the ELLA echo

love letter to my baby, part one

dear ella:

one year ago tonight, at this very hour, i sat in a hospital bed, watching your daddy get some much-needed sleep, watching your heartbeat so strong and steady, i was heavy in labor and wondering what awaited me on the other side. you were still so abstract to me--i didn't even know if you were a boy or a girl, couldn't even sense it--yet i somehow believed that everything would be ok. i didn't know how--i just believed.

tonight, on the eve of your first birthday, i watch you lie sleeping next to your sleeping daddy. i think back on that long night one year ago and remember how overwhelmed i was by my love for him. that love grows infinite now because i see his face in yours. you are my worlds, the two of you, i live and breathe for my two worlds. and i was right--everything is ok, because i have my worlds.

my little helper

ella has always loved the doggies and kitties, she loves to pet them and play with them and for the most part, they let her. she especially loves to give them bites of her food, and she squeals and kicks and claps when i let her help me feed them. she finally took it upon herself to feed them on her own--she got into the pantry and pushed the kitty chow bucket around to the piano (we have to feed the kitties up high, because the dogs eat their food if it is on the floor), so i let her help me scoop out some chow and then she pushed the bucket back to the pantry.

she is so smart--i have never tried to teach her to do these kinds of things--but i've always included her in everything i do, and so she learns. she hasn't tried to do this again--i think it was a lot of work for a tiny girl to push a big bucket!--but that's ok, i'm happy to carry a squealing, kicking, clapping baby while i do it myself.

the cheese scans alone

big props to my sister juliana for inspiring the title to this post. we had a family shopping excursion which included a trip to the new and ever-so-lovely kroger grocery store in hendersonville. by the time we got to this store, ella really was past her nap time but she was having so much fun that we decided we could push it just a bit. which worked fine until we got to the dairy section, at which point she HAD to have something to play with. she got a brick of cheese. which she gnawed on gleefully, and waved it at passing shoppers as we made our way to the check-out. scanning was relatively painless, and she continued to gnaw on it the entire way home.

now for a minor rant: ordinary shopping carts must have been designed by someone who never actually pushed a child in them. kids don't want to sit in the back, facing their moms. they want to face front, where they can see the action. (kohl's department store is on the right track with their carts, but the kid seat is too low, all they can see is the bottom of display cabinets). ella no longer sits--she surfs.