Ellie: November 2017

I have been lax in recording the last few weeks with Ellie! And I am going to stop measuring her age in weeks, I think, because she is nearly a year old! (!!!) Two days ago, it was Halloween, about Ellie dressed as a butterfly. We visited a few neighbors' houses and Ellie selected candy, and only cried at one house where the neighbor had a beard. Exactly a year earlier, we abandoned our post handling out candy, and we drove to the pool so that I could do handstands while nothin held my feet. The nest day, my birthday, I drive to the prenatal chiropractor. None of that worked, and Ellie was born via Caesarean just over three weeks later.

And we have been learning ever since that she is going to do it her own way! She is chatty and independent and a little bit fearless. She crawls right out of eyeline at the library, without a care for losing her grown up in an unfamiliar environment. At dinnertime, she wants to hold the spoon, and she will not let go -- but she doesn't have the ability to use the spoon to feed herself yet!

She also just loves to throw her head back and laugh, showing me her many, many teeth. The laugh sounds like it belongs to am older child. Lots of things make her laugh, but tickling her tummy or blueing raspberries on it are the most reliable.

She is able to stand on her own for a few seconds these days, but she does not do it often. I think it is either a matter of confidence or simply a lack of inclination. I admire her strong spirit. Even when she has the smoothie, she always tries to 'play through it.'. It has been incredible to take in her transformation this year. She is heading steadily toward toddler-hood. Nothing stands still.

Here are a few photos of the past few weeks...