Her Brother's Shadow

That little girl follows her brother around like it's her job.  She knows where he is at all times.  She does what he does and says what he says.  She has the little sister shadow like no one's business.  Ella has taken to playing under the dinner table, standing on her head, attempting to jump on the couch before I can catch her, slide down the stairs on her bum, tickle, chase, making funny faces, and- the most important little sister job- annoying his friends.  She will stand at the bottom of the stairs and holler "OWEN" or "KELLEN" at the top of her little lungs when Breckin runs upstairs to play in his room with his friends.  She loves his friends as much as she loves him and will mortify the both of them relentlessly if she sees them on the street.  Poor Owen and Kellen don't know what to do with her so they avert their attention and attempt to pass quietly.  I'm sorry, quietly is not a word known in our house.

Today, she took her Breckin parroting to an extreme.  I always know where she is cause one and a half year olds aren't as quiet as they think they are.  I can hear some sort of toy pounding or sing songing or little feet stepping wherever she is.  Or I can at least catch a glimpse of that hair swooshing around the corner as she pushes her little shopping cart filled with towels.  (Her fave!)  But today, while I was making lunch, after checking in her usual hang outs, I couldn't find her.  Not under the table, not by the toy drawer in the kitchen, not at her little white table doing puzzles.  I called "Ella?" and heard a giggle.  Not too far away from the kitchen counter but nothing I could see.  "Ella?"  Something smacked a wall and more giggling.  And pattering of feet.  "Miss Ella Bee?  I'm gonna getchu."  The surefire way to make her run down the hall.  Giggles but no running baby.  Then I see a small pair of jeans sticking out from under the dining room window curtain panel.  That girl has watched Breckin play hide and seek enough times to understand how to find a hiding place and STAY THERE!  What the heck?  She was standing perfectly still- except for her little head wiggling back and forth with the excitement of being found.  I tickled that curtain panel's baby belly and out she came.  Holy cow am I in for it.  She can manage, at one and a half, to hide behind a curtain and stay put even with the threat of I'm gonna getchu...  I'm fascinated and scared and proud.  And in big trouble as she finds better places to hide.