Until we had Ella I don’t think I truly understood what people meant when they said, make sure you enjoy the little things in life. I mean, what determines what makes something little and how do you know at the time that it is?

I will never forget the day that Ella’s early intervention OT came to the little house. It was her first session, so we spent a lot of time discussing her history and what we expected from Ella, and from the therapist. She was about eight or nine months old and she had not rolled over yet. There was little to no attempt being made and it was one of the things that I had been trying on my own to get her to do. After we were done talking the OT took Ella and did a few things with her to see where she was developmentally. We could tell she was concerned, but remained positive and encouraging the entire time. Right before the session ended, she laid Ella down and manipulated her body in a specific direction. She then took her hands off of Ella, and within five seconds she rolled over. In front of this woman, whom I had only just met, I sobbed. It was the sign of hope I needed.

To us, that was a HUGE moment, but to someone else, rolling over might not be considered so huge, in the development of their child. Each moment after when Ella showed small signs of progression, we celebrated. We celebrated because we knew that something as little as putting a Cheerio in her mouth meant so much. It meant she was no longer solely raking food off her tray, and had developed a type of new grasp to get food into her mouth. It meant she could now feed herself. It meant all the feeding therapy and hard work had pay off. It meant independence.

Let’s talk about the day Ella looked Steve right in the eye and said dada? She wasn’t a baby anymore, and up until that point we were so grateful to hear any noises she was making. That glorious moment though, we finally got to hear her beautiful voice, and a meaningful word came with it. To this day, dada is the only word she says, and uses it often. (Because of this she has daddy wrapped a little tighter around her finger than most.)

There have been so many little things that we notice, because when they happen they are things Ella had never done before. For instance, she started lifting her legs and butt up to help during diaper changes, she will now hold her bottle with one hand instead of two, she opens her mouth when we say brush, instead of clenching her teeth, and if she drops something in her lap, or bib, when she is eating she always knows right where to go back and find it. These are all tiny in nature, but important things in Ella’s development, whether physical or cognitive.

These moments are the moments that keep us from getting discouraged every time a report card comes home that tells us Ella has made little or no progress in her efforts to reach the goals we have set for her. I am not going to lie, the first few rocked my world. I did not quite understand how she wasn’t progressing in anything, and began to wonder if the goals we had set for her were too hard? Did we set her up for failure by setting goals that would take her too far past her limits. Honestly, we still don’t know. Only time will tell.

In the last few weeks, we have also been celebrating the micro moments. Every laugh. Every smile. Every new leg or arm movement. Every new noise and every night she can sleep straight through. I know in my heart, these little things are building to something much greater and I can’t wait for baby girl to set the world on fire.

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