Bigger, bigger

Sometimes when trying to explain something to Ella, I find myself repeating the important word more times than necessary, in an attempt to have her understand my point. I forget, in these moments, that she is actually two and really does understand what I say to her.

Example: Ella wants to try a drink of my Coke.
Ella: I have some Coke, Mommy?
Me: Oh, no, honey, that's for adults--mommies and daddies. But when you're bigger, you can try it. When you're bigger (emphasis word)...

So, for the last few days, Ella has begun to list all of the things I have told her she can do when she's bigger i.e. drink Coke, jump off the diving board at the pool, play with big kids at the park who are doing stupid, dangerous things that I actually really hope she forgets she's ever seen, etc.

The way Ella explains these things to me is as follows: "Mommy, I do (this) when I bigguh, bigguh...? When I bigguh, bigguh Mommy??"

So, I've taught my very intelligent daughter to repeat herself because I thought she couldn't understand me. Oops.

On a sidenote that actually somewhat correlates with this story, I had one of those mom, emotional moments yesterday when something makes you suddenly get a true moment of nostalgia or realization of how fast time is going. We were at the pool and Ella wanted to sit with a group of older kids and teens who were eating pizza, and as they took off to go swim, she went to follow them. We were leaving the pool at that point, so I took her by the hand and just casually said something like, "You can do that someday, too, when you're a big girl. Soon enough, baby." And as the words left my mouth, I got a weird twinge of emotion. In the span of a lifetime, it will all come and go so soon. I really have to savor each moment as much and as best as I can.

Summer Sleep Schedule

This post is really just to chronicle Ella's new sleep schedule, so no fun pictures or anything.

However...
I would like to remember that Ella went through a pattern of sleep that is actually working really well for our family (insert triumphant music). For the last two weeks, she's been going to bed between 9:30-10:00 PM and waking up just after 7:00 AM. Now, the late bedtime on its own wouldn't be ideal, but here is why it works so well: she isn't waking up and crying out at night (huge plus) AND she is taking anywhere from a 2 to 3 hour nap every day! Yeeeeess! This basically means that from 7 AM to 1 PM we play, play, play, and then she falls asleep until around 4:00, gets up, eats a snack, and then Hal gets home. Talk about an easy two weeks for me!

I tried to figure out if this is something she would have done all along, and maybe I just had dropped the ball, but the fact of the matter is that she has grown into this pattern in the last few months. I thought by two that all sleep patterns would be figured out, but I see now that as Ella grows, she will continue to adjust her sleep to fit her needs--so I'm living it up until it changes again!