Ella looks, to me, like nobody I know. There are those blue blue eyes and the light hair that, in the sunlight, has a touch of strawberry in it. A and I are brown-eyed brunettes. And she’s got the biggest, cutest cheeks you ever did see, but because of that, a lack of definition in her face makes it hard for me to see if she looks like any of us. But that doesn’t stop other people from declaring her the exact replica of whomever. Two people have recently said she looks just like my father, and as handsome as he is, no one wants to hear that their baby girl looks like their 69-year-old father! Plus, I’ve seen how his appearance translates into a woman (his sister) and it is not good. Sometimes people say she looks like me, and if you can believe this, yesterday someone said we had the same cheeks. Now, those enormous cheeks are adorable on a baby, but if my cheeks really look like hers than I have a lot more than five pounds left to lose! My god.
I know how important it is to talk to your baby, but I remember from Gatito and again with Ella that I just don’t feel like chit chat chattering to her all day long. I feel like babies and their parents should enjoy some peace and quiet sometimes, you know? Do I have to name every body part every time I give her a bath, or can I just hum a little or do it in silence sometimes. Gatito was late-ish to learn to talk (3 words at 15 months) but took off from there, in two languages, and has been ahead ever since, so I don’t worry too much about it.
It’s weird having a sociable baby. Ella is sweet and smiley. She’s pleased to see friendly strangers and makes store clerks fall all over themselves for the opportunity to make funny faces at her. She goos and gaas and smiles right back at them. She’s incredibly straight-forward and only cries when she’s hungry, tired, or just wants to be held– there is almost never a mystery as to why she is unhappy. She is a delight!
And I’m sorry, you can go ahead and hate me all you want (and I would totally understand if you did), but she slept straight through twelve hours last night and I am ridiculously happy about it.
I don’t HATE you, exactly, but I sure am jealous of people who get easy sleepers, not to mention easy babies overall, because neither of mine were! She sounds like a real delight.
So how old is she now? I’m trying to figure out if I have hope that my 2-month old has a chance of sleeping 12 hours straight or if I should just give up. He’s my first and I’m with you on the chattering thing. I’ve discovered I’m more of a quiet person than I thought. I wonder when he’ll ever talk at this rate….
She’s 12.5 weeks but we only got 12 hours that one night! 8-9 is more typical but I know even that long is unusual for a young baby. Your baby will definitely talk!!
She really is.
Our #2 (1 year old now has to listen to all the conversation around her and most of it is stuff I am yelling across the house at her sister. I did point out body part today…belly button!