Gigi Hadid shares her first child, daughter Khai, with ex Zayn Malik

Gigi Hadid is in awe of her growing baby girl.

The 26-year-old supermodel appeared on the cover of InStyle’s March issue and raved to the magazine about her first child, daughter Khai — whom she welcomed in September 2020 with ex Zayn Malik.

“She’s just so smart, and she’s so aware. She watches everything, she’s always learning, she’s always looking,” Hadid told the outlet of her 16-month-old baby girl. “She’s just awesome.”

“I still can’t believe it. It’s wild,” she adds of being a mom. “A lot of my mom friends feel like that, and we’re nearing the first couple years [with our kids]. You’re obsessed with them, but sometimes you turn and you’re like, ‘Oh my God. Where did you come from?’ ”

The model admits she’s still “trying to learn” about motherhood, joking that she and her mom friends “only talk about babies and sleeping and what bottles don’t leak.”

“I do have a secret TikTok, which I don’t post on, and I don’t follow anyone I know on it. I’m a lurker, but it’s for, like, mom videos and kids’ lunch videos,” she says.

Though she’s soaking in every moment with Khai while she’s little, Hadid tells the magazine that she’s looking forward to the mother-daughter experiences they can share in the future.

“I’m really excited to take Khai skiing one day, because I learned to ski when I was, like, 2,” she says. “We’re getting close.”

Unlike pᴀssing on her skiing skills, Hadid — who began her modeling career as a child — has no plans for her daughter following her footsteps in the modeling industry anytime soon, if at all.

“Yeah. No. You know, she’s going to do what she wants to do. She could be an astronaut. I don’t know,” she tells InStyle.

Hadid and Malik, 29, welcomed baby Khai in September 2020 after revealing the pregnancy in April 2020, which they had kept private during pandemic lockdowns.

“Our girl joined us earth-side this weekend and she’s already changed our world. So in love🥺💕,” Hadid wrote at the time alongside a black and white image featuring Malik and their daughter holding hands.

After celebrating Khai’s first birthday, multiple sources confirmed to PEOPLE in October that the new parents ended their romantic relationship following an altercation that took place between Malik and Hadid’s mom, Yolanda.

“They are not together right now. They are both good parents though,” said a Hadid family friend. “They co-parent.”

“Yolanda is very upset with Zayn, but Gigi has made it clear that her daughter needs her dad,” a source close to the model told PEOPLE. “Gigi will do everything she can to make sure they co-parent in a civil way.”