Transitions...

Bitter sweet moment. Ella has a basket that we keep in the living room (or our Ella room) that she keeps all her toys in. There are toys from when she was a wee-bean in there. This morning I cleaned it out. I got rid of the teething rings and other things she does not bother with any longer in an attempt to leave her some extra room. And as I looked at the small pile (I might not be the right parent to have to throw things away!), I felt a bit sad and a bit joyful. She is big and growing and beautiful. But the days of those toys are over. No more wee-bean. Earlier this morning, Ella and I went for a walk around Livonia. It was a long walk and a beautiful walk...the sun was out and the weather was perfect! As I am pushing her in her stroller, I realized that she is less interested in riding. She wants to walk and run and explore! That is exciting to me. It makes me happy that she can do those things. So as we transition into this new phase of 'bigger bean' I try to hold on to only some of the little things. Like at night. Ella can hold her own bottle but I still give her a bottle and we rock on the chair and I hum to her. She lets me hold the bottle. Looks like we are both holding onto that little something.