Mom on Ellis

I know all parents think their children are special. And in some ways every baby – every person – is special, so none of us are wrong. But here are some of the things that make my Ellis one-of-a-kind.

1. She is super cuddly and loves to snuggle. We use this in order to sleep in. Ellis usually wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00am. But if we bring her into bed with us and cuddle, she will sleep another hour or two. How many parents of a 9-month old can say they slept until 9am last Saturday?

2. She is amazingly disciplined. When she started moving around, Ellis went strait for the wine rack. So Mike and I spent time with her sitting by the wine rack saying "no" any time she touched it. Now sometimes she will crawl over to it but then only stares at it. Another example is when we were in the back yard playing and Ellis kept grabbing grass and trying to put it in her mouth. After being told "no" a dozen times, she figured out how to enjoy playing with the grass without tasting it. She went to sleep with an especially long blade of grass still clutched in her hand.

3. Ellis is very earnest and focused. When something gets her attention, she focuses on it until she has had her fill. For example, she loves books and really loves turning the pages. We have these two “baby faces” books that shows pictures of babies to illustrate the text (http://www.amazon.com/Sleep-Faces-Roberta-Grobel-Intrater/dp/0439420040/ref=pd_b_4), and she can't get enough of them. She talks to the babies and when we get to the end of the book, she turns it back over to start again. At daycare, she will sit on the floor with a book in her lap, babbling softly and turning pages (so it looks like she is reading to herself). Ellis is also very mature. When it is time to take her acid reflux medicine (which does not taste so great), she leans her head back and opens her mouth for it. 9-months old.

4. She gets startled and embarrassed when you clap or get too excited about something she has done. When she first able to put a Cheerio in her mouth on her own, I clapped. Ellis jumped and leapt towards me for comfort. And when she first started crawling, she would only do it when she thought people weren't watching. You could tell that she wanted to get it right before showing people.

5. Ellis adores other kids. She gets really excited when we get to daycare. Last week, she and Marin (a little girl who just turned one) were sitting face to face and bouncing up and down holding each other’s hands. A few weeks ago, Maeve came over and Ellis stared at her smiling for about 30 minutes.

6. Ellis is a super happy kid, even when she feels bad. I have seen her go through terrible stomach cramps and as soon as they were past, she almost immediately goes back to playing and smiling and making happy noises.

And here are a few interesting things about Ellis that might not be so unique but are still cute:

She loves Cheerios. When all else fails, give her Cheerios. Also, when she drinks from a bottle or breast feeds, she pats the bottle (or breast over) and over as if to thank it.

She loves watching the metro train approach. She also wants to touch anything that is shiny and silver, like cell phones, watches or zippers.

Ellis loves the cats. She gets a glimpse of them and exclaims with joy. And she is starting to learn how to pet them and not grab. But it is a work in progress. Will has been a super star, letting her tug at him without any fuss or retaliation.

A couple weeks ago, Ellis pulled herself to standing in the crib and was rattling the whole thing. At first she loved it. But after a while, she started crying because she didn't know how to get down.

Is a bit of a drama queen. This results in over-fussing when she slightly bumps her head or when constrained in any way. But it also means we are greeted with a very dramatic smile and look of surprise when we pick her up or get home.

So that is our little Ellis. She has quite a big personality for such a little person. And maybe she isn't the most special baby ever. But she is such a neat person. She is fun and charming and sweet and interesting. Admit it, you want to get to know her better, don't you. I know I do.