mom and grandma betty came to visit us. here are the highlights:
we of course took my mom to the ocean the very first afternoon she arrived.
the next morning, we took her to newburyport so she could find some shoes and so that i could show her the boardwalk and the sweet little town there.
at the shoe store, ella made herself right at home on the display to the amusement of all the staff.
we got some iced coffees and chocolate cookies to share by the water.
when grandma arrived, we all went back to the ocean. my mom might not want a bathing suit photo of her on the web, but i think these 2 women look great.
we also took my mom and grandma to russell orchard. we all enjoyed frozen apple cider pops. notice elenora's freckles in this photo.
on the last day of their visit, grandma took us girls out to lunch at periwinkles restaurant for a feast of steamers, crab cakes, and an assortment of seafood dinners.
j. was gone to PA for most of the visit, but my mom did catch this fun family photo before she left.
s. is always asking me to "skip naps" with her and spend the afternoon doing something fun. as of today, i think it's best to start skipping naps and just put ella to bed earlier each night. we've gotten to the point where she only really slept for her nap time about 2 times a week, and i get home from work and just rush around trying to do a short outing before lunch and then rush her into her bed for a "nap." then she plays in her bed and i rush around the house trying to get a few things done before i need to get her up and rush her out for an afternoon activity before rushing home to get her to bed early.
this way i can take the whole day more leisurely and still get her to bed early.
anyhow, we'll see how it goes.
today it went well. i called s. and she was down with the nap skipping plan, so she headed over here and we took the girls to bradleypalmer state park's wading pool. the wading pool is this beautiful, huge, shallow pool with various fountains springing up. it was a good hot day and the water was so cool. s. brought cheese crackers, iced coffee and potato salad and we had such a lovely relaxing afternoon. when we got back to my house at 4:15 pm, s. suggested we make dinner together (both our husbands were out playing basketball this evening). so the girls played (mostly ran around naked and watched shirley temple's heidi) while s. and i whipped up spaghetti sauce from scratch to serve over noodles and broccoli alongside of some garlic toast.
so fun.
elenora was asleep by 6:15 pm.
my mom arrives tomorrow for a visit over the weekend. and grandma b. arrives on saturday.
saturday we took elenora to rockport and had a cookout with j. his daughter is now 10, so elenora was really fascinated and had a great time. ella's new favorite question is "what do big girls do?" and michaela told her that big girls hang out with their friends, text a lot, and read lots of books.
sounds like what i do.
after dinner it was nice to have michaela take ella inside and to just sit back and chat with j. and n. while elenora had fun with a "big girl."
then j. took us on his boat on the water, which was so fun. it was a hot day (90s), so being out on the water felt better than anything. at first when we went fast, elenora wasn't sure she liked it and kind of got a bit panicked. but then she realized that i had a hold of her and she started saying "yippee!" and "i feel like a feather!"
after the boat ride we stopped by j.'s ice cream shop. it was almost 9 pm by the time elenora was in bed, but who can turn down a boat ride and ice cream?
yesterday ella came down with a stomach bug, so we stuck around the house (close to the toilet) and i gave her pedialyte and sticky rice and bread and bananas. poor girl. she said "my bottom is tired."
but we had a good time before she went to bed just laughing and snuggling. she would say "look at me" and pull 2 chunks of her hair straight up towards the ceiling, and i would say "but look at me!" and i would pull my own hair up toward the ceiling. she laughed so hard she got the hiccups.
we're reading Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little now. She is so good to sit and listen to the chapter books, and she is really into them and asks for them.
So three times in the last 2 days Ella pooped in her diaper either early in the morning or at nap time. There's just no rhyme or reason to it. She knows how to get out of her bed and open her door and call for help. When I went in yesterday morning she announced "I had a poop in my pants!" and I said "Ella, why would you do that?" and she said "Because I wanted to have a poop in my pants." and I said "Why???" and she said (very smart-allecky) "I dunno." It just made me mad and set me in a horrid mood all day. And then when I went to get her from her nap and she had pooped in her pants again, I was livid. Not a good mother yesterday. Not at all.
I am so desperate I have really realized how much I can't do this parenting thing on my own. I really need God to help me out. I cracked open my Bible and the "Power of a Praying Parent" book and I'm delving in. I can't be that awful mother I was yesterday... and I can't be the patient, kind, gracious mother I want to be all on my own. So dear God help me!
Maybe we've moved Elenora too fast in the "now you're a big girl" movement of the last month? Maybe that's why she's resisting and pooping in her pants? Maybe potty training, moving her into a big girl bed, and suggesting that she give up her binkies all around the same time is just way too much and that's why she's trying to show that she's "still a little bit of a baby"???
Anyhow, I feel so helpless sometimes. Throwing a kid in the mix really makes things chaotic. Suddenly 1 + 1 doesn't equal 2. Like, you feel like "if I do this and this, then this will be the result." But that's just not the case with kids. They do their own thing, and all of them are different. There's no secret formula... except maybe patience and prayer... but I really need to pray for the patience.
And we'd just gotten to the point where we were thinking of trying for a second kid... Now we're back to never wanting another kid again. I tore apart Ella's crib yesterday and threw it in the garage, feeling like I never wanted to do this baby thing ever ever again.
Today is a new day. I'm really going to strive to be a better person today.
elenora has moved into a "big girl bed". she's been saying she'd like to for awhile, so we finally made the move. the first time we put her in it, she took a 2 hour nap--actually sleeping! of course, the next 2 naps were just playing naps. but the 2 nights she's slept in the bed she has gone off to sleep right away without any tom-foolery. very proud. still haven't removed the crib from the room. want to be very very sure first. that thing is such a pain to take apart and put back together.
yesterday morning when she woke up she took it upon herself to open up her bedroom door (a new thing she's learned) and go to the bottom of the steps and yell up "mommy, i have to go to the potty!!" i, of course, was at work. but i was so proud of her because i want her to get used to doing that if she has to go potty--rather than just going in her diaper (which she still sleeps in).
i had a 4 day weekend for the 4th of July holiday, so we took ella out to breakfast on tuesday. we got a fruit plate which had honeydew melon on it. i told elenora "this is honeydew melon" and she said "what does it do?"
clever.
about a week ago in the car elenora was singing edelweiss to her favorite (2nd to bubbas of course) stuffed animal and then she announced to me and j. that violet didn't "eat a vice."
to think that all the times i've sung this song to her she thinks i'm saying "ate a vice"!
we've been swimming in the ocean a lot lately because of the heat. ella just loves going in with me. she's getting tiny little freckles across her nose.
elenora is all questions lately... and most of all the question "why?" this word leads to an endless conversation which it is difficult to escape from.
the other afternoon as we walked outside, ella asked "why did God build the world?" and i said "because he wanted to make a place that was beautiful and that had people who he would love." and she said "why did God make me?" and i said "because he loves mommy and daddy and wanted to give us joy."
the other question that gets a lot of air time is "what do big girls do?" she really wants to know. between sleeping in a big girl bed, going potty, not sleeping with a binky, etc., we have a lot of answers... but she still likes to ask.
tonight when i sang her songs before bed i sang "close your eyes my little baby girl..." and she said "i'm not a baby girl." and i said "no, but you're my little girl." and she said "what if i was a little boy?" and i said "then you would be my little boy." and she said "what if God made my bottom curly?"
which just really made me laugh. how could i not?
we had a cookout tonight. our second time grilling. j. grilled up burgers and corn and peppers.
it's been in the 90s and will be about 97 degrees tomorrow. ugh. we spent the morning at the ocean swimming. it's the only way to enjoy being outdoors. last night we went to h.'s for a cookout and swimming, and s. was there with her family, so ella and aurora had fun in the pool together.
if there were fireworks close by i'd be tempted to wake ella and go. but the closest fireworks display is over 1/2 hour away. not worth it for a girl who hasn't slept during her nap since tuesday.
we're down to about 2-3 sleep naps a week. the rest of the time she just plays. today j. heard her over the monitor singing "amazing grace" to her friends.
we put the toddler bed together this afternoon and let elenora try it out during her play time... i'm nervous about the switch, and really want to make sure we're ready for it before removing the crib--especially since that crib is near impossible to put together and won't fit out her door without being unscrewed. in the end i put her mattress back in her crib and the toddler frame is on the floor of her room. we'll see. the main reason to switch now is that she sleeps over at momby's so much and has outgrown her pack and play. she really needs to be sleeping in something else over there. so i feel like i should switch her over here so she's used to it.
