My Big Girl

Ellie has had quite the week, and it seems in just seven short days she has turned into a very big girl right before our very eyes. Allow me to show you!

First, she added a third word to her repertoire (joining "mama" and "dada") by figuring out how to say "hi" while waving. Cutest thing you've ever seen, I tell you.

VIDEO: Not the best proof of her spoken word (see 0:42 for the closest I've gotten to capturing it on video), but at the very least, it's an adorable video of Ellie waking up from a nap.

Also, she sprouted another tooth, bringing the tooth tally up to three as well. That's the two bottom front and our newest addition: her top right front tooth. It's still making it's way down far enough to be noticeable in pictures, so you'll have to wait for proof of that, but in the meantime, this photo of the teething side effects should suffice:

Waaah.

Although really, in all fairness, Ellie was much more happy-go-lucky with this round of teething than she was the first time around (but of course, in her defense, the first time around was also during our move when we completely changed her entire world, so crabbiness is more than warranted). This time there was a lot more spitting up, though. I felt like we were back in her newborn days at times. Hopefully that is on its way out now, although we may be starting work on the other top front tooth very shortly so we'll see what delightful side effects that one brings.

Then, just this past Tuesday, Ellie started showing the most interest in walking that she has to date. You may recall that we (errr, Santa) bought her a walker toy for Christmas, which she was incredibly delighted about at first sight:

Oops. We may have misjudged this one.

Not to worry, however. It quickly grew on her and became one of her favorite toys:

Playing with her walker

But, all she ever wanted to do was play with all the flashy noisy stuff on the front. Every time I'd try to show her how to walk with it, she'd plop right back down and go back to playing with the front side.

Until Tuesday. Eric stood her up "at the wheel," so to speak, and she was off. She walked from one end of the house to the other as we all clapped and cheered. I worried she wouldn't do it again when I had my video camera ready to go, but that was a needless worry. She hasn't stopped walking around the house yet. It just suddenly clicked for her that morning and now there's no stopping her.

VIDEO: Ellie's second walk around the house. What a big girl!

Now that she's a walking fool, she is really perfecting her technique. She doesn't need nearly the "spotting" that she did at first, although she still hasn't learned to turn and will run into something and then just stand there and wait for us to turn her around. But when she is in motion, she's even starting to get a little fancy. For instance, there's the Walk and Wave, in which she pauses mid-stroll to wave to her adoring fans (also known as my dad, Eric or Achilles):

  
VIDEO: Ellie waving as she goes, Miss America-style

And often, she uses her "travel time" to perfect her monologue. She is one chatty driver:

VIDEO: Walking and talking!

All these changes within the course of a week, added to the fact that she will be celebrating her first birthday three weeks from today (and her party is even sooner - two weeks from tomorrow!), are leaving me speechless. What happened to my teeny little baby? Where did this little shrimp go?:

Ellie at one week old, and small enough to fit inside a baseball glove!

It's just such a strange feeling to be all at once so sad over time passed and so excited for the new changes and growth that is happening now. It's just so incredibly awesome to watch this little girl growing up right before our very eyes, becoming her own walking, talking, waving, tooth-growing little person. She is seriously the coolest and I am one proud mama.