs started kicking! She doesn't know how to eat from the spoon so she was licking it and sucking it and it was quite funny."
He adds that he was amazed Ella enjoyed the experience so quickly, explaining: "My sister tried to wean her children early on and she said two of her children wouldn't even eat it, but Ella took to it straight away!"
Of course, with baby food means a big mess, and Ola jokes: "I started her with carrot and potato, and that stains everything, orange everywhere, so that's lovely. And she loves the apple too, but obviously that's much sweeter. It's very cute watching her eat, she loves mummy's cooking!"
READ: James and Ola Jordan's daughter Ella reaches impressive new milestone - WATCH video
The pair reveal that they haven't found any food she isn't a big fan of yet, with Ola saying: "We haven't tried enough to know what she doesn't like yet. We've given her solid food for three days now. I need to experiment a bit more too and get her other things, but in the beginning you're told to get certain things. For example, you're told not to give them strawberries in case they're allergic. We're not too adventurous at the moment. But it is another milestone. It's like, my baby is a big girl now!"
James and Ola joked that Ella is very interested in their meals at the dinner table
They are already hopeful that solid food is helping with her reflux, with James saying: "I think her reflux has changed. It's generally getting better and we can put her down quicker. I don't know if it's because she's older and she'll go on her tummy and she can lift her head so high now that maybe her muscles are getting stronger. All of those muscles she's working must be improving. I don't think we have to burp her at much, I don't know if that's normal!"
He adds: "We don't have to keep her as upright as long. Sometimes you have to hold her upright for an hour, then it's like, 'Oh my God, she's hungry again!'"
James has been focusing on his little girl following the sad news about his dad
They admit that it is a relief that her reflux is slowly improved, but think handling it has also come with time and experience. "I think we're more in the swing of things," Ola says "We're much more calm. We sort of know what we're doing - well we don't really!"
James adds: "Yes we do, we do know what we're doing!"
The former Strictly pros also suspect that they may know one of the reasons Ella has had a bit of a rash over the last few weeks, and it's all down to the water in their house. Ola says: "We used to bath her in the kitchen, so James would fill up the bath using the kitchen tap, and in our house we have a machine that softens the water to the showers and bathrooms and everything, but in the kitchen, the water softener doesn't connect to the kitchen tap - and we just didn't think about it."
Ella has grown up so quickly!
James adds: "One of our friends whose baby has eczema suggested it gets worse using hard water, so now we're going upstairs using the water with the softener in the bathroom. It's quite hard water in the kitchen, and whether not it's that that has made a difference or the moisturiser, could be either. But her skins looking much better and all of the little spots have gone."
READ: Ola and James Jordan's 10 sweetest moments with their baby girl Ella in pictures
It looks like Ella's teething days are right around the corner, as Ola explains: "I think she's putting her fingers on her gums because I think they're hurting."
James adds: "We have this teething thing, and Ola will put it in and she'll use it to rub her gums. She'll lay there quietly while you rub her gums. She can't do it herself but she'll open her mouth for it, it's quite sweet. She definitely likes the feeling of it. She must have some teeth coming through I think. They can start teething at any time now!"
Tune in to find out the latest in James and Ola's parenting column next week here
