We've Got Our Hands Full

I have the day off today so I got to take Ellie to school -- and we had a lot to bring.




Ellie said Ms. Avila told her to bring both Wedding Mickey and Wedding Minnie to school to share with her friends. I suspect she actually told her she *could* bring them.
I was carrying all of Ellie's stuff for another exciting Water Play day.




Once at school Ellie and Lauren played with their favorite magnet dress-up dolls.. then both drew pictures of people having fun in swimming pools.




Water play on the brain, I guess.




Ann Edit:
As Nick said, he has the day off (I have Monday off so we both have 3-day weekend just not the same 3 days). Anyway, this morning Ellie got up early. Nick slept in. I took a shower. Ellie got her swimsuit and water shoes on first thing and then decided to entertain herself by coloring while I was showering.






Yep. Nick is still sleeping. Ellie cleaned up her crayons before he woke up.



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"mommy, can I ask you something?"

"On the TV Minnie talks. My princess Minnie and wedding Minnie don't talk. But they are just toys. At Disneyland Minnie didn't talk to me. Why?"



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Braid again...

This morning Ellie only wanted one braid.



The braids from yesterday made it till nap time. Apparently, according to her teachers, the braids hurt her head when she laid down and she didn't want them to fall out during nap. So she took them out.

She was very helpful with the door this morning.



And was all smiles at school.






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Mark this day down in history!

See those braids?? Ellie asked for them. I didn't spend much time because I figured, as usual, he would take them out in 2 minutes. However... They stayed in all morning at home and in the car. She was actually a little scared that they would fall out because they "weren't tight" in her car seat. But they made it to school.



Her teachers were surprised to see her hair up. They said she looks pretty. She said she didn't want to play too much because she didn't want her braids to fall out.

I can't believe she kept them in for at least an hour...we'll see if they stay in till pickup!


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Rough night = rough morning

I have no idea why last night was so tough. She was totally worn out after a fun day. She didn't fuss at bedtime with our normal routine.

But between 8:00 and midnight she came out of her room no less than 6 times. And I don't think she slept at all when she was in her room. I don't know why.

First it was the dark. Then it was the little boy running around upstairs. Then she was thirsty. Then her toe had a boo-boo. Then we couldn't find Suitcase Baby (whom she had put to bed in her fort). Then her tummy hurt.

At 5:00am she crawled in bed with me. Declared she was awake. Asked for breakfast and wanted to watch TV. I said no. So both of us just laid in bed, pretending to sleep until my alarm went off an hour later.

We were both cranky, grumpy, and not happy. Happy Monday.

Ellie had two timeouts this morning. She threw a tantrum when she learned I hadn't put a special treat in her lunchbox. She wanted nothin to do with going to school...

Ugh.


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Peachy Keen

This morning, just like the past three mornings have gone really well. Maybe it's that I didn't have to be at work super early, the fact that Ellie stayed in her bed all night, or that she has been going to bed easier with less fighting.

But this morning was peachy keen. So peachy, asked for a peach to eat in the car (after her breakfast).







Today is water play day and Ellie is really excited. Also, when we got to school there was a 125 ft articulating boom lift (big cherry picker) in the parking lot and men were getting ready to go up in it and "fix the tower mommy." Ellie thought this was pretty neat and asked her teacher if they could watch the, "workers go up high and fix the tower".

A couple days ago, the first night Ellie stayed in her bed, I put a fruit leather with a note telling her how happy I was that she stayed in her bed. She came home really excited about that...it was unexpected. I did the same thing yesterday. Today, because it was the third day and it's Friday, she will find a special note with a cookie in her lunch!!


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Poof!!!

Ellie took her wand to school with her today. And for the entire ride she made things go "poof!"

"poof! You have a crown mommy."

"poof! All the flowers are gone."

"poof! All the traffic is away!" I wish...

At school she showed her teacher and friend how to make things go "poof".








However, she was easily distracted by an art project using glitter paint.



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Spinning Class

Ellie took wedding Minnie to school today. Then she decided how to teach her to spin...













Oops! I guess falling is part of spinning!

Ellie slept in her own bed and got dressed by herself (putting clothes I set out last night).

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"look mom..."

..."I'm just like you!!"

I found Ellie in our bathroom with a pony-tail elastic on her wrist and using Chapstick. Just like me...

I guess she does pay attention to the little things.











In other news, she did crawl into bed with me at 3am. But she got herself dressed and insisted that I not help her at all. She also asked for a big dollhouse for her new room in her new house and to have a big girl bed with "fairy princess flower pink sheets" and a new pillow.

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Ellie's back!!

Ellie's teacher, Ms. Hyde, and a couple of her friends were happy to see Ellie back.

When she asked if she had fun at zoo camp she said, "I rode the train."

I'm not sure Ellie was super excited to be back with our morning routine...and she has a stuffy nose.







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Ellie goes to Zoo Camp

Ellie is spending the week up in Santa Barbara going to zoo camp at the Santa Barbara Zoo. This is a day camp and my parents will do all the drop-off, pick-up and lunch-making this week. Today was the first day and my parents reported that her camp shirt is too big, there appears to be 4 counselors per group of kids, and Ellie appeared to be cautiously engaged when they left. The following photos are from them.

Ellie is the little blonde on the far left of the group...watching everyone else at a safe distance. My parents said that they checked just before they left and Ellie had found herself a counselor to sit next too and read a book with.

Baby Rapunzel goes to school

Yep. We all know about Ellies imaginary friend Baby Rapunzel who is a baby and can fit in our pockets right ?? Well , because it was water play day Ellie wanted her to come to school with her.

Baby Rapunzel met Ms. Hyde who thought she was very unique, creative, and interesting.

Ms. Hyde also recommended to Ellie, that because Baby Rapunzel was a baby...maybe she was too little for school and should go with me. Ellie thought that was a good idea. So, Baby Rapunzel will miss water play. But that's okay, because she's a baby.




In the photo above, Ellie is carrying Baby Rapunzel.

Oh! Update on "Emily", Ellie's alter ego...Ellie told us she got the name from a book Emily Goes to Town which she read at school. After much googling and searching on Amazon, no book with that title exists. Today, Ms. Hyde told me that they don't have a book with that title or any character named Emily. The mystery continues!!

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"I'm not talking to you!!"

I guess she was mad at me. I'm not sure why...I think it may have had something to do with her insisting it was Friday an therefore water play day and wanting to wear her swimsuit. Or she just woke up on the wrong side of the bed

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Chickening Out

So when Ellie got to school there was music playing, specifically the chicken dance. She immediately started dancing as she was explaining to me that she knew this dance.


















We learned today that it would probably be too hot for the kids to play outside, we all decided it was a good thing. Supposed to hit triple digits or more in Pasadena today.

Apparently Ellie masterminded today's main activity, making puppets and holding a puppet show. Her teacher told me that Ellie talked to her friends and came up with the idea and asked if they could do it.

By the way...the new shoes have made mornings so much smoother. No arguments about how tight her shoes are. Pfew!!

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Hot!!

Yesterday it was hot. At school they gave the kids fans to use.

This morning, Ellie declared that today was going to be hot and she wanted to take her fan to school. So we did.










Once at school, Ellie's teacher Ms. Hyde told me how much Ellie loves art projects and crafts. I told her that is a 180 degrees from when we were in Boston. Ms. Hyde said she thought it was Ellie's confidence in herself with control of pencil/pen/crayon. She said she was impressed with her creativity.

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New shoes

Well, we avoided the "tightness" argument about her shoes by putting on her new slip-ons. However, she didn't want to wear the new shoes to school.

She cried the whole car ride. Although something about Nick not being there was part of the fuss as well.

Once we got to school, everyone LOVED her shoes! I made a big deal about Ellie's new awesome purple shoes and that made her happy to see her favorite teacher and friend so excited about her shoes.



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Ellie goes to the mall

Since i didn't have a post on Thursday, because we were up in SB, i figured a bonus Saturday post was in order. This afternoon (after a trip to the library) Ellie and I went to the mall. We went for two reasons: 1) slip on shoes for Ellie to end the "tightness argument" and 2) a bra for me.

We accomplished both in one store. I am sooooo happy to have a Nordstrom 5 minutes away.




Ellie picked out a new pair of Vans (purple checked...so old school, I LOVE it). Because Ellie was so well behaved, we went for a ride on the double-decker carousel.






Ellie asked to eat at the food court. Of all the restaurants, she picked Hot Dog on a stick. Seriously. Maybe it was the hats...


She did well on the escalator. She had a lot of fun riding it up...but asked to be carried down because it was scary.



She even asked to go look around some stores, and was patient while I again tried on clothes.



She had a blast. We had a blast. On the way home she said this, "Mommy, thank you for taking me to the mall. Can we go again sometime?"

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