mi mariposa

Eliana is not a shy child. In fact, I am starting to realize what an incredibly social little being she indeed is. I think it really started to hit me when we were flying a few weeks back. While she no longer nurses or sleeps on the plane, she instead fills her time making eyes and flashing dimples at strangers. Sometimes she would just stare at someone until they looked up from their paper/laptop/magazine and she finally caught their eye. On planes, she is particularly fond of older men in business suits who seem to want nothing to do with her.

I have been teaching lots and lots of dance classes lately. That means Elie has special night time fun with her dad. Recently that involved two different stints at local bars. While I wasn't there to witness this first hand, apparently one bartender (again, a male), made Elie a rose out of a napkin because he was so taken with her. Jeff said it was sweet, but a bit creepy as well. After class one night, I met them at another local spot for some food. We were in the "Jame's Bar", Missoula's latest attempt at being super hip. It's dark, serves sliders, and has a big black and white poster of Janis Joplin on the wall. It's not exactly a baby kinda crowd. But Eliana will not relent. She spent the entire evening pestering other patrons. She pressed her face up against the glass that separated our booth from the bar and batted her eyelashes until she finally got some aging frat boy to pay more attention to her than his blonde date. She then scooted around the booth so she was closer to the table next to us. There she smiled, laughed, and played her own game of peek-a-boo with the folks at the booth. She was so engaging that I had to start apologizing because I sensed that they wanted to get back to their conversation and not have my little dynamo begging for their attention.

But I think the clincher was tonight. We were driving home from a friend's house for dinner and it was past bedtime. Eliana was tired and a bit whiny in the backseat. Feeling tired and a bit whiny myself, I decided to crank New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" which just happened to be on the radio. I sat at the light, letting her cries get drowned out in that fabulous early eighties beat. The backseat was soon quiet. I assumed she, too, liked the song. And then I looked at the car next to me. A big, Montana style, white pickup with three, Montana style, cigarette smokin', truck revving dudes. They were all smiling and looking over at my little Honda. For a second, I thought they were checking me out. Both of our windows were rolled down and I thought, perhaps, that my pimpin' tunes and funky earrings were attracting their attention. I then realized that they were all talking to Eliana. And she was flashing those big lock eyes right back at them. She had managed to seduce men in the next car over from a rear facing carseat. What the hell are the odds?

I laughed. I laughed hard. I brought her home and got her ready for bed. We then had a long, old fashioned bedtime nursing session. And that big, social, flirty, crazy, risk-taking nut transformed back into a quiet, needy, teeny, sweet and extremely innocent little baby. I thought about her birthday next week. I thought about all the birthdays and changes and smiles we'll share together. And while I love the way she is spreading her tiny little wings, I wanted to hold her in that moment forever.