The Wheels are Turning

It really shouldn't be a surprise, but when it happens, it just blows you away. There are these little moments that just shock you. Elise did these two crazy things recently that just showed us that the wheels are turning up there in that tiny head of hers, completely on their own.

The first evidence that Ellie is slowly but surely figuring out the world happened on Tuesday. Elise has this little truck that she ordinarily stands behind and pushes. It has been a wonderful toy and we credit it with helping her to learn to walk on the early side. She still loves pushing it, even still, though she can walk just fine without it. (she likes to put things in the seat and push them around) Well, to spice things up, Meredith put Ellie on the back of the truck and pushed her (another use for this toy). Ellie was so fascinated with sitting on the truck, that she became completely fixated with figuring out how to climb on it by herself. She literally spent the next 25 minutes practicing getting on and off of the truck by herself: figuring out how to balance on one leg, throw her leg over the truck and slide on. The process involved falling, getting on the truck backwards and sideways, and a few frustrated grunts, but in the end, she got it! And when she figured it out, she was SO proud of herself, she couldn't stop smiling and bouncing with joy on the back of the truck. Now she can get on and off the truck with ease, and it is her favorite new trick.

The other moment was just a simple little thing that showed us that she is more aware of what is going on and being said than we realized. I'm standing in the kitchen on Wednesday and Elise starts playing with something over in the corner she wasn't supposed to. So I said to her, "Elise, where is your ball? Go get your ball and we'll play catch." She turned, stopped playing with the big bag of flour, walked past me into the dining room searched for the ball, found it under a chair. Picked it up, brought it to me in the kitchen and then threw it to me to play catch! Seriously, it was the coolest thing.

She knew her name

She knew what a ball was

She knew to throw it to me.

We have the coolest daughter.