ella dresses herself

so every morning elenora dresses herself before i see her.  i never know quite what she'll end up in.  one time she came up in her (footed fleece) pajamas with her favorite turquoise pants over the top.  sometimes she comes up with tutus and skirts on over her otherwise normal-looking clothing.

one morning she came up and i noticed she had on her swimming suit shirt with her turquoise pants (yes, they are her favorite pants) and her turquoise jacket (yes, turquoise is the color of choice--she just loves it).  since elenora had to go to school that morning and j. is the one who gets her ready for school after i leave for work, i decided to help him out by changing her into a regular shirt.  i wasn't quite sure he'd notice that she was wearing her swimming shirt and change her before school.  i picked her up from school later and brought her home, and as we sat on the couch talking about her day she said "mommy, look what i wore to school!" and she pulled her turquoise pants down just slightly--enough to reveal that she'd worn the swimming suit bottoms all morning.

so much for being on top of things.

here's a photo of one of ella's outfits.  notice the capris pants, and the winter boots, and the gloves.

here's another outfit (notice the gloves again and all the necklaces), and elenora is singing my version of a frances song from "best friends for frances."  i think this video is so precious (notice that she sings "ear-ly clambakes" instead of "yearly clambakes").

a. comes to visit.

a. came for the weekend, bringing along all of the warmth of good friendship.  we spent friday walking around appleton farms, and then went to dinner with j. in the evening.  saturday we took a trip to rockport and then met up with n. for dinner and drinks at night.  as elenora and i waved goodbye and watched the train take a. to boston on sunday afternoon, ella said "i want a. to go away for just one day and then come back again tomorrow!" and huge tears dropped down her cheeks as she realized how much she would miss our friend.  i've never seen elenora cry over someone leaving before. 

 

a day in the life of this mother...

6:40 am wake up.


Shower, dress, grab breakfast.

Kiss Elenora good morning. Get her dressed.

Head to work.

Pick Elenora up from school.

Obtain a copy of my car’s registration.

Read Hop on Pop twice.

Make lunch for myself and Elenora.

Throw a load of laundry into the dryer and the whites into the washer.

Make zucchini muffins.

Head back to work for an hour.

Head home.

Play dollhouse for 14 minutes.

Run a bath.

Give a bath. Put Ella in PJs.

Make tacos. Set table.

Eat dinner.

Brush Elenora’s teeth. Read 2 Angelina Ballerina books. Sing 2 songs. Kisses good night.

Write an email.

Do dishes.

Go to the gym. 40 minutes elliptical.

Head home.

Fold the clothing in the dryer and shift the whites over to be dried.

Climb into bed to watch Dancing With the Stars, 9:04 pm.

cuvilly art show

elenora had her first school art show.  momby and r. came, and it was great to see all of the projects the children have been working on.  each child had 2 of their pieces hung on the wall, and the rest has gone into a portfolio that we will receive at the end of the school year.

also, the top blue fish to the left is ella's, and the flower to the left below is hers:

school testing

i took elenora to the local elementary school for some testing today.  i wasn't sure what the testing really was for, but figured the more i can get into the school and see what it's like the better.  we're sad to learn that elenora misses the kindergarten cut-off by 24 days, and will have to stay back from kindergarten for 2 more years.  i guess that is a good thing--she'll get to be with me that much longer.  but preschool costs so much, and i just didn't realize i'd be paying for 3 years of preschool rather than 2.

at this point, ella is signed up for one more year of cuvilly preschool, and then the following year i might transfer her to half day preschool at the local elementary school so that she gets used to the people there.  we'll see when the time comes though.

one of the questions they asked elenora at the testing was for elenora to fill in the blank for the following: "birds fly. fish ___..."

"don't," said ella.

toddler bed

every night, elenora and i squeeze into her little toddler bed together to read stories.  it's very cozy.

gracie comes home.

we were so excited to go and visit gracie in her very own home.  what a sweet little bundle!

Elenora wore her party dress for the occasion.