So, Ellie seems to be in "Daddy's the bestest and coolest and the only really nice person in the whole wide world, and by the way, Mom kinda sucks" mood lately. All day long, from the second she wakes up, it's, "Dada? Dada? Mama . . Dada?" (Which translates roughly to: "Dad? Where are you? Dad? Mom, what did you do with my father?!") She insists on us calling him several times a day, just to hear his voice (meaning that we try to avoid interrupting him at work too often by calling his voicemail. Which works surprisingly well; she's happy to hear that 3 second glimpse of her father and it tides her over for awhile.)
When Greg's around, I'm of little consequence. In fact, I'm pretty much just an obstacle seperating her from her beloved father, and would I kindly get the heck out of her way so she can bury her tiny self into his chest and squeal as they hug. When he's not even home, everything's about him. "Hey Ellie, do you want to get dressed up in your snow suit and go play outside," I ask in my enthusiastic Mom voice. "Dad?" she asks hopefully. "No, sorry baby, Daddy's still at work, it'll just be Mom and Annie." She sighs, resigned to a fatherless romp through the snow. Some times she'll be upset, like she's missing her favorite stuffed animal or something, and she'll drag me from room to room, getting more and more frantic. "What are we looking for Ellie? Are we missing Rarr (her dinosaur), or Broo (her elephant) or Moo Moo (um, you should just be able to guess that one)?" "Dada?" she wails mournfully. Sigh, "Still at work kid." In the car today Annie and I were making up songs, some of Annie's favorite lyrics being about how cool and amazing the girls in our family are. When Ellie suddenly interrupts with a loud version of the song that goes, "Da da da! DADA! Da Da! Da da da da DAD!" It's like I'm barely even on her radar anymore. And you know what? I love this phase. I love that Ellie hauls butt across the house when she hears the garage door go up at 4:30 every afternoon. Running as fast as her little legs will carry her to the back door, all the while shouting, "Dada, Dada, Dada!" in a way that communicates, "He's here! He's returned!! Why aren't the rest of you practically peeing your pants from excitement?! It's DAD!" I love that she talks about him all day long. That a good 50% or better of the words she uses all day long consist of "Dad", "Dada" and other variations of his name. I'm dead serious, over half of the words she speaks every day refer to or talk about her Daddy. (And when she talks about him, entire run on sentences praising his greatness, it's still just the single word Dada over and over again. It's funny, 'cause it's chock full of inflection and meaning and she changes her tone, but it's just that one word over and over again, but it speaks volumes.)
Second runner up in Ellie's life right now: Grandpa.
The only other person who shows up in her songs is "Ampa."
"Da da! Da da da da da da, DADADA. Da da da da. Da Da! Ampa! DAD! Da da! Dadadadadad! AMPA!"
It's been surprising to watch this little girl go from "only Mom will do, with an occasional acceptance of Grandma" to "All men, all the time." It's been great.
4 comments:
Awe! That is so sweet. Being a daddy's girl really has its benefits. And she has a great daddy!
Claire has been this way most of her life. She loves her Daddy. When she was tiny he had to leave the room when she nursed or she couldn't pay attention to eat-just wanted to look at Dad.
The good part is that she calls for him in the middle of the night and he's the first she asks to take her potty in public (I have a huge phobia of public restrooms.)
And how lucky are you that Greg's home at 4:30!
May her "all men, all the time" phase be restricted to family for a nice long while. :)
Hmm, I wonder what brought this on? Cause at Mom and Dad's I definitely noticed a I-love-the-men-in-my-life vibe from her. She even picked playing with David over ME! :)
She's a cutie and I love her one-word-full-of-meaning sentances.
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