Back from Chicago

Well we have returned, but not recovered from our whirlwind trip to Chicago. Nick and I had a great time at a friends wedding downtown and Ellie had a great day with grandma and grandpa Harrer which included a farm trip to pick pumpkins, cider donuts, and playing with several of Aunt Cindy's old toys including a dollhouse and a kitchen. On Sunday we got to spend time with Aunt Cindy, Uncle Mike, and (not a baby anymore) cousin Tristan, as well as Great grandma Kost!
























Today it was back to normal for us, for a few days at least. Ellie was predictably grumpy but more concerned about how she got into her pajamas and into bed last night because she didn't remember (she was fast asleep).

She actually chose a new skirt I had made her a little bit ago. This one has cute little pockets and white edging. It's a little big, but hey, right now most of her clothes are too short as she appears to be going through a growth spurt!






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September School Shirt Day

The last Friday of every month is school shirt day. If all the kids show their pride and wear school shirts...there is a reward in the form of a treat like Popsicles or pizza or something. You can tell but Ellie is wearing her school shirt.












She also was a bit if a drama queen this morning. I had to head in early for a meeting and get things done since we are leaving for Chicago this afternoon. She wasn't happy, as you can tell.

But look whose carry-on was packed last night!



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Early Riser again

Yesterday we all overslept. Today, someone was up early again. Super early. So I got up early too. We had plenty of time and I'm not sure how we frittered away all the minutes. In our lazy morning I forgot to feed myself breakfast and put sunscreen on her. I guess when you normal routine is off...everything is. Oh well.

Today at school I had a few minutes to speak with Ellies teacher. Ellie only talks about how she colors for work, does stencil work because she likes to decorate the inside, and does the map of the United States so she can color some more.

I was reassured that Ellie doesn't only color at school, but she does color first thing in the morning before moving on to harder work. Harder work includes being the only 4-year old doing 5 year old writing, reading and math work. Apparently she is writing (in cursive) and on paper three letter words and reading them. She also totally understands the concept of subtraction and counting "by 10s". Her teacher said that she seems to enjoy the math work more than reading/writing...maybe she really is a mini-me. Poor Nick...



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Somebody slept through their alarm...

And since Ellie doesn't wake up to an alarm, that person would be me. I have no idea what happened. Really. I usually set my alarm so that I can hit the snooze 2-3 times (depending on if I need the extra 9 minutes to do Ellies hair in the morning if it is a swimming day) and get up around 6:30ish but this morning when I went to hit snooze a second time out of the corner of my eye I saw that the first digit of the clock was a 7 and not a 6. Oops...

I hurriedly got Ellie up and situated for breakfast of Raisin Bran. She are while I got ready. Then as I was still getting ready when she was done, I asked her to pick out and get herself dressed. And she did, just in the dress she wore yesterday...grrr. So I helped her select another dress we rushed to get hair up, sunscreen on, and shoes on (fortunately her socks cooperated today).

We arrived at school 2 minutes before class started at 8:15. I never want to do that again. The parking lot was a mess. Kids and parents were everywhere in varying states of tears, arguments, and hugs. Ellie usually gets about 15 minutes of transition time when we get to school to settle in and get ready for the day. Not today, I told her there wouldn't be time for playing and sure enough, as we were hugging...the bell rang. I could tell she was a little disoriented and not happy about the abrupt start to her day.

So, in a rush I got one photo of her before she got out of the car.



And yes, I have fixed clock and alarm for tomorrow.

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"My socks weren't cooperating so I bit my toe!"

And that's how Ellie described why her big toe hurt and she was in tears while trying to put on her shoes. Apparently there was an altercation with her socks which resulted in her biting her toe. I laughed. She said it wasn't funny and her toe hurt. I explained yes, it was funny because she bit her own toe because of her socks. She started to giggle.

She also told me that when her dad picked her up from school she would ask to go shoe shopping because she wanted tie shoes. I told her she needed more practice and we weren't going to get her any new shoes for a while.

At school we arrived at the same time as her besties. Ellie, ever the leader, decided to start a game of ring around the rosy in which she was able to involve all the kids at school, including the youngest one.






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Tiny dancers

This weekend I took Ellie to two different ballet studios for some trial classes. Both were fun but very different from each other. One was very formal and at a large studio with a ballet matron for a teacher, which oddly didn't use any actual ballet terms. The class was large and there were hoards of pushy parents surrounding the window to get pictures of there perfect little kids. This studio also does the nutcracker requiring 2 full days of time and a large financial requirement (costume rental and tickets). There is one performance in a HS auditorium.












The other was a very small studio with a young teacher. This class I got to watch, in the studio, which I thought would be a distraction for Ellie, but it really wasn't. They stretched, did barre exercises, then floor exercises. She taught a exercise routine and then they did it to music. There were 4 other little girls. Then after class, she gave them tiaras to borrow and put on princess music and everyone did their own princess dances. This studio does a small recital with lower financial and time commitment and you get to keep the costume. It was actually interesting to see Ellies evolution of princess dance from two days before of spinning around, to pointed toes and fancy walking.















I think Ellie and I both prefer the same school, the smaller one with the princess dancing. At least for now. I think she's too young to deal with a ballet matron weekly. And I'm not prepared to deal with the pushy dance parents weekly either.






I did buy her ballet shoes and she wore a bun for both classes.

Today, drop off was normal. I think we had our first crisp fall morning which makes me very happy!




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Name change

Over he past few days, Ellie has been saying that she wanted her teachers to call her Ellie at school and not Ellen. I think the change may have something to do with a new girl at school named Helen. Ellie did tell me that her friends call her Ellie, but she wanted her teachers to do the same as well. So this morning I talked with her teacher who said she would do that, but may slip and forget once and a while. Ellie said she understood.

At school Ellie also showed me her "booklet" where she has been practicing cursive. I'm not sure how excited I am about cursive, especially when she's not 100% perfect on regular letters all the time yet, but I understand its a control and fine motor skill thing.






She then showed me the "tying frame" where she said that since she practiced yesterday she can now tie bows and we should get tie shoes. Ummm...I'll wait a little bit before getting her shoes with laces. We just figured out how to deal with the stress of Velcro.



Then she got set up with the doll house before I left.









Happy Friday everyone! We have some trial ballet/dance classes scheduled for this weekend...I'll let you know how it goes on Monday.


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Early to rise?

I think my weird schedule of an early mornings some day and normal mornings others may have messed Ellie up. She woke up at 6:45am this morning, without complaint when normally when not an early morning I wake her up at 7:10.

So she had a leisurely breakfast. After she asked if she got herself dressed, all by herself, if I would play for 3 minutes, we played Squinkies in her room. Then we headed off to school.

One new this this year, kids can bring a book each day for the teacher to read. Ellie told me this a couple weeks ago, but I told her I wanted to hear it from her teacher. And I did on Back to School Night. So Ellie took Ladybug Girl to school.






Then we played with a pretend fruit cutting set (same thing she has at home) for a few additional minutes.






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Back to School night

Last night was Back to School Night. It was parents only and was expected to go past Nicks bedtime... So only I attended. It was fun to hear about the new work, changes from last year, changes in rules, etc. but also a great chance to meet parents of new kids at the school. After introductions which went like this, "I'm Ann, Ellen's mom", the first things out of a parents mouth were usually something like this, "oh my child is always talking about Ellen at home and how helpful she is and has helped them learn the new work or become a great friend" or "oh I just love Ellen. She introduced herself to me when I came to pick up my child. She is the cutest and sweetest kid at school".

Apparently Ellie has made such an impact on one of the kids that she drew a picture of what Back to School night would look like and it included the teacher, the girls dad, and a representation of ellens mom surrounded by the classroom tables. The dad brought it to show me.

Ellie asked if I would ask about sharing day, because apparently that was on hiatus until after back to school night. And I did, I know now the new rules (no toys or jewelry), dates, etc. so she was happy.

I also finally learned the rules and background on some of Ellies new work like th Bank Game and the Stamp Game and the Trinomial puzzle. (Side note, most Montessori math work is a "game" because math has rules that kids have to learn and abide by). The Trinomial puzzle is an awesome puzzle that I'm not sure I could do the first time. Different sized blocks with different faces painted different colors. You have to piece them together so that they match the pictures on the "box" provided. Ellie told me this morning it is hard, but she likes it. Seems to me that's spacial reasoning 101.



This morning Ellie also showed me some other work around the classroom and was happy I had names and understood what she was talking about.









I also learned that Ellie, the little smarty pants, figured out the "pattern" on her addition and subtraction sheets (they are the same every time...). So she has graduated to different addition and subtraction work where there isn't an obvious pattern so that she is practicing math and not just number writing skills.



She was a happy camper, even though she had to go to school early today. She also put on her shoes AND SOCKS without having to be asked or told. Milestone!

I also learned last night that her teacher is almost as obsessed with pumpkin flavored stuff as I am and said she was jealous of Ellies pumpkin muffins the other day! So of course I took her some this morning...

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Sorry for any delay...

So I know today's post is a little tardy. I apologize to anyone who is used to seeing it at a certain time, or looks forward to a break from work and a read of the blog (Susie) and you didn't have a new post today. My excuse is totally valid...today I gave a presentation /webinar company-wide which is now recorded and locked in the company vault for future generations to view and learn from. The topic...challenges associated with concrete facade and balcony repair work. Riveting huh? Well, needless to say I was a bit stressed and preoccupied this morning with the presentation. But it's now over and I got great feedback from peers and my mentor right after. In addition there was about a 10 minute Q/A session which I think is a good thing as he audience was engaged.

Wait, want I going to blog about something else here? Oh, you came to hear about Ellies morning. Well, she played with Legos at school. They have stencils where you fit pieces to make animals and then put them together which she seemed to enjoy. Then she built a tree for the animals looking at the picture on the side of the tub.















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