Day 6 - **GASP**

This just in, Ellie has discovered her hands.  I repeat, Ellie has discovered her hands.  I mean she's known about them before.  They used to just be those things that flailed around uncontrollably when she got upset and scratched up her face.  They also were something to get in the way when trying to actually clothe her each day.  "No baby, stop putting both arms through the neck hole; they don't go there!"  Now she's finding joy in just using them to grasp stuff.  From her stuffed lion, Leon to her bottle at meal time to her own anatomy.  Nothing is safe from the tiny twin fists of Ellie the Grabber!  In case you're wondering, the answer is yes.  Yes, we actually gave Ellie's stuffed animal the name of Leon the lion.  Alliteration is fun for people of all ages.

Unfortunately there is a bad part to Ellie discovering her hands.  Her hands have spent more time inside her mouth than out of it. I'm actually beginning to wonder if she is on a mission to get one stuck inside there.  I find myself enjoying imagining  what the course of action will be if/when it does happen.  Is this something that I can take care of myself?  You know, grease it up with butter or something.  I'm pretty sure I've watched enough old TV to know that's what you use when the obnoxious kid from next door gets his head stuck in the staircase banister.  Does the pediatrician handle it?  I would think there's some kind of hand-in-mouth specialist that you have to go to.  I bet there's a special tool.  Probably kind of looks like a shoe horn.

Apparently having a hand in your mouth for six hours a day equals excessive drooling.  By noon each day, her drool marks on her shirt look like the sweat lines on Hans and Franz after a tough workout.  As a caring person, I try to go ahead and change her into some different clothes whenever it gets too bad.  The lone problem is that Ellie pretty much lives in long-sleeved onesies of which we have a limited supply.  She does have some of her own and we also inherited some from her cousin, Elbert.  There is one inherited onesie that we have never used because it was too much.  But when she finds herself on her third onesie of the day and I need to do laundry, there is only one recourse.  And she can't say I didn't warn her...  

**GASP**  Due to her excessive hand sucking, Ellie has become 'HANDSOME'.  That's right.  Our darling baby girl is 'HANDSOME'.  Oh, the horror.  The shock.  The dismay.  What about when she finds out about this as a teenager?  What will she do?  What will she say?  If she's like me, she'll find it absolutely hilarious.  If she's not, well then, she'll probably be mortified.  But I think mortifying my daughter probably is part of the dad job description.  And if not, I'll add it in.  #DaddyWrite

(Get it?  Hand?  Handsome?  I know, I know.  Such a terrible joke but I couldn't help myself)