The magic of toddlerdom

I know I have a penchant for the obvious, but, like any parent, Ella never ceases to amaze me.

She had a day of daycare today and then after ice cream following dinner, she had her own melt-down. She cried through most of her bath, drying, etc. I finally took her outside. She calmed down quite quickly and then she pointed out a bird to me, "birdie on house." Sure enough there was a robin perched on the end of peak of the house, singing his little heart out. She wasn't that enamored and promptly said "Birdie go!" giving a flick of her wrist.

After I attempted to explain that a singing bird on the house was permissible perhaps even preferred, we went to the garden and looked for sprouts. The seeds have been in just over a week and I think we saw a couple of beans beginning to rise. Ella wasn't too interested. I think that she wasn't quite fathoming the whole circle of life moment we were having or it is just her general dislike of anything vegetable.

Much like me as kid, I don't imagine gardening to be the most exciting element of Ella's childhood. It is only with a few years on does avoiding pulling weeds gain any glamor, laying between rows of corn and taking an unplanned nap. Trying to explain the peppery marks on your face from the dirt, not so glamorous.

She has a little book entitled Baby's First Animals or something to that effect. Julia told me that Ella could name all the animals in the book. The one that got me, besides "goat" (with perfect pronunciation, by the way), was "macaw," said with authority. It literally brought tears to my eyes. What a wonderful, amazing experience to witness her learning. Just to be witness to it is one thing, to know I'm playing a part is entirely another sensation.

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. We started Monday by watching Julia make her Divine lemon cupcakes. Ella had her first taste of the beater. She took to it like a veteran. We went to a barbecue with friends that afternoon and Ella got to meet a lovely four-year old, Nina. Nina was great playing with her, the running laps in the house through the living room, dining room and kitchen and seeing two girls out of breath from running and giggling collapse into their mothers' laps was one of those magic toddler moments. Ella also had her first taste of Brat. The way she tucked in, she's right at home in Wisconsin.

Julia will be starting summer school in a couple of weeks. I will be staying home with Ella. I am really looking forward to it. Her continued moments of discovery will take the edge off of changing diapers. I'm also looking forward to the naps.

Sorry about the long time in updating. Ella does a great job at running us ragged....

News from this Spring....

We had our courtdate to formalize the adoption in Wisconsin on April 26. With a 10-minute hearing and Julia answering a few simple questions, all the process was over. I got off easy since I didn't do any of the paper work, but it is nice to see Julia's long journey end.

We have a happy baby. She sings and talks, sings and talks. She likes to point out things that are yellow and red, with the occasional blue thrown in. Her vocabulary is around 100 words at the moment. We are nerds - we've been keeping a list on the refrigerator. All of this from an 18-month old. We like to think that she is very smart. We encourage her learning, but since we can't leave the house without forgetting the diaper bag (and we've had six months to learn), we don't like to give ourselves too much credit.

Today Ella got to accompany me to the high school theatre where I am doing the set. She enjoyed watching the show. She sat for about an hour, helped by the ham and crackers I was giving her, and enjoyed her first taste of the musical theatre. She likes to watch singing and dancing on T.V. She watched quite intently. She was also a hit with the kids backstage. She got several "she's so cute"s.

The love of duckies continues. Auntie Heather showed up with the gigantic duck last month...

Ella is really enjoying the nice weather. We like to take a walk to the neighbor's house where she enjoys running up and down their driveway. We go to a cute little park about four blocks from our house. She loves the slide - she fearlessly launches herself down, and giggles madly even when she lands with a thump. Loves the swings too, although she does not like having to take turns when other children want to use them. Well, who does?!

She also likes take Roxie's leash when we walk. Of course, I put another leash on the dog. We'll see how long that lasts. She is also feeding Roxie. She dilligently gets a scoop of food and takes it to Roxie's bowl. If she drops a piece, she will go back and pick it up. 18 months and already she is doing a chore. Again, we'll see how long that lasts. Roxie is so patient and wonderful with the baby-- even when Ella is tugging on her whiskers or messing around in her water bowl. They are great pals! Ella gives many commands to Rox: "Come!" "Off!" "No! No!" She gives these same commands to us too...