Ellie Update

Lately I feel like things have been all Ellie all the time here. She is just in the midst of such an explosion of development.

I think it is safe to announce that Ellie is officially walking. She started taking tentative steps about ten days ago. Last Friday night she was walking even more and I swear that it was last Saturday that I set her down on the rug in the living room and she just walked across that rug. When Erin woke up I said Oh by the way, did you know that Ellie is WALKING?. Because there she was, six at a time. Across the room, like a little miniature Frankenstein/Godzilla.

I guess this means I have to get her these.



Or maybe these?



Oh darn. Sometimes it's so hard having a little girl.

I am also impressed by the cognitive leaps. She is making connections. She had a little cold this week and I gave her Tylenol twice. Last month she squirmed and whined through the Tylenol. This week she adored it. Licked her lips for more. And after two days in a row of receiving it she saw it sitting on the mantel and pointed to it. She recognized the bottle, folks.

She wanted more Tylenol.

She is one. I am amazed.

She also seems to suffer from my condition of Whatever Is On Their Plate Is Better Than What I’m Having. She now wants to eat whatever everyone else is eating. Stir fried veggies? Sure! Ricotta salata? Why not! Olives? Yes! (Or as Ellie would say, “yeah!”)

Also, speech. She is consistently saying “bye” and “bye bye.” Wednesday morning at daycare she said “bye Ma” to me when I turned to leave. She will also repeat a lot of what Leo says (many of these things are not real words but no matter).

Earlier this week at the grocery store I was chatting to her and told her it was time to leave the section we were in. And just a few beats later, she said “bye.” She made the connection between me saying it was time to go and knew it was right to say bye.

Again, wow.

And perhaps most fun of all, she and Leo are enjoying giggle fests together. The other night the source of much laughter was me holding the handle of the pacifier in my mouth and having Ellie take it out of my mouth and put it back in. I know they are an easy audience but it’s still fun to make them laugh.