pancakes

Yesterday morning, after dropping off some donations for the Safe Place for Pets garage sale, I decided to take Ellie to one of our favorite breakfast places for some well-deserved pancakes. I didn't have her bib, sippy cup, toddler-friendly silverware, or entertaining books/toys, all of which I normally bring when we go to restaurants.

And then I sat there and watched my child using a regular fork to eat her pancakes, getting every bite in her mouth on the first try, nary a scrap of food on the floor. She didn't even try to eat her crayons while we were waiting for our order. It was amazing. Where did this child come from, and what happened to my baby? I'm not-so-secretly relieved to be having another one soon, much as I love Ellie's newfound capabilities and independence. It'll be so nice to have tiny baby hands and feet to nom on again. On the other hand, I am beyond happy that she's made great strides with potty-training in the last month, and is even holding it overnight most nights recently.

Plus, her ability to converse is so much fun. "I'm going [to] snuggle [a] basketball," she announced yesterday. I repeated it back to her, just to make sure I understood correctly. "Yeah!" she said. Shortly thereafter, she said she saw a mountain and was going to climb it.

Since my hubby's quite freckly, and I'm quite mole-y, I've been waiting impatiently for Ellie to develop some moles and freckles. The first two years were slow going: one mole on her left ear at around a year old, one on her left hand around 18 months, and one on her left shoulderblade around two years. So I was thrilled, two days ago, to discover post-bath that the little spot on her nose was not, in fact, a stubborn speck of dirt, but actually is her fourth mole. And a delightfully adorable one it is, too. I think it's funny that so far all of the moles have been on the left side of her body. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but I can't help wondering when they'll start appearing on the right side as well.