Where did my baby go?

The other night Ellie wanted to spend some time with me so I pulled out two games that I'd been saving for her. They were technically supposed to birthday gifts, but I figured she was ready for them and excited about them now, so I'd better not waste that enthusiasm!

We started with Candy Land, which was fun, but a little difficult for her to  figure out, with the two-square cards. Still, she did very well and stayed focused on the game until the end - when she won! (As a side note, this morning she wanted to play Candy Land again and she had no trouble with it, even the two-square cards, so I think it just took one round for her to get.) Then we played Chutes and Ladders. She liked the spinner, and caught on right away how the game was played, going up the ladders and down the slides. She thought the slides were the most fun, until she noticed that the pictures at the bottom of the chutes were of sad people. It didn't take her long to figure out that the ladders were good and the slides were bad! Of course, she somehow managed to win  that game against her mother, too, and didn't have any problems with the rules or playing until the end. She rather seemed to enjoy the games!

When it was time for her to go to bed, I asked her to pick a book for me to read to her. We've been on a long Dr. Seuss streak, so I expected more of the same that night. Instead, she handed me The Velveteen Rabbit, a book with a few chapters and very few pictures. I figured she'd lose interest early on, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway, since that was the book she'd chosen. Instead of losing interest by the second page like I'd expected, she suprised me by sitting quietly by my side, snuggling, and listening to the story. She listened to the entire first chapter before I was done reading to her, 20 pages in all. That's where I decided to stop reading. We'll see if she wants to hear the rest of the story at a later time.

But where did my baby go? Who is this child that wants to play board games and read pictureless books with me? I'm not sure I'm ready for her to grow up yet...