Ella Beth

My daughter is 16 months old today. That takes my breath away. She is getting so "big" in many different ways. She wants to feed herself, and if we try to help she gets very upset. It's messy business. Ella Beth loves to twirl around and around. With or without music. She throws her arms out to the side, and just goes around and around. She wants "down" almost always when we're out in public. It's almost as though she's hit the teenage stage where kids want to be separate from their parents. At home, it's a different story.

My daughter is wide open all of the time. My dad used to use the term "wide open" and I never really liked it. However...Scott and I use it on a daily basis to describe our little girl. She is non-stop from the moment she wakes up until she goes to sleep. She runs everywhere. She talks constantly. She talks in her sleep. Really.

My daughter is tiny. She finally weighs 17 pounds. We fed her beyond her compacity over the last month, and it worked. However, she's eating less now b/c she knows when she's hungry and when she's not. That's fine with me. The doctor told us at her appointment this past Monday that Ella Beth has achieved all of the 2-year milestones. Wow. The doctor observed Ella Beth for almost 20 minutes and determined that, "due to her advanced acheivement I don't feel that it is necessary to see a nutritionist. I can see from watching her that she is 1) very active, 2) very advanced, and 3) going to be petite." Finally. I wanted to say that she could have listened to me months ago. But I didn't.

I love this little girl. I love watching her around other babies and children. She is very sweet to babies. She thinks she is as big as older kids. She is a paradox. Feisty and stubborn and whiney one minute. Cuddly and sweet the next.

Ella Elizabeth has changed me as a person. Although not always evident, I am much more patient and tolerant and understanding than ever before. I try to look at things from her perspective, and I realize that it's hard being a baby toddler.

It's hard being a parent, too. Knowing that so much love can consume one heart is over-whelming. Love for the child and for the father of that child.