the ELLA echo

thing #36: games

ella has started making up games and giving them names:

whowacky (HOO-wack-ee):  ella, rudi, and i sit on the floor with our legs apart and feet touching, making a circle.  we each have a ball, none of them match.  when ella says "whowacky" we all start saying whowacky and start passing the balls around randomly, basically trying to keep from having any ball in our posession.  the winner is whoever is playing.

maplie (MAY-pull-eye):  this is a sandbox game.  i am the maplie boy, she is the maplie girl.  i smooth out the sand, then she stands on the smooth sand and starts wiggling until she falls down ("i maplied").  the script is:

ella:  hi maplie boy, i'm the maplie girl.

me:  hi maplie girl, would you like to maplie?

ella:  sure, i'm ready for go!

the winner is always supposedly ella but it is really always me, because i get to watch her laugh with joy.

she has other games but i haven't been able to learn them all yet because she plays them with her new friends grophie, glass, boobah, tootie, and moodle.  i'm told they are green, yellow, pink, blue, and red, and they have great eating habits.

thing #35: signs of the times

the following is a public service message from the Extremely Literal Learning Association, or E.L.L.A.

"don't drive curvy":

"no letters on the road":

"no smokerettes":

also, please note that all arrows apply specifically to the movement of squirrels.

"the guilt begins to lift"

a friend of mine posted a message on a forum expressing her wish that mothers would not criticize each other so much for the different ways they arrange their children's schedules and routines.  this was my response, i'm glad i saved it and i share it here in hopes that other mothers will find something of value in my experience.

"girl, i could have written much of your post myself, except that instead of ella being away from her father, she has spent days on end in a basement shop without windows--as an infant she sometimes spent hours in the sling while i did fittings--i wore her on my back while i sewed standing at a counter instead of sitting at a machine, because i wanted to put her behind me where she couldn't get hit by broken needles.

"her entire first five months of life she took her evening nap on my shoulder, in a dressing room with make-up lights blaring and a stage manager shouting times over the monitor.  and she spent plenty of afternoons in the bouncy bed you gave her, because the tent kept thimbles and scraps of fabric from falling on her.

"but she has also spent most days in the company of people who are passionate about what they do--in an environment where beauty and knowledge are held in high regard--and where she has been welcomed as a muse and not a nuisance.

"and she is much like mary--she is comfortable and at ease in the company of people of all ages--she understands the value of participation, AND the value of letting others have the spotlight--she sees humor in most situations and understands that all people have something to offer, it just might be very different from her own abilities.

"i've been scolded for her lack of schedule and told that i am doing a disservice to her by not arranging a more organized life.  but the fact is that her life IS organized, around the unconditional, unmitigated, and unfractured love that she has been surrounded with from birth.  and just like you, it is only now that i have been able to step back and see all that, and i am very thankful i have followed my heart and my child instead of a chart."

thing #34: names

for the past year, ella has been naming things, names she has created specifically for the being in question.

dalui (dah-LOO-ee):

pancake, originally pagick:

seldup (the doggie):

rok-rok:

pink:

oria (OH-ree-uh):

there are also two dogs who make an occassional appearance, griffis and pandrandost (pand-ran-DOST), an artist's mannequin named angwa (AING-wah), and a train whistle named ollie-la-so.

thing #33: happy 4th july!

this is the "4th july" hat ella made at school:

this is where it ended up:

that's right, it's on top of our christmas tree:

if your christmas tree has already been put away, its no one's fault but your own.

Thing#32 she is a muse

Thing#31 Future Spokes Model

Here she is shilling for Classic Jaguar Limos!

Thing#30 Waterbaby

This is from our first trip of the Summer to fountains at the Bicentennial Mall downtown. She also loves the sprinkler and here teeny tiny wading pool.

More Hair

Thing#29 Sweet Gentle Games

This game is tuck in goodnight (with kisses).
Simple rules first you help all your friends into bed. Slowly, one by one they take their mystically assigned proper place. Each one gets a kiss from Ella. Then we pull up the cover and Ella gets the last kiss before goodnight. Sweetly with her hands on either side of my face.  I can still feel my face just beside her left hand. I had just stood up and took this picture, when she swept the hair from her eyes.
Then you snore for 5 seconds (like Daddy). Then it's GOODMORNING! Everyone gets up stretches and then we start again.