Expensive Taste?

This morning Ellie enjoyed some light reading with her yogurt -- finding the Tiffany & Co. catalogue Ann received in the mail last night. She told me, "I like this one, Daddy. Santa bring it for me? I'm a good girl." Starting early, this one. Truth is, she'd earlier told me she dreamt about Santa last night.. and that she wanted to visit him.. at which point I reminded her that only good girls and boys get to visit Santa. So.. the big man was already on her mind.















Before we left Ellie found the empty egg carton we left on the counter waiting to go out to recycling and said, "Ohhh. No more eggs, Daddy. I'm sorry." For some reason Ellie's been apologizing for a lot of things that aren't her fault lately. Sort of funny. I let her know it was okay, she didn't have to be sorry, and she didn't do anything wrong.



After stepping off the bus, and as we walked past the Schrafft's Center Ellie made an interesting observation: "No bumble bees on the flowers today, Daddy. Too windy, to sunny, too cold for bumble bees. They're sleeping." It is a bit chillier than normal this morning.

Once inside the Toddler 1 classroom.. before Toddler 2 broke off to head down the hall.. Ellie found the woman construction foreman (forewoman?) action figure and told all her friends, "This is my Mommy. My Mommy has this hat." Rhandi says Ellie has identified that figure as "Mommy" for a while now.


On the way back to the Toddler 2 room Lavonne asked Ellie for some help carrying a small package of diapers to the room. That's when she told me another interesting tidbit. Apparently Ellie is the only person in her class who can put a diaper onto a baby (the inanimate versions) the right way without any help. Not sure if that's simply a product of her obsession.. resulting in more practice than her friends.. or evidence of some awesome manual dexterity, but whatever the case Lavonne said she was both surprised and impressed. Go Ellie!


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Are we sure Ellie's related?

In a shocking move, Ellie betrayed a bit of her VanBlaricum / Calvetti blood this morning.

After a successful potty trip (No sweat now. Old hat.) Ellie turned down her usual M&M reward.. uttering something I never thought I'd hear.. "I don't want M's. I don't like chocolate."

I'm sure this is just a temporary phase, though. It won't last -- as many of her strange departures tend to flame our pretty quickly. Some notable ones from the last few months:

-"I don't like strawberries."
-"I don't want to go to the zoo."
-"I don't like bread."
-"Swings are scary."

All lies. So.. no need to worry about this morning's anomaly.

In lieu of M&M's Ellie requested a package of bunnies (fruit snacks).. which made me realize I don't think she's had some of them in weeks. I can't remember the last time, anyway.












Some news of note from school yesterday.. As Ellie and her friends and teachers were having a conversation about families, Ellie stood out. Ann reports that when Ellie's classmates were asked what they like to do with their families.. all of them said something along the lines of liking to go out to eat at restaurants. But not Ellie. She apparently said, "I like going on airplanes with my Mommy and Daddy. I like going on vacations." Way to go your own way, Ellie!

Apart from the M&M denial incident this morning was pretty typical. A nice walk to the bus stop.. a little admiring of the Grasshopper's pumpkin decorations.. followed by a fun bus ride.. a little goofing off on the way into school.. and helpful old Ellie volunteering to hang up her rain coat herself -- though she did need some help.











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"Oh, no! Crackers!"

This morning as we walked downstairs Ellie became very distraught at one particular sight. She spotted a small box of Wheat Thins sitting atop one of Mommy's jackets.. and got pretty downtrodden.. speaking in a very somber voice: "Uh-oh. Crackers. Ohhhh, Mommy. You forgot the crackers. Oh, no."






I reassured her it was okay and Mommy was saving them for later. Then Ellie asked, "Mommy share with me?" Guess she wasn't that upset after all.. as she looks forward to a cracker snack with Mommy.

Before leaving for school Ellie and I looked over her family board. She was very excited to see the pictures.. "There's Mommy, swinging on a building! There's Daddy and Stanley Cup. There's Mallie! And princesses. Playgrooooooound!" And so on... I think she'll have no problem explaining who's in her family and what our favorite activities are.



On the bus Ellie spent the whole trip listing what she was seeing out the window.






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Picture Day, Yea!

This morning all Ellie could talk about was picture day at school. She asked to wear a pretty dress and was excited to see "my friends' fancy clothes! I take pictures with my friends and teachers!" Before we made it downstairs Ellie checked out the vacuum cleaner and hid for a bit in the little, white cabinet.









The conversation went like that for the whole stroller ride to school.



Once we got there Ellie was intrigued by the photographer's big set-up in the gym. "Look at that! Big lights and pictures (the backdrop). I no touch wires. Only mommies and daddies."






She was still smiling as I left and waved to her at the window. Hopefully she says a big "cheese" during her picture time.



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New Heights

This morning Ellie and I spent a good amount of time working on a tower under construction in her room. We got to the point where Ellie couldn't reach the top anymore, so she said, "Daddy, you hold the chair so I can reach?" Since she asked nicely, and was being cautious, I agreed to help.


















That must have been exhausting because Ellie asked to bring her new water bottle with her to the bus stop. She had a couple swigs while sitting on the chairs outside Grasshopper, then enjoyed showing the bottle off to her friends at school.






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Weekend Fun

We had a busy, but fun weekend this past Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday started with the obligatory playground trip, but one that was a bit different than usual by virtue of Ellie enjoying her water in a fancy, new water bottle with butterflies on it that Mommy got her.


Saturday afternoon included a quick shopping trip, which was highlighted by Ellie color-scheming her future bedroom decor (?) while looking at a sample / design card featuring Disney princesses and colors that match their dresses and whatnot. She was pretty excited about that.





At dinner Ellie also invented a new gross-tronomic creation -- a French fry burrito. We were finishing up at Margarita's.. and all Ellie had left was one tortilla and some fries. So.. voila.. I guess. She did take a few bites.


This morning we went apple picking at our favorite apple picking place (Shelburne Farm in Stow, MA) with Aunt Susie.


Ellie had a grand old time snacking on Courtland, McIntosh, and Empire apples.. enjoying a cider donut.. watching the farm's goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, and llama.. driving mini-John Deere tractors.. and bouncing like crazy in the bounce house.



































We now have a ton of apples, but they sure are tasty.

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