Wordless Wednesday

Ellie's Kindergarten Drawings

This is a Happy Story!

A Little Girl and A Rainbow

Ellie's Bunny Story

My Farm Story

Addie's Flowers

This jewel was a drawing that Addie did about a month ago, with Mommy's help in describing how to draw what she wanted to do. It's a happy flower. What makes a happy flower? Grass, dirt, water, sun and moon - all at the same time.

Addie's Homework

Addie moved up to the Brown Bears classroom! Her first homework assignment was to create a poster all about her. Of course, Ellie got straight to work and helped Addie make it perfect.

Bella wait for me!

It has been long since that Addie has decided that Bella is her mostest bestest friend. No doubt they plan to keep it that way forever.

The problem?  Bella is 1 month older than Addie and as such, she is and always will be one school year ahead of her.

When Addie transitioned into Brown Bears, she was so excited to be in Bella's class.  I didn't have the heat to tell her that Bella was also moving up. 

When I picked her up the first day of being in Brown Bears, I was not surprised to find little Addie in tears.  "Mommy, I am trying as harder as I can to grow bigger as I can.  I eat my veg-tables and lots of healfy food. I am growing as fast as I can buy Bella isn't waiting for me! I just want Bella to wait for me! "

Heart breaking.

Ellie's reward

At the restaurant the other day,  Ellie found a wallet in the bathroom.  She brought it out to show Daddy. 

Ellie: I found this in the bathroom. I think someone lost it and I think I know who it is.
Daddy: Oh?  How do you know?
Ellie: Because I opened it to look at the photo and it looks like the lady who works here.
Daddy: How about you go give it to her?

Ellie did just that and the lady was so grateful that she gave Ellie a reward to say "Thank You."

At the end of the rainbow

Ellie: can we go see the end of the rainbow someday?
Mommy: oh I would love to do that.
Ellie: what's at the end of the rainbow?
Mommy: I am not sure.
Ellie: maybe there is gold!
Addie: maybe there's a cow!

Note: she is working on her Ls and Ds.

Sweetie

I love that Addie doesn't seem to know the word "daughter." Instead, it's "Sweetie." When she's playing pretend, she'll say something like "Mommy, how about I'm your sweetie and you are my mommy? How about dat?" Sounds like a good plan if you ask me.

First Grade, Here We Come!!!

Addie comes to wake me up this morning. Normally the girls climb into bed and we snuggle for 15 minutes, but today is different. Today is Ellie's first day riding the bus. Addie comes to the side of my bed, wakes me up, gives me a hug and then goes to get ready without complaint.

I worry about Ellie. No hug from her? Did her alarm even go off? I quickly jump out of bed to go wake her up so that she is sure to have enough time to get ready. I knock on her door. "Come in," calls a more awake and mature voice than I expect. She's completely dressed, ready to brush her hair and teeth. It took her 2 minutes, TOPS, to jump out of bed and put her clothes on. The rest of the morning was no different.

We leave the house super early, just to be absolutely certain that she catches the bus. The bus picks her up nearly directly across the street, but we leave 10 minutes early just to be 100% certain. To pass some time, I give her a quick lesson on how the even numbered houses are on one side of the street, while the odd number houses are on the other side. We track down the house where the bus stop is (we had the address on a slip we received in the mail).

Before I know it, the bus is approaching. Are all school busses that big? Really? I swear they have gotten bigger since I rode them when I was a child. Ellie does a little hop, tells me she loves me and doesn't look back.

She gets on the bus and it drives away! Just like that! The bus drives away, as though nothing out of the ordinary just happened. As though nothing went wrong. As though this happens everyday. As though millions of children around the world hop on school busses all the time. As though it's no big deal.

Yet my neighbor kindly reminds me that it's ok to cry. Yes, it **IS** a big deal even if the bus didn't seem to acknowledge it. I'm a bit surprised at just HOW big it really feels.

Addie's Evening Routine

We drive into the garage, get out and walk inside. We put away our shoes and let our toes wiggle a bit. Then we go into the kitchen to talk to Daddy, who is typically getting dinner ready for us. We chat for awhile and barely even notice that Addie hasn't been around for who knows how many minutes. Suddenly the doorbell rings. We go to see who it is. It's Addie, with her hands full of tomatoes. We let her in and she joins us in the kitchen.

It happens every night.

Healthy Eating

As frustrating as it can be to get our girls to eat food, I think we're on the right track. Occasionally the girls will decide NOT to have dessert, or sometimes they choose to have the healthy version instead of a bunch of sugar. Sometimes they even eat a part of their dessert without finishing it to the point of licking the plate off.

Sometimes.

One such evening, Addie decided she didn't want to have dessert. At first we thought it was because she didn't want to have a clean plate club. As a general rule, we figure that if they're not hungry enough to finish their meal, then they're not hungry enough for dessert. If they choose to not eat their meal, we try to be OK with that decision but it means no dessert.

So... back to my story... this particular evening, Addie says she doesn't want dessert. Since she still had food on her plate, we assumed this was because she didn't want to finish her food. We go along with setting Ellie up with dessert and notice that Addie is about to put her LAST bite into her mouth.

"Addie! You almost have a clean plate club!"

Remembering that she didn't want dessert, she quickly put her last bite back onto the plate. She then looked up with a terrified look on her face as if to say "Can I still pass up on the dessert? I didn't eat my last bite!"

Addie Wants a Turn

This summer Ellie participated in a few theater camps. She was impressive in the sense that very few kids memorized their lines, but she memorized ALL of hers. She's a self-driver like that.

One thing that took me by surprise was how much it meant for Addie to be there to support Ellie on her performance day. It meant that Mommy had to leave work particularly early to get Addie in time to make it for the show, but Addie insisted that it was VERY important to her so I made it happen.

Upon arrival, Ellie and her class would be sitting on the floor in front of the stage. When she saw her little sister, Ellie would pat the floor next to her to show Addie that there was a spot saved for her. She would give Addie a nice little squeeze as they sat next to each other and paid attention to the teacher.

After each little play the teacher talked to the class about what their favorite parts were. She would call on individuals who had their hands raised. Addie would raise her hand, but since she wasn't in the class, the teacher didn't pay much attention to her. When Ellie noticed that this was starting to bother Addie, she raised her hand.

Teacher: Ellie, what was your favorite part?
Ellie: Can my sister, Addie, have a turn please?
Teacher: Sure. Addie, would you like to tell us your favorite part of the play.
Addie: Yeah.
Teacher: (waits... waits... waits...) Ok... What was it?
Addie: I liked the part... I liked it when... I liked... I liked it when the... ummm... they said... I liked it when... I... umm...
Teacher: You liked lots of parts?
Addie: I liked the part the best when they... umm... when the girls said... um... I liked it when they said... Ummm... "Kitty cannonballs!"
Ellie: Good job Addie!
Audience: Awwww!

Personal space bubble

Daddy, feeling a little bit smothered...

Daddy: (scoots over to give himself more space)
Ellie: (scoots over to snuggle more)
Daddy: Ellie, I need more space.
Ellie: Why? I want to snuggle.
Daddy: Do you know what it means to be in someone's personal space too much?
Ellie: Yeah! It's kind of like a bubble, and it's your personal bubble. (scoots closer) It's not polite for people to invade your personal bubble because sometimes you just need your own space. (arms around Daddy) Sometimes you just need to be able to breathe. (squeezes tight)

Well... She gets partial credit for understanding the definition, while being completely oblivious about her own actions.

Me thinks this was a lot funnier in person than in writing.

Addie finds a workout brochure

Once upon a time, in a far away and beautiful land, there lived a princess (Chalene Johnson) and three handsome princes (Shaun T, Tony Horton & Leandro Carvalho). The princess did not know which boy she loved the most because they were all very nice. Then one day she decided that she liked the strongest one the best...

Mostest Favoritest

Still to this day, her mostest favoritest thing to do is to play with Strawberry Shortcake (ESPECIALLY with Mommy). I think if you played 24/7, she might just collapse of sheer delight. There certainly wouldn't be any complaints coming from her, anyway.

Moderation

I know we are doing something right when, after being treated with cupcakes for a special treat dessert, neither girl finished it. 

Addie said, "I don't want to finish my cupcake because it is not healthy for me" and only ate half of hers.

Ellie didn't eat any of her frosting because "it tastes too sugary."

Mommy ate all her cupcake.  That stuff is GOOD!

Superstar!

R.I.P Tooth Fairy

So you remember the conversation we had with Ellie last September?  Perhaps it was because it recently took the tooth fairy 3 nights to get her act together but tonight the truth came out.  Here is the conversation that ended up bringing tears to one's eyes.

ELLIE: Mommy is the tooth fairy real?
MOMMY: What do you believe?
ELLIE: But is it really a fairy that leaves me the prizes or do you?
MOMMY: What do you think?
ELLIE: I think it's the tooth fairy but I want to know the truth. I want you to tell me the truth.
MOMMY: Would you be sad if the tooth fairy wasn't real?
ELLIE: No but I just want you to tell me the truth.  I think she is real but I want you to be honest.

Did you notice that by this point she had reminded me three times how important it was to her that I was honest with her?  Trust me,  I noticed!  I can not lie to my daughter when 1. We stress the importance of her being honest with us and 2. She is flat out telling me that she wants me to be honest with her.  It would not be fair to her. If she wants to believe in the tooth fairy, fine.  But if she wants the truth and I don't give it to her, shame on me. ..

ELLIE: Please tell me so that I know.
MOMMY: You are right.  It was me who put the treasures under your pillow every time you lost a tooth.
ELLIE: See Mommy?  The tooth fairy IS real! My tooth fairy has a special name.  Her name is Mommy!

Oh dear God, girl!  When you first started reading this post, perhaps you might have guessed that it was Ellie that was brought to tears.  You were wrong.  Once again Ellie took Mommy by surprise and handled the moment with much more magic than an entire jar of fairy dust!

Safe and Sound*

I could lift you up

I could show you what you wanna see

And take you where you wanna be

You could be my luck

Even if the sky is falling down

I know that we'll be safe and sound

We're safe and sound

I could fill your cup

You know my river won't evaporate

This world we still appreciate

You could be my luck

Even in a hurricane of frowns

I know that we'll be safe and sound

Safe and sound

We're safe and sound

Safe and sound

We're safe and sound

Hold your ground

We're safe and sound

Safe and sound

I could show you love

In a tidal wave of mystery

You'll still be standing next to me

You could be my luck

Even if we're six feet underground

I know that we'll be safe and sound

We're safe and sound

Safe and sound

Safe and sound

Hold your ground

Safe and sound

*Safe & Sound lyrics by Capital Cities

 

You know how it goes.  Sometimes you hear a song and from the moment you first hear it, you know it reminds you of someone in your life.  This song was that for me.  There is just something about it that makes me think of the relationship that my two girls have.  It's beautiful - both the song and the relationship.  When I watch my girls interact with, support and encourage each other, I have no doubt that these two will always be just that... safe and sound.

 



Once Upon a Time...

... a beautiful baby was born, and though she was young, everyone who met her knew that she had a wise old soul.  It seemed she understood something better than many elders could ever comprehend - love.

Everywhere the princess went, she left an unforgettable impression on those around her.  She would always leave a room filled with more love than when she had entered.  Her specialty were squeezes that could fill even the grumpiest of grumps with smiles and joy.

And her eyes... her eyes make the stars look like they're not shining.  No doubt the song was written for her.

Day after day the baby princess grew just a little bigger than the night before.  But no matter how quickly she would grow, her body never seemed to catch up to the size of her heart.

And somehow, don't ask me how, she managed to complete me.  With this princess in my life, I have nothing else to desire.  She teaches me how to live big, smile big and love big.  My heart is full.

My life is good with this gentle soul by my side...

... even if the sun's rays turn her into a tomato monster.