Practice Makes Perfect

First of all.. sorry for the lack of pictures. It's another cold day and I had to carry a lot of stuff to school -- Ellie's regular supplies plus her costume.

This morning before we left the house Ellie told me, "I practice my trick-or-treats, Daddy. I say it loud.. like this: TRICK OR TREAT!"

She repeated that several times.. which is what she's doing in the picture.


Ellie is pretty excited about Halloween and wearing her cupcake costume, but a little upset she was dropped off in the preschool room today for her first official day as a preschooler. She'll get used to it eventually. Just hope it's sooner rather than later.

Stay tuned for Trick-orTreating pictures from later tonight!

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Chickening Out

This morning Ellie was all about showing off how well she can do The Chicken Dance. She was very good at it.. even humming the tune along with the dance -- but by the time I grabbed my camera/phone it had morphed into this:

Not the Chicken Dance.. but she was still having fun. (Note: You may have to search in the white bar that appears in the video window for "njharrer".. then click on the video that pops up on the right.)

Also this morning we opened a present that came in the mail for Ellie. She liked the new socks, the card, and the froggy stickers.. but the highlight of the package was Ellie's very own flashlight. She's been wanting one for a while.. and was very excited to try it out. It will come in handy for trick-or-treating for sure.





Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Harrer!

Also.. it's way to early to be dressing like this...



...but that's how cold it is today.

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Rain, Rain.. Go Away!

That's me saying that, not Ellie.. though she agrees. It was another great day trying to get to school.. and today we took the car, too. That didn't prevent our umbrella from almost blowing away on the short walk to the car. We eventually made it inside and Ellie enjoyed watching the kids walk past on their way to Warren-Prescott with all their different kinds of umbrellas.


Before leaving the house it seemed Ellie needed a bit of a refresher on table manners and breakfast etiquette. I spotted her eating her Cheerios with her hands and asked her if that was the right way to eat. She said, "No. I use a spoon. But this way is fun."






I told her sometimes fun things aren't okay.. and things that are okay aren't always fun. Not sure she grasped the somewhat glum life lesson.. but she's got time to learn.

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Gimme Shelter

It's pouring rain this morning so there wasn't many good photo ops., but I did what I could.

After a typical breakfast of grapes, toast with cream cheese, and yogurt (she's been getting hungrier and hungrier for breakfast these days) Ellie and I headed out into the storm.

On the way to the bus stop Ellie once again asked for an umbrella of her own. She did so after we passed our neighbors who are from Chicagoland (and just as excited as me about Theo Epstein).. and Ellie saw their two little girls ("big girls" in the Ellie vernacular -- they go to Warren-Prescott) carrying their own cool umbrellas.

I told Ellie she wouldn't have to worry about rain soon since it's going to snow a little tomorrow (1" possible) and possibly a lot on Saturday (worst case has a nor'easter giving us 6" inches). The prospect of snow got Ellie pretty excited -- "I wear big jacket and snow boots! I like snow. It's fun!"

Once at the bus stop Ellie and I took cover in the usual doorway. She wasn't very pumped about the rain, as you can see, but she did enjoy watching several dogs pass by.. that's what she's smiling about.






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Walk This Way

The morning began with another astute Ellie observation / question: "Where's Mommy, Daddy? Fixing buildings in California?" That was the first thing she said to me this morning as I walked into her room. In fact, if on time, Mommy's plane was probably taking off right around that same time -- 7:10 am.

Once on our way to school Ellie wanted to show off one of her creations -- actually asking me to take a picture of her. "Look! Mommy and me made this Sleeping Beauty. Take a picture and show grandma and grandpa." So I did.



After another bus ride filled with the usual "big girl" accomplishments, Ellie got a rather silly and unusual idea -- "I walk backwards to school, Daddy. See?"

She made it most of the way down that sidewalk.. keeping a close eye on her position on the sidewalk and watching for other people -- but she did turn around a couple times.








Don't worry.. we held hands and walked forwards while crossing the street. I told her no funny walking across streets. She said, "Okay."


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Better Late Than Never

This evening after dinner Ellie had some fun pouring "juice" all over the place.. including on my back behind me.








Then she made some funny faces with her new magnetic face-making toy.











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Sorry...

...no pictures today. Kind of a hurried and crazy morning. (Hope the weekend's pumpkin pictures can tide you over until tomorrow.)

I can report that Ellie's transition into preschool begins in earnest this week. She had a very good time being "a bigger big girl" last week, and I suspect she'll have just as good a time this week.


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Pumpkin Puzzle?

During our carving this afternoon Ellie thought the jack-o-lantern was a puzzle.. and tried to put the cut out pieces back into the pumpkin.














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Mommy's Turn

Nick had to do the morning shows, so it is my turn today!

This post really should be titled, "let sleeping Ellie lay" as I had to go and wake her up at 7:40am!






















But we got up, got dressed and headed to Grasshopper Cafe to wait for the bus. The crossing guard actually asked where daddy was!














Then we rode the bus...




At school she hung up her own jacket...




We played with friends for a little bit...




Then she waved goodbye to me through the window.







All in all, it was a typical morning. Except she did tell me that she likes it better when Daddy takes her to school, because he gives her cookies.

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All Washed Up

This morning Ellie was in a very helpful mood. Before breakfast she said she wanted to help make her snack for the day. "You no make my lunch, Daddy. Today is Pizza Day at school! I help you make snack."

So.. she told me she'd like to have a string cheese and grapes. Then she picked out which string cheese she wanted.. and told me she wanted five grapes. I decided to give her a bit more than that, though.

After doing a very good and clean job of eating her yogurt for breakfast, Ellie spent a good while going through the new American Girl catalog that came in the mail. Picking out which dollies she'd like, telling me what the "little girls" (sometimes the dolls.. sometimes real girls) were doing in all the pictures, and deciding which babies looked like her and her Mommy and Daddy.. and today SuSu and Cindy, too.. are some of her favorite activities.









After perusing the catalog Ellie helped ms get a load of laundry going. She put all the clothes and sheets into the washing machine, closed the door, and pushed the buttons to start it up all on her own. (I put the detergent in.)


















Today at school Ellie and her friend Chadwick will begin their next transition -- with a visit to the Preschool room with their teacher Lavonne. Ellie says she's excited to move to preschool " 'cause I'm a big girl now.. and getting bigger, too!"

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Spooky Good Memory?

This morning Ellie enjoyed carrying around a couple little pumpkins we have inside the house. She's really starting to get into the Halloween spirit. "I getting ready to trick or treat, Daddy. I dress like a cupcake!"



Keeping with the theme.. I asked Ellie what she wanted to bring to school for Show and Tell.. "I bring my Grandma and Grandpa Van card. With ghosts! I tell my friends about my special card. They can see, but no friends take my ghosts." Hopefully Ellie's teachers and classmates are as excited for Halloween as she is.



Before we got on the bus Ellie read for a bit from her Jasmine princess book.








After getting off the bus.. and heading into school.. Ellie surprised me with a couple things. First.. as we walked past the Schrafft's Building she asked me, "Today is Tuesday, Daddy?"

I said, "No. Today is Wednesday. Tuesday was yesterday."

"Yesterday was Tuesday. Today Wednesday. Tomorrow Pizza Day Thursday!" she replied. She's right. Pizza day at school is always Thursday.

"When's pasta day?" she then asks.

"Monday is pasta day at school," I tell her.

"You give me pasta today, Daddy." That wasn't a question.. but much more of a command. I guess we know what she wants for dinner.

Once inside school she was playing with a couple friends in the little kitchen they have in the Toddler 1 room, when Ellie starts picking up the empty pasta, rice, cereal bar, and couscous boxes the teachers have there for the kids to pretend play and cook with. Then she opens the ones she can.. fitting the smaller boxes inside the bigger ones -- again.. the ones that fit. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "These are for recycling. I get them ready."


Guess she does pay attention to the littlest things we do at home.

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Highs & Lows

This morning began with Ellie very excited to have one of the yummy pumpkin muffins Mommy made the other day. She kept asking for another one.. and I had to remind her one was enough for breakfast, but she'll have another later on at snack time at school.

After breakfast Ellie followed me to the office as I brought a couple bills up there. Behind the door that's been closed for a while Ellie found a cornucopia of excitement. "This is for my dress, Daddy? It's pretty. Oooh! Princesses!" Ellie found a couple new pieces of fabric Ann picked up to use on the little one's Halloween costume.. and other things. She was very happy that the fabric was "...very pretty. This one has sparkles!"












On our way to the bus stop we passed a little girl getting a ride up on her daddy's shoulder.. so guess what we did then...

It was all good fun until I heard the bus coming and had to put Ellie down.



She got over it quick enough as she once again got on and of the bus all by herself.. and again remembered the correct spot on our journey to push the "Stop Request" button. She knows to do it as soon as she sees the fire trucks or "the fire trucks' house" -- the fire station.



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