Ellie is growing and changing so quickly.  The past couple weeks, a couple things have happened that have really made me realize how quickly my baby is turning into a little girl.

Exhibit A – Ellie’s first loaf of bread

On Monday, I handed her the rolling pin to “roll out” the bread dough while I finished greasing the pan that she had been working on.  Before I knew it, she had given the dough a few swipes with the rolling pin, rolled up the dough, tucked in the ends, and was ready to put her loaf in the pan.  It really wasn’t ready for the pan but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that so in it went!

She pushed it down like we always do and was so proud of herself for making bread!

Basically, she formed that ball of dough into a loaf exactly how I do it.  Not quite so skillfully of course, but she KNOWS how to make a loaf of bread.  I guess I wasn’t exaggerating when I said she would be making the family’s bread by the time she’s six.  Maybe it will even be sooner! (When she wasn’t looking I did spread it out a bit further into the pan, just so the loaf would be quasi the right size but other than that, she did it all herself!)

Exhibit B – Her First Time Sleeping By Herself

We are preparing for our new baby to come so we moved our crib mattress next to the big mattress to start getting Ellie used to the idea of sleeping on that, instead of plastered against me.  (It’s not safe to have a newborn and a toddler sleeping next to each other so Ellie has to move.)  I expected Ellie to ignore the mattress for awhile and that it would be a week or two before we actually started to have her sleep on it.  Rather, as soon as I moved it, she said, “Ellie!” and lay down on it.  She’s taken all her naps on it ever since.

Her first nap on her new bed

That first night, she didn’t want to sleep on the big bed.  She wanted to sleep on the Ellie bed!  She only stayed there until around 11:00 but just last night, she actually stayed on the bed until 6:00 am.  She definitely has been sleeping fitfully and I’ve had to comfort her more times in the night than usual.  But last night was better than the several before and I think she’s getting used to sleeping by herself, rather than with another warm body.

This transition has taken less than a week, an amazing thing to me.  Nik and I switched sides so that I would be near her if she woke up, figuring that transitioning to sleeping in a different bed and next to a different parent might be really difficult for her.

Now, our next step is for Nik and I to switch back so that she’s sleeping next to him.  I’m so grateful that [so far at least] this has been an easy change.  I think I’ve had a harder time adjusting to it than Ellie!  My pregnant, getting-bigger-every-day, body is grateful for the easier time sleeping and I’m glad to know that our transition to having two babies in bed with us should be relatively easy.  I know she’s not rock solid sleeping in her own bed yet but so far so good!

She does look oh so grown up sleeping in her own bed!