The Best

Do you know what I adore the most about Ellie?

It's not the way her smile lights up a room and melts my heart.
It's not the way she pats me on the back when she hugs me.
It's not the way she holds my cheeks with her soft little hands, hides her face in my shoulder when she's feeling shy, makes funny noises with her lips, helps "sort" the laundry, or is achieving her developmental milestones at an incredible pace.

No, while I love Ellie's personality with all of my heart, what I adore most of all is her smell. Of course she smells like shampoo after a bath, like her teacher's perfume after school, like garlic after an Italian meal. But underneath it all she still smells like Ellie. And no matter what she's eaten, a few hours later she will have the sweetest smelling mouth in the world. I love to lean in for a kiss and take a big sniff at her sweet, precious mouth. She smells like nothing and no one else in the world. She smells like Ellie.