The little things...

Obviously everyone knows that their baby is going to grow up and become a toddler, a kid, a teenager (gasp!), and someday a full-fledged adult (double gasp!). It's when you see, or in my case hear, it happening that it becomes real. One of Ellie's first words was "la la" which meant Elmo. If you watch Elmo, you know that's because Elmo's opening song on Sesame Street is "la la la la, la la la la, Elmo's World". About a month ago, though Ellie switched to calling him "Elmo", which sounds a lot like oatmeal. It happened so suddenly that I don't remember the first time that she did it, but it signalled an end of something.

Today's change though I did notice and will remember. Ellie asked for milk and I offered her water. Normally her response would be "yes, wa wa" and I would then prompt her to say please. Instead, today she looked at me and with great focus it seemed said, "yes, waaaaa-teerrrr". What?!? Water?!? I was so startled that I didn't even ask for the please before handing her the cup. Later this evening she asked for wa wa as usual, which was reassuring to me in some way. But I know that it's only a matter of time until the remnants of her little-baby speak are gone. I look forward to all the funny toddler things that she'll have to say, but tonight I'm missing the days of "la la".