Ellie is nine months old and being her Mom has taken on a new element of surprise. While she is quickly becoming her own person (her personality is blooming) I am also seeing more and more of myself in her (or vice versa). At school the other day I was thinking to myself, ‘huh, that’s interesting’ and I suddenly caught myself making a face that I could clearly imagine on Ellie’s face when she is playing with a new toy or looking at something she has never seen. That same day I was laughing at a friend’s funny comment and again I caught myself tilting my head back and sounding shockingly similar to Ellie when she laughs hard. I don’t know if she is mimicking me, if these are certain parts of me that are deep inside her DNA or if I have begun picking up on her sweet love of life and sharing her expression of that in these specific ways.
At the same time as all of this, I also feel like the more “tricks” she can do, the farther away she is getting from being that tiny baby bundle almost constantly needing me for love, warmth, food, etc. She can now clap (and sometimes stops playing with her toys to join the people on TV who are clapping), she calls Brian “Daaad” or “Dada” and means it, she knows who Bella is and looks at her when you ask “where is Bella?”, she just started eating Cheerios (one Cheerio at a time with two hands at a time) and she gets angry or frustrated when she can’t move the way she wants or when I leave the room. She gives, “zerberts”, hugs, kisses, and she can now wave to anyone or sometimes just to herself. She dances with music or with the high school drum line that practices in the field across the street from our apartment.
Ellie is old enough now that when I see another Mom or Dad pushing a little baby, an obviously more fresh baby than our big nine-month-old, I get that, ‘ooouuu, I miss that stage’ feeling. I miss her desperately when I have to leave for a “long” time (like more than three or four hours). I love being Ellie’s Mom, but I would love it even more if she slept for more than 1 or 2 hours at a time at night! Brian and I are both sleep deprived and discussing way in which to “fix” Ellie’s sleep problems. Wish us luck. More soon…for now, here is a picture of Ellie on Mother’s Day morning eating her first ever Cheerio, and a few other cute ones.
