what ella does in the morning

ella probably wakes up somewhere just after 6 am every morning.  she then comes up with all sorts of amusements to busy herself with before j. or i get up for the day.  so when i come downstairs, i get to see all of the ways in which her imagination has taken her.  she's often dressed in some well thought out manner, and there are often hair ties all over the place, but also used creatively for making masks and crowns for her lambie and other "friends."  sometimes her crafts table chairs are pulled into her room and the footstool of her rocking chair is used as a makeshift table for legos.  sometimes she'll hide her pajamas in some random place and when i find them later in the day she gets a kick out of her joke.

here's the little darling i found this morning.  on this day that went to 90 degrees, elenora dressed herself in long pants, a t-shirt, and a long sleeved shirt.  she was also wearing a knit winter hat, and to that she added a decorative headband.  she said "then i just decided it would be pretty, and it was pretty, so i didn't want to mess it up anymore, so i didn't mess it up anymore, so then i just wore it."

i found lambie, violet and silky in her backpack to the left of her on the floor.  she said it was lambie's 4th birthday and she had already made a cake.  she then went into her room and brought out a glass vase that she had layered hair ties, clips, and ripped up toilet paper into.  she quickly dished up the "cake" for all of us.  (the toilet paper was coconut.)

while mamaw read her a book...

I was reading her the book "Little Whale" and she was looking at a picture of a killer whale.

 

Ella:  "If I would go down in the water I would wear a scuba diving suit to protect myself but I would keep my eyes open so I could see the sharks because I don't want one of those sharks to eat me because if the shark would eat me then I would never see my mommy again or my daddy but if the shark would spit me out he would probably say 'She doesn't taste very good' and then I would get to see my mommy and daddy again. . . but I would have to wash up first. . .  in the stream"!

uno, dos, tres

elenora has been watching a little bit of sesame street in the mornings after i leave for work a couple days a week.  i get to hear all about the number of the day and the letter of the day, and she'll launch into stories about the girl who broke her leg and had crutches and now is in a wheelchair, or the boy who made a cake with his daddy, etc.  and she's been very interested in saying things in spanish and counting in spanish.

yesterday, she said something in english with a funny accent and then said seriously, "that's how i say it in spanish."

i went to the midwives last night to go back on birth control.  after several months of toying with the idea of a second baby, j. and i are in agreement that now is just not the right time.  so many factors, some of which are: j.'s contract with work could end in october (they've said this before, and it never does end, but it's possible it could end, so that would be a huge change); we have to buy a car; j. is in the midst of setting up his private practice, and we just don't know how that is going to go; and most of all, we have a good thing going right now with our little family.  both of us go back and forth over whether we even want to have another child.  i'm so happy with just the 3 of us.

there's so much pressure to have a second child.  i know i'm disappointing the grandmas.  but this is my family, and i have to make the right choices for us.

wednesday night, after i'd just set up the visit to the midwives for birth control, elenora burst out into a spontaneous prayer: "Dear God, please help us..." (at this point i thought she was going to ask god for a sibling) "...to not have anymore babies around here."

so i guess we're all in agreement.

who knows what life will bring in the next few years.  i could be in a different place and be ready for another baby.  but right now, this feels right.

meanwhile, i've been watching gracie, and she's such a great baby.  she falls asleep so easily when she's tired, she coos and smiles and is so pleasant when she's awake, and you can put her down in the bouncy chair when you need to and she'll just sleep or sit and watch us contentedly.  ella was never that kind of baby.  i know it's been quite an adjustment for elenora to have a baby around and not get the full focus from mommy, daddy and mamaw.  which is really good for her, and i'm so happy to have gracie around.

but it's also nice to go back to our little 3-person unit at the end of the day and to have less chaos and more calm and focus.

why do i feel so much like i have to defend our choice?

concert at gordon

elenora took a nap in the late afternoon with the promise that if she really slept, she could go to j.'s concert at night.  we were so happy when she really did take a 2 hour nap.  when she awoke, she wanted to put on a dress and jewelry and eye shadow for the concert.

the first piece of music was so lively and fun, and we were up in the back of the balcony, so she just got up and danced and danced.  what a joy!

ella-isms

me:  "jesus and god are One."
ella:  "they are one year old."

looking in a book about the human body that showed pictures of an egg developing into a fetus and then into a baby who is ready to come out of the womb, elenora counted up the pictures and said "it takes 11 days for the baby to be born."

at the garden store, picking out different colors of petunias for our front porch flower pots, elenora aked me "mommy, which ones do you think are the most beautiful?" and then, before i could answer, she said "oh, no, you can't decide that because they are all so beautiful."  (i watched the jaw drop on the face of the lady who was helping us as a "that's too sweet for words" look came over her face.)

elenora came upstairs one morning talking very excitedly about how she had seen a robin outside her window.  i asked her "what is the robin's name?" and she answered matter-of-factly: "the robin knows."

which reminds me that while she was at a restaurant a few weeks ago with momby and j., elenora saw her teacher from school.  after their breakfast, ella went to say hi to the teacher and was told that one of the goats at school had given birth to 4 kids the night before.  elenora asked "are they boy goats or girl goats?" and her teacher said "we don't know yet."  elenora didn't miss a beat: "the mommy knows," she said.

the end of diapers

yesterday morning at breakfast, elenora told me "i want to wear just underwear to bed tonight."  she's always worn a diaper to bed, and since she's completely potty trained during the rest of the day, i haven't really pushed it at night.  i just sort of told her that when she's 4 she will be a big girl and wear no diaper at night.  but i was so happy for her to make that decision that she was ready, so i encouraged her and said that was very "big girl" of her and we could definitely do that.

and this morning when i went downstairs she was completely dry and her bedding was completely dry!  yay!

i'm so proud of her.

may day at the castle

we live by a castle overlooking the ocean.  the castle stands on a high hill and the lush lawns stretch down 3 rolling hills that seem to cascade out into the ocean.  yesterday they had an open house, so elenora and i headed over to meet up with rose and t., who live there because rose's dad is a landscaping manager.

what a gorgeous spring we are having!  i keep catching my breath because of the beauty of the colors and the freshness of the air.  everywhere we look there are flowering trees--pinks, purples, whites, and every shade of green and rust.  everything is so new and untainted by the summer's heat and bugs.

elenora and i had so much fun running/rolling/flying down the hills to the ocean.  there is no lawn as green and thick as the lawn at crane castle, which is lined by trees and statues.  there are griffins at the top of the hill, guarding the castle.  and some girls came out and did a maypole dance to celebrate may day.  then all the children were able to take turns with the maypole.  elenora and i ate ice cream for lunch and a slice of local pizza for a snack.  the wind whipped around us, making the warm sun feel arctic.  but everything glowed with sunlight and radiated green.

a perfect day.