imagination

today was sunny, cool and breezy. it felt like fall, but it smelled like summer. elenora and i went to appleton farm to see the cows. she was so much fun to be with. i can hold non-stop, interesting conversation with her about the things we see and the things we're thinking about. we saw what i thought was a brown toad, but then realized it was a baby mouse. ella wanted so badly to hold it, but we followed the little mouse off the path and into the tall grasses, and we decided that it was going home to its mommy. then we continued past the bee hives and over the hill to where we could see the farmers and the tractors. and then there were the cows all huddled under the shade of a large tree, and elenora wanted to walk over to them, but i told her there was a fence and she said "far away...mommy pick one?" so i pretended to "pick" a cow for her (reached out and pinched my fingers together and then "handed" the cow to her own fingers). we saw a crick and flowers and then a horse and rider, and then elenora and i got into races. i'd run forward about 15 paces and then she'd run towards me with a huge smile and her arms outstretched.

on our way back to the car she said "blue sky up there. mommy pick it." so i pretended to swipe my hand across the sky to grab "big fistfuls of sky" and then i handed them to her. you should have seen her delighted face. then i asked her what she was going to do with her fistful of sky, and she said "eat it?" and put her fist to her mouth quizzically, and i said "if you do, then you will turn blue." and she seemed to think that was kind of cool and pretended to eat the sky. so i said "oh ella! your eyes have turned blue!" and i pretended to eat some sky myself and then asked her if my eyes were blue. she was so happy with it all and then she rubbed her eyes and said "something in my eyes" and i said "what?" and she said "sky" and smiled.

tonight we read her new favorite book, "a bargain for frances," again before bed. i can't believe she loves that book so much. it's kind of complicated and long winded. j. tried reading it to her a few days ago and suddenly cried out "this is way too long! here's page 41!" but ella really loves it.

she is playing pretend a lot. she'll take out her school bus and put all the people in it and pretend to buckle them in (naming them all as she does so), and then she'll say "come on everybody, we're going to russell orchard!"

or she'll "feed" a stuffed animal, or comfort a doll that has fallen onto the floor.

when we read books she seems to need to ascertain everyone's emotions on every page. "happy now?" she'll say. "no, not happy now. scared." or "angry now." if someone gets upset in a story she always seems very eager for them to resolve their problem and get "happy now" again--asking on each page "happy now?"

she also likes to "pick" things from pages of books. or things that are far away, like clouds or planes. she just takes her thumb and forefinger and "picks" something and then holds her fingers like that. sometimes she'll ask me to "pick" something for her, and she'll pinch the thing out of my fingers and hold her fingers together like i really gave her something. if i then pick another thing for her, she takes it from me with her other hand. i like that she's so happy picking things that are far away or that can't really be held. such a sweet tempered little girl.

we've been eating almost all dinners together for weeks now. i've been doing a lot of cooking--prepping things like veggies and side dishes during ella's nap so that i can throw it all together at dinner time. elenora does really well with us at the table. she pretty much eats what we eat, and i've seen her try new things like radishes just because j. and i are eating them. (oh, and she ate hot sauce at breakfast last saturday and loved it!)

tonight i baked s.'s recipe for what she calls "breakfast bars." here's the recipe, because these things taste amazing.

1/2 cup veg. oil (i used olive oil)

1/2 cup honey

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups oats

3/4 cup wheat flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sliced almonds or ground nuts (i used chopped pecans)

1/2 cup toasted wheat germ or almond meal

1/2 cup raisins or chopped dates, apricots, or other dried fruit

3/4 tsp. salt

preheat oven to 350. line 13x9 pan with wax paper or foil. mix wet ingredients; mix dry ingredients. combine and press into pan. bake 30 minutes. cool 1 hour absolutely. then cut. stores for up to 2 weeks.

here's an ella monologue from her afternoon playtime. she was babying bubba.

bubba woke up.

go to sleep bubba.

have an egg bubba.

need a diaper.

(i tell her there's a diaper in a bag, and she gets it and brings it over)

diaper change, bubba.

(puts diaper on bubba; sits on her step stool)

teddy bear on it.

picture of a teddy bear.

hold a teddy bear.

(pretends to "pick" the teddy bear off the step stool)

diaper change bubba.

bubba woke up.

it's okay bubba.

need a potato sack, bubba.

(sits back down)

ella's seat.

what's that?

that's your crayon.

bubba color with you.

(plays with crayons, taking each one out of the box and putting it back in carefully)