The Best Age...Really

I'm sure I've said this to myself with the turn of every month, but Ella really is the best age right now. At 21 months old, she is bursting at the seams with personality, smiles, mostly coherent words, deep belly laughs, love for her baby dolls, obsession with shoes & her daddy. As much as I loved (and admittedly, slightly miss) the major milestone months of baby tricks such as crawling, walking & talking, the tricks that Ella can perform now are so much more exciting and meaningful to me. She can pucker her lips for a kiss. She can listen and follow through with 2-step directions. She can put her shoes on & off (and on & off, and on & off). She runs to her Mimi & Papa and screams their names when we arrive to their house. She asks me to lie down so that we can cuddle together. She loves getting her toenails painted. She apologizes to me when she accidentally hurts me or frustrates me. But tonight she showed off a new trick just moments before I laid her in her crib for bedtime. She spotted the moon outside her window, and wide eyed and full of giddy squeals, she blew it kisses goodnight.

There is such a rich abundance of 4 year old testosterone filling the house right now that demands so much of my attention and energy. As wonderful as that is (and by wonderful, I mean exhausting), it feels terrific to have a girl that I can throw a tutu on, and whose hair is the perfect length for pig tails and flower clips.