Day 440 - The One Where Ellie Holds a Newborn

At nearly two years of age, we're rapidly approaching, or have already entered that time frame where Ellie has transitioned from being a baby to being a toddler. I admit that I've been slow to remember that fact over the past few months. However, it's not because I'm trying to turn back time or cling too hard to the care-free days of Ellie's babyhood. Instead, it has more to do with me still trying to get into the habit of calling my daughter a toddler. It's easier said than done. Seriously.

There are certain things that do assist me in remembering that my "baby friend" is now more of a "toddler compadre". Number one is that Ellie is most definitely capable of rational thought and speech by this point in time. In just this week alone, we've seen Ellie start to bust out complete sentences of up to four or five words in length on a regular basis. Even though most of Ellie's sentences revolve around some combination of Mommy, food, and Sheepie, I still find it to be fun.

In addition to Ellie's vocabulary expansion, there are plenty of other ways to help check Ellie's status as a "toddler compadre." However, if you ask me, the easiest way to confirm that Ellie is no longer a "baby friend" is to hold her next to an actual baby. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, allow Ellie to hold said baby.

Adventure personified. Actually I just really wanted to use Indiana Jones today...

Now, as someone who has seen Ellie handle stuffed animals before, the idea of Ellie actually holding a human being in her arms seemed mildly terrifying to me at first. However, in just the last three days combined, Ellie has now held a two-month old and a seven-hour old.  Yes, you read that right; SEVEN HOURS! Actually, that's more of a guesstimate but close enough.

While it's impressive enough to me that Ellie held a two-month old on Sunday, I'm going to skip over that little tale. Why? Because that one was just her cousin. My thought there is that if something bad happened, well, then it was an all in the family thing which significantly reduces the chance of lawsuit. Today was a different story though.

Ellie holding cousin Edmund while cousin Elbert looks on approvingly.

For the past few weeks, we've been eagerly awaiting the birth of the first daughter for our friends, Tabi and Malachi. Therefore, when I got the text last night around midnight that they had headed to the hospital, it seemed fairly academic it would happen at some point today. And happen it did. Since Tabi and Malachi had visited Ellie in the hospital after she was born, it seemed appropriate for us to return the favor. As such, a very excited Ellie and I loaded up to head to the hospital this afternoon around 3:30 pm.

Once we arrived, Ellie and I met Malachi outside their hospital room where Ellie immediately dove straight into Malachi's waiting arms. Then, after a brief delay, we headed inside the room to see Tabi and meet Cassie. As soon as Ellie saw Cassie lying in Tabi's arms, those complete sentences erupted from her tiny mouth at record pace. "Tabi hold baby on lap." "Baby in blanket." "Cali (Malachi) holding baby." 

Finally, as I was holding Cassie, Ellie took the opportunity to crawl up on the hospital bed where she happily sat next to Tabi, jabbering all the while. She even convinced Tabi, who had spent the entire night in labor, to slide over slightly so that Ellie could sit right next to her. 

Once Cassie began getting a little unhappy, I passed her back to the waiting arms of her new dad where he cradled her close. Then, Malachi had the idea of having Ellie hold Cassie. My response to that was that I was fine with it if they were but to make sure one of them was helping support Cassie's head. 

Malachi then sat down on the bed next to Ellie and pulled her in close, allowing her to help hold the lower half of Cassie's body. Ellie's reaction was immediate as she looked up at me with a big smile on her face, proudly proclaiming, "Ellie holding baby!". Over the next few minutes, Ellie beamed nonstop as she helped hold Cassie. Even after Tabi took her daughter back in her arms, Ellie still happily rubbed Cassie's arms and head.

Ellie and "Uncle" Malachi holding Cassie.

Today really drove home the point for me of just how lucky Ellie is to have so many people in her life that care for her so much. Even on the day of his own daughter's birth, Malachi remarked how happy Ellie makes him. Just seeing my friends' excitement in sharing the experience of holding their daughter with Ellie made me really happy as well. 

It goes without saying that I'll probably remember Ellie's first time holding a (literal) newborn for a long time to come. #DaddyWrite.