Sitter’s first day

Yesterday was Ella’s first with the sitter for more than three hours.
She also awoke after Ella had left for her first day of orientation.
Trish and bought a big ornamental butterfly to hang on a wall in Ella’s room, as a gift. I won’t debate the guilt and replacement issues there. It was a nice thing [...]

Movie madness

Trish wanted to do something special for Ella today, part of trying to distract them both from Trish’s pending job. So we took her to see Ratatouille. Her first trip to a movie theater.
Bad idea.
Overstimulation, from the lobby to the theater to the high rows full of people to the $5 popcorn. A giant screen [...]

Sitter, trial run

Trish goes through orientation for her new job tomorrow through Thursday.
It’s been more than a year since Ella has been left alone with anyone besides her mom or me. So yesterday we hired the English major, Elizabeth, to stay with Ella for a few hours, so they could get acquainted.
Elizabeth showed up promptly at 10. [...]

Dear Emily Post

The other night we went to dinner at our next-door neighbors (I know, we’re sharing a lot of meals lately). These are new neighbors, as we all are in this fresh little corner of suburbiaville. Other neighbors, from across the street, were their.
We know the next-door folks a little — they’re both physical therapists and [...]

Not again until she’s 20

Last weekend we had friends over for dinner. They brought their 11-year-old son, B.
B has a brother two years older than he, so he’s never played the big-kid role. Until Ella caught him.
It was hilarious to watch Ella seek this boy out whenever he got out of her sight. She’s hardly ever instigated play with [...]

And now, the time has come …

A long, long, long time ago I mentioned that Trish was going back to work.
Finally, after many mortgage payments and Visa bills, it’s really happening. She goes in Monday for orientation, which will last through Thursday. Fortunately (for many, many reasons), Trish is a nurse, and she’ll basically get to work the hours and days [...]

Like ______, like daughter

Trish didn’t want me to write this post about her, so I won’t. I’ll write it about … Mrs. Cleaver, as told by Trish.
Ella doesn’t have syntax down pat yet, so she says, rather cutely, “what’s that sound making,” when she hears something odd.
Well, the other day Ella was riding in the car with Mrs. [...]

abcdefghijklmnoP!

Oh, the things we do just to coax a little urine from our daughter’s bladder.
At home I’ve come up with a little game. I convince Ella to sit on the toilet for a preemptive pee by singing the ABC song, and then she has to pee when we get to the letter “p.” Novel, I [...]

I don’t want to be here

Monday. My nearly two-week vacation ended today.
It sucks. Totally sucks.
When I left the house this morning Ella uncharacteristically tried to keep me there. She wanted me to stay and play with her. She wanted me to take care of Purple Baby. Then she wanted to come with me. It was heart wrenching. She gave me [...]

The cookie crumbles

Friday night Trish and I watched a movie in the living room, and we chowed down on M&Ms and other junk.
Saturday morning, Ella found the empty M&Ms bag on the living room floor, and was aghast.
“Mama! What are these?” and without waiting to find out what exactly they were, “I didn’t get any!”
On Saturday afternoon, [...]