First Day of School (posted only 16 days late)

Wow! We can't believe our little baby girl is going to preschool now! When they're teeny tiny babies, and you try to imagine what it will be like when they get older, you just never know how quickly it truly comes.

We had been talking about school for a very long time, and every time it was brought up, she'd say, "When I get bigger". I kept thinking, "Honey, unless you grow 5 inches in the next few days...". I truly thought I'd meet resistance the morning of her first day of school. But she never said a thing about not wanting to go. She obliged my request for the token first-day-of-school photos, and off we went.

Showing off her princess backpack that she was SO excited to use!

Waiting for Daddy's arrival outisde the school so he can share in the big day of taking our girl to school.

Her little face just lit up when she saw her Daddy coming. The three of us headed in, expecting that we were gonna get to ease her into the classroom and maybe hang with her for a few minutes to get her used to it. As soon as we got to her classroom, one of her teachers said to just make it quick and go. We passed her through without any tears being shed (on either end), and she never looked back. :-)

[September 1, 2009]

We have been so thankful that she's made this transition so well! She has never once cried, and she's always got the biggest grin on her face when I pick her up, as she shouts, "Mommy!" over and over on the way home. So sweet. I was told by one of her teachers that the first day of Show-And-Tell, Ellison "was VERY excited for Show-And-Tell". Today she took her puppy to Show-And-Tell, and she was telling me how she showed her puppy to everyone (explained with hand motions), but that she wouldn't share it. I think "sharing" is the "Manner of the Month" for September at school...

Ellison's teachers, Mrs. Kale and Mrs. Medley, are called "Missa Kale" and "Miss Metal-y" respectively.

Computer Techie

Ellison's little friend, Caroline, demonstrated a great little computer program one day for us, so we came home to try it out. Ellison LOVES LOVES LOVES it!!! Every single day she asks to use the computer. She's become a pro at using the mouse. (Hint, hint, Grandma).

[August 31, 2009]

Shoes

See these? These are the current obsession of our little Mookster. And when I say obsession, know that I am dead serious. The Sotos sent Ellison a little package that included a pair of these shoes in silver (see a few posts ago). She would NEVER take them off, and even begged to wear them to bed. They have been so darn comfortable, she loves them so much, and they were so inexpensive that we asked Titi Ana to shop for more for us in a variety of colors and sizes. I'm embarrassed to say how many pairs we actually got for her, but you can get the idea when you see the pics below. Well, the day came when the "pot o' gold" came in the mail. It was like she won the toddler lottery when she saw all of the shoes - in black, gold, pink, red, white, more silver, etc.

The red ones were one of her absolute faves, but are too big yet. She was devastated when I kept packaging back up the ones for seasons yet to come. As soon as I'd get them all back nicely in their boxes, she'd be coming right behind me taking them all out again and lining them up. I was then told, "Do not touch these, Mom. These are on sale!". Well, far be it from me to mess with a shoe display!

Modeling her shoes, along with the beautiful silver bracelet Titi Marie sent her. She's obsessed with that, too. She wears it most of the time, even if just around the house. She won't even keep it in the presence of her other bracelets in her jewelry container.

I finally snuck all the boxes of too-big shoes into the back of her closet, and had to answer the question, "But why did you put them away? Why can't I have them? But why?" about 73 times.

[August 26, 2009]

I have to add, too, that we're completely in trouble when Ellison becomes a teenager. Guess where she wants to head when we hit Target now? No, not the toy department (it's a close second) - the shoe department. And if I cruise the cart through it too quickly, she starts sobbing. Really sobbing. I'm sure all of the stores hate us and how we always have objects we bring up to the checkout line that, "we don't want", because Ellison at least has to hold them in the cart with her (or have them on her feet) throughout the whole shopping trip. Today when she was getting ready for school, she got to where a pair of fall-ish shoes for the first time. She kept saying, "I'm going to tell my teachers, 'Look at my new shoes!' ". We're going to have to start training her to babysit when she's, like, 7 because she's going to need to save up some serious cash for her little "treats". Total shoe fettish, this one...

Bumper Jumpers

I decided one day that we needed to go to a bouncy place again since it had been awhile. I was bummed that the only one open when we wanted to go was Bumper Jumpers, one we had never been to, and certainly not the closest. As soon as we got there I was so glad! The place is big, it's clean, it's fun, and there were only 2 other kids there! Ellison and I had a blast, and Ellison (er, Mommy) got some great exercise. Great time! Daddy has since taken her back one day when I had to work (they had a Daddy playdate with Dave and Ella James - both of us mommies were either working or traveling).

"Geez, hurry up, Mom!"

[August 26, 2009]

Scissors

Any of you mom's wanna know how to occupy your little people while you try to cook dinner? Buy some scissors!!! They still freak me out a little (they're sharp little suckers!), and it wasn't likely my best parenting decision, but Ellison is lovin' her some scissors. We've got our own personal little shredder at home now. She whips it right out of it's resting place as soon as she sees me getting out the coupon sections.

[August 25, 2009]

Bedtime Ups and Downs

Success!!! She finally slept in her big girl bed again!!! I won't mention the fact that it's never happened again since. Nor the fact that it took mega-coaxing, a bribe regarding a new princess pillow, back-scratching "under my dress, Mommy", 16 sneaks out of bed, a frazzled mom, and 1.5 hours to actually get her sleeping.

[August 21, 2009]

I've since changed my frame of mind regarding the whole bed issue, and I'm just not bringing it up anymore for a while. What do I care what kind of bed she wants to sleep in? As long as she's sleeping. It broke my heart when she was trying to be strong as she layed in her big girl bed one try after this - she said so quietly as she was wringing the snot out of her La-La: "But I really miss my crib...". Then your crib you shall have for a little while longer, my princess. So you may see Ellison hauling off her crib to college one day...

Another Day of Fun

Yes, the day was spent doing even more shopping, then we ran to the Farmer's Market to pick up some fresh peaches to make peach crisp. Ellison and Emma had fun making a giant mess!

Then bathtime for the girls in the evening.

And storytime with Grandma (for a short bit, anyway).

[August 17, 2009]

Grandma and Emma were slated to leave the following afternoon. After dropping them off at the airport, and returning home to put Ellison down for a nap, Grandma called and said there were storms in Atlanta (their layover), and that they were told it was possible that they could be stuck there for hours if they got there. With that, Grandma had them book them out for the next day. We were thrilled to get a bonus day! Thankfully, Emma was happy to stay another day. It worked out great, because I had an all-day class to attend for work, and we had a sitter lined up. Grandma got to watch Ellison instead, up until naptime. Grandma was in pure heaven to finally get to rock Ellison before her nap (if we're there, Grandma doesn't get to rock her, per Ellison), and Ellison even fell asleep on her. Then they were off, and Lucy came to watch Ellison until I got home...

[August 18 & 19, 2009]

Pool and Scooter

Saturday morning started off with Ellison and Jonathan letting Emma in on their weekend tradition - making pancakes.

Then we all headed to the pool, which Emma was dying to do since day 1. We had a great day, and the place was amazingly not busy.

So then Ellison got to open up her new set of knee and hand pads, in preparation for...

her new scooter! For weeks she had been eyeing the princess scooter in the Target newspaper ad, saying "Look! It's just my size! I want wun-ba (one of) dose (those)". She'd just periodically start looking through the ad in search of it, and would quickly summon our help if she couldn't find it. So you know her Daddy... He came home with it one day.

She loved it! It stayed in our house for quite some time, and her and Emma would take turns cruising around the lower half of the house. On a side note, the princess scooter has been replaced with a much more stable pink Radio-Flyer scooter, which doesn't tip over NEARLY as easy as this one did. Poor Teddy doesn't have his own little ride on the newer one, and there aren't the fun little pom-poms dangling from the handlebars, but she thankfully went with it.

[August 15, 2009]

Day at the Museum

The four of us ventured out to the Greensboro Children's Museum. Ellison still asks if she can see the Easter Bunny when we go there. Though I only have a video of it, Ellison always has to do the hopscotch thingies before we head inside. We were cracking up at how darn cute it is when she tries it - it's hilarious.

Grandma, Emma, & Mookie

Strangely, Ellison walked right into the little "theatre" section as soon as we arrived. I say strange, because she usually wants to spend zero time in there. Well... that was until she turned into a little performer. This time, it took LOADS of coaxing to get her OUT of there after we spent a good little chunk of time being the audience. She found a WAY-too-long-princess-skirt that she felt was simply an appendage she had been born with. Our usually shy (around strangers) little girl was putting on ballet performances for all of the adults seated in the audience, just dancing her little heart out, even taking a bow/curtsie at the end.

All I could think of while she was pirouetting was the broken arm she would have tripping in the skirt and falling off the stage.

Poor Emma was patiently waiting in the theatre for Ellison to get her fix, so that we could head over to the giant bubble. This was Emma's favorite thing.

The girls could've spent all day long in the craft area, if it weren't for Grandma's and my growling stomachs. After painting, and making a butterfly, they discovered the "Floam" table. Had it not been for the lunch interruption, I think they would've been at it for 6 hours straight. Guess what Grandma bought for them???

We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Natty Greene's. Makes me hungry just reminiscing...

Then where did we go, you ask? Shopping! And check out what Grandma bought Ellison (though I would totally claim these as mine, they're so cute!). Have you ever heard of Kitchen Littles? I spotted them at TJMaxx one day and FELL IN LOVE. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love tiny, miniature things. So it was no different when I spotted all of these little sets. The tiny food and kitchen utensils are so stinkin' great! I checked them out online (knowing I HAD to get some. For, um, Ellison.) and on eBay and discovered how pricey they really are, and what an incredible deal TJMaxx was selling them for. I had to show my mother, also a miniature lover. She said she would buy Ellison a few of the sets, and I was going to buy the other few that they had (though I know there are a ton of different sets they make). Call it great timing, but when we were trying to get up to the checkout line, Ellison threw a giant tantrum, to the point I finally had to take her outside. In true Grandma and Grandpapa style, Grandma went and bought every stinkin' one while I was practicing great self-control ouside with my little kicker-screamer. Ellison LOVES playing with them! Thanks, Gram!

Ellison had received some new musical instruments from her Soto half in Buffalo. She formed her own band - Daddy on harmonica, Grandma on tamborine, Emma on flute, and Mookie on castanets. Me? I got to do the noodle dance to the music. It was in honor of the Woodstock anniversary.

[August 14, 2009]