Did this really happen?

We didn't have to get up early. I didn't have to drop Ellie off at school early. Ellie didn't have to eat breakfast at school. No, we didn't have to. But little Ellie was up at 5:30am. I heard her stirring in her room them just before 6, she was in my room wanting me to get up...grr.

Then something good happened. Ellie usually struggles with getting her shirts, dresses, and nightgown off. Between her 98th percentile head size and little arms it is difficult for her. But, today she wiggled and shimmied her way out of her nightgown by herself. In fact she got undressed and dressed all by herself today!

Then because she got up so early she went to work in a workbook we have. Her task was to match the first letter of the name of a pictures item to a letter. She had no trouble with two pages, but on the third there was a picture of a newspaper. She had NO idea what it was and struggled with that page. I thought it was kinda funny, I mean...this kid has NEVER seen a newspaper or seen one but nobody talked about what it was.






Ahhh, you can't have the good with the bad. Every morning we put in sunscreen. Every morning she tells me I don't so it right. Every morning both of us are a little grumpy during sunscreen time. Well today was no different. She wasn't happy while sunscreen was being smeared on her face. During this I noticed I got a bug bite on my arm, and I showed it to her trying to change the topic. She said to me, "Good. I'm happy you got a big bite!". I explained that wasn't nice and not appropriate to say and that the bug bite hurt me and on and on.

Ellie looked me straight in the face and said, "you say $hit!"

After some long silent moments when we just stared at each other. I didn't know how to react. She then said, "that is the s word and its bad and you say it and that is mean!". I reminded her that we were talking about my bug bite...that kid totally tried to change the subject to turn the tables! Sneaky!!

Well we got over the little grumpy meant hurdle and put on shoes and headed to school.



It's school shirt day. And also there is a special party for mrs Hyde who is retiring in a couple weeks. Parents brought in potluck foods for the lunchtime party. Nick is going to go so I can't wait to hear how the party goes!

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Two in a row...

I think Ellie is a little weary of me, two days Ina row I have forced her to get up early, rush around, and eat breakfast at school.



Yesterday, due to a game 7 in the NHL playoffs that involved a certain team from Chicago, I took Ellie to swim lessons. I picked her up early and took her to swim. Maybe it was lucky I took her because her hair was covered in wood chips which she claimed a friend put in her head. Obviously she couldn't swim with hair that dirty so I took her hair out of the ponytails and braid, had her shower, and rebraided her hair before class. She is definitely improving and becoming a good little swimmer. We had a fun evening together without any battles over food, not watching TV, taking a bath, bedtime, or any of the usual triggers.



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Happy Birthday Susie!

Happy Birthday Aunt Susu! And it's your golden birthday! Hope you have a great day and live it up in Boston.

Ellie was upset this morning that we wouldn't get to celebrate with you...












But we did wear the other new pair of shoes to school.



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New Shoe Tuesday

I'm not sure why Ellie is so weird. She is fanatical about how her clothes feel. Are they soft or itchy? Too tight or too loose? Do the tickle? As such new clothes usually have "tested". Ellie deemed a shirt that she LOVES because it is pink, has sleeping beauty on it and we got it at Disney World, unwearable because the sleeves are itchy...

Well, she is just as picky with shoes. They can't itch, they can't be too loose, blah blah blah. She loves her Uggs because they for all her requirements, but they are not practical to wear when the projected temperatures are in the 80s or 90s. So we set off on a quest yesterday for new shoes. Criteria: pink and pretty, no Velcro (because it gets dirty and doesn't stay tight), no strap to pull too tight or have it get too loose, comfortable. We found two new pairs. One she wore to school today.






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Happy Memorial Day!

Ellie and I both had a home day. Nick worked this morning. So Ellie and I had a bit of a girls day.
First we had a special breakfast at Starbucks (oh, rewind she and I both slept in till just before 8! Rock on!). After I was caffeinated and she had her coffee cake and chocolate milk we went to the zoo. Good thing we got there a little before they opened and we are members because it was CRAZY busy! Beside seeing the baby giraffe, baby organutuan, and the baby snakes (we learned a new word today, venomous) we saw a new baby animal at the zoo...baby billy goats gruff. Technically I'm not exactly sure what animal it was, but there were three babies and the male adults had hoofs and horns. They were adorable.

Tough to see in the photo above. They had all sat down to rest and were camouflaged (no, not a new word to Ellie but she did use it quite a bit today). When they were up and running around I was too busy watching to take a photo.

She picked her outfit out herself. I told her her long sleeves and the uggs would make her hot. But she was stubborn and said she wouldn't cry if she got hot. She did complain that she was hot and said next time she wouldn't wear uggs if I said it was hot outside (score!). We had a picnic lunch at the zoo and then played on the playground for a while.


We then came home and took a rest. Ellie napped in the car and insisted she wasn't tired, but she played quietly in her room for 90 minutes so I had a little rest myself. Nick was home when we got home but he took his nap too.
Then Ellie and I headed to the mall which was also CRAZY busy. We were in a quest for shoes which weren't too tight, comfy like uggs, and didn't have Velcro. We found a pair of Clark's (kid has expansive taste clarks and uggs!?!) for kids and Vans. She said she liked them both, so well see. We also had a snack of mini baguettes at the mall.

It was a good day. Ellie was an absolute delight. And despite being hot in her uggs, she didn't cry or have a meltdown. She did eat all day...the girl kept complaining she was hungry. Maybe a growth spurt?
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What is appropriate

The car ride to school started off easily enough with Ellie asking what the name of my car was. I told her it was a Toyota 4runner and she said, no, what is its name? I said it doesn't have a name and she decided that my car should be named cupcake and daddy's could be named batman.

Then she asked me what appropriate was. I tried to explain the definition of appropriate as something that is right, okay, or expected. I said let's play a game, I'll tell you a place and you tell me appropriate behavior. So we talked about appropriate behavior at the library, a restaurant, an airplane, bedtime, playground...

Then she said, so appropriate is what I'm supposed to do and you won't yell? Yes, for all intents and purposes, that is appropriate.



I didn't take a picture this morning so you will just have to deal with a photo from a week ago of Ellie eating gnocchi. Grandma Dolly would be so proud!

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Yogurt for breakfast?!?

For the second time in a week, we had an early morning. Surprisingly all went smoothly. Ellie debated what toy to take to school. She wanted to take stickers but couldn't fine something that boys and girls would like, so she took some figurines.

I told her she could keep a yogurt to take to school for breakfast. Ellie usually has a yogurt for lunch (as she doesn't eat sandwiches) but today I gave her some pasta. So she got a yogurt for breakfast, which Ellie thinks was odd. She asked what was in her lunch and I said, "you'll have to wait and see." I hope she likes it.


She did complain a little that today was Spanish. When I asked her why, she said that last time it was hard because they were doing numbers and that was difficult. I explained that like anything, once we practice it it becomes easy ( like rising her scooter) and that if she kept practicing she would learn and it would be so hard. She thought that was enough reason to go to Spanish.

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Making everyone happy

Well I didn't set an alarm last night, oops! And the peacocks weren't out to wake me up (it was foggy this morning). But fortunately Ellie had a good internal alarm and woke up around 7 and promptly asked me for toilet paper because she was out.

We got a sticker on the chart. She said she slept well and didn't get out of bed because she was "Sooooo tired!"

As I got up a little late I tasked Ellie to pick and outfit and get dressed entirely on her own. And she did.



According to Ellie, she picked her outfit to make the boys and girls happy. The girls will LOVE her skirt and the boys will like her shirt, because boys like hockey and stuff like that. She also thought wearing the shirt would make her dad happy to see her at pickup time. She also switched up her shoes, trading her purple shoes for the pink ones, something about the strap not feeling right...but no socks... This kid will not wear socks!

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An alarm clock?

First lets talk about last night. Ellie filled up a sticker chart about a week ago, but as she hasn't earned any new stickers, there wasn't a need to start a new one. Well, she earned a sticker over the weekend for listening to Grandma and going to bed nicely (while her parents were out at a movie...). So last night I gaveEllie a piece of paper and a set of markers and asked her to make her own sticker chart, however she wanted to do it. And she did, all by herself. I usually put numbers 1-10 and do little clouds around them when I make the sticker charts. Ellie copied this idea. She started off by drawing the clouds/bubbles and then fit the numbers into them. She was pleased with her handiwork and as she had NO help from either parent, I was pleased as well.



She then got to add a sticker...



Okay, so this morning...

I was rudely awakened by a noisy peacock (or peahen...). But as you can't hit snooze on a bird I eventually got out of bed. While I was getting ready I heard the beeping of an alarm. It wasn't my clock. I checked around the house and couldn't find anything. It was too loud to be a neighbor...

Finally it dawned on me that Ellie technically has an alarm clock, although we have never set the alarm. She pushes buttons and stuff on it as it will light up and smile at you and do funny things...and sure enough she set the alarm on her clock to go off just after 7am! When I wandered into her room (after the alarm had been going off for like 5 minutes) I found her in bed, still under covers, looking at the beeping clock. She looked at me and pointed at the clock (which was like 16 inches from her face). I hit snooze and she rolled over and fell back asleep to be awoken 9 minutes later by the beeping again (which it was time for her to get up anyway). She later told me that she likes it better when I wake her up.

Show and tell at school today. Ellie took a dead bee in a little glass container to school for show and tell. The bee was a gift from her grandma Pam who found it prior to our visit this weekend and saved it to show Ellie. "It's science!" (how my mom justified to me the saving a dead bee in her kitchen) It's also a dead bee...



Well, Ellie was SUPER excited about the bee and apparently dead bugs make you popular in preschool. Forget princess dolls or stickers, friends will come swarming to see a dead bug...



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Early mornings are funky

I'm not sure where she picked up the word, but lately Ellie has been using the word funky as if its a bad word. It's funny, but we are trying to discourage it...

This morning we had a early morning. Neither one of us was happy about it as we had a long fun weekend where we got back late last night. Ellie was cranky about everything, her clothes, her pony, her breakfast...ugh. But we made it to school and she finally seemed content.







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I can do it Nutella style!

Maybe she's just growing up or maybe it's what she is learning at school (Montessori Method) but Ellie was insistent on putting her own Nutella onher whole wheat toast (my mornings are like the Nutella commercial, kids get your breakfast of fruit, berries, milk and Nutella on your whole wheat toast...)

At school, as part of the curriculm, the kids use kid sized tools to do all sorts if things, clean up, pour drinks, cut apples, etc. so I'm usually not surprised when Ellie wants to practice fine motor skills at home. She likes to be independent and in control (not like anyone I know...HA!).






But when she started to use her fingers to lick the extra Nutella off the knife...I knew what she was really after. And that there is part of her dad in her after all!

What? This is totally normal right? I mean, Daddy does it all the time...

Happy Friday! We have a big weekend planned with a trip up to SB, celebration of two actual birthdays and two May birthdays as an extended family (Susie and nick), visit from Susie and from Jimmy... Whoa, someone better get a good nights sleep. And it won't be me who will be picking Susie up from the airport at 11:00pm tonight!

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We shared a girl moment

This morning as I was getting dressed I realized that I couldn't get the zipper on my dress all the way up because I just couldn't reach it. I asked Ellie to help finishing pulling up the zipper and she did. Then she said, "I really like that dress mommy, you look pretty". Just another moment to remind me Ellie is growing up. So yeah, we did share a girl moment. It was nice.

At school she took two little figurines for sharing day.



Then she ran for a computer to play before class started.



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Singing...

Ellie loves to sing, we all know that. She is constantly singing nursery rhymes, songs from school, and her favorite princess and Disney songs. Lately though, she has begun making up her own lyrics. Which is great...until you have anything she was singing stuck in your head all day. I fear today will be one of those days with songs from Rapunzel stuck in my head...

She was happy and chipper this morning. Super excited to arrive at school at the same time as her favorite buddies.









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If its not one it's the other...

There is nothing like the sound of cat vomit in the morning! Yes, that's what I awoke to at 5:30am this morning. The sound of a cat puking. I was able to locate it and clean it up quickly and get to bed. Millie often vomits after eating because she eats too fast and doesn't chew her food.

However, apparently I missed a spot because I was later awakened at 6:45am by Ellie screaming that she had stepped in Mallie puke on her way to the bathroom. Fun morning I tell you!

But Ellie was feeling better and so we got dressed and ready for school. I think she had a 24 hour bug or something because she was 180 degrees different than how she was yesterday morning.

She did a good deal of coloring this morning while I got dressed. Which is fine, except she neglected to really eat anything.

She yelled and fussed during her sunscreen application which meant that she didn't get to take a sharing toy to school. She wasn't happy about that.





She has Spanish classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She really is learning things and probably knows more Spanish than I do at this point. Thankfully nick still remembers his Spanish so he can help her with her homework. What? Did I really type HOMEWORK?!? Yep, Ellie had homework to do over the weekend in her Spanish book. We got it done without arguments or fussing. Pfew!

Once in the classroom she was excited to see some new books.


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Sick Day...

No photos or update on how the morning went...because Ellie didn't have a great night or morning. Due to a fever and a couple tossing of cookies last night we opted to keep her home today. She didn't sleep very well, having a fever and a "front and back" headache, will do that to a 4 year old. After a second dose of Tylenol this morning her fever started to go down and she seemed a little happier. Hopefully the rest of the day goes well.

Mothers Day breakfast 2013!

This morning Ellie's school hosted a special Mother's Day breakfast. Last week Ellie came home with an invitation for the event and has been super excited all week. Finally, it was Friday and the big day! She was so excited she woke up super early and tried to coax me out of bed at 6:00am so that we wouldn't be late...

She also explained to me that I would get to sit in a teacher chair, be treated like a queen, had to dress nicely, and that I shouldn't ask for tea or coffee because those are hot and a teacher would have to carry them and she wanted to carry and serve me all my breakfast.

So when we arrived she picked a special seat for me and asked me to sit while she picked out food. She knew my favorite was strawberries and piled my plate high with them!










She also was excited to give me my gift. She worked very hard on it and was excited to tell me what and how she did everything. She picked out and decorated a special bag for me. It had her hand prints and she wrote her name and the year. Pretty special! She also had decorated a special drawing for me and added her photo.









She also asked me to come out to the playground with her. It was super wet from overnight rains, but that didn't stop her, she just grabbed a towel and cleaned everything off first!









It was a very nice breakfast. They asked the kids what their moms did for work. Well, Ellie said I went to work and used a computer. That was better than the majority of kids who said their mommy did dishes and laundry! Actually, I think Ellie was the only one who said I didn't do any domestic work...

Thanks for breakfast Ellen!


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The Tooth of the Matter

This afternoon I picked Ellie up from school a bit earlier than normal.. so she could go to her first California dentist appointment. Exciting, right?

Well.. the office was pretty cool. In the middle of the professional building is a courtyard with an elaborate koi pond and multi-tiered waterfall. Ellie had a good time looking all around it. The dentist office itself continued the jungle theme. They had a smaller waterfall, some stuffed monkeys swinging from vines, and fun paintings on the wall. "Toy Story 2" was on the TV, too.. which Ellie enjoyed.

Once in the chair Ellie was a model patient. She held still and listened to all the hygienist's and doctor's words.








She was distracted, though, by a TV on the *ceiling* that had the movie on, too.

Good reports all around. No cavities, compliments on how well she did in the office, and how clean her teeth are.

One matter to be addressed in the future, however: Ellie has an extra big girl tooth! Not an uncommon situation.. but it will probably need to be removed by next summer (so it doesn't impede the development of the properly-located big girl teeth), which involves a minor operation right there in the office.

After she was all done, Ellie picked out a new Cinderella toothbrush and a special ring as a prize for doing so well.


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