Cerin Amroth

Ella is now entirely proficient in unzipping zippers.

God help us.

“Wat dis do?” Ella asked. It all started promisingly enough. She was holding the GPS device she had been playing with earlier in the day. She had alternately pretended that it was a cell phone or a camera, and now she actually wanted to know what it was.

“It’s a GPS device,” I replied. “But it doesn’t work.” I took off the back cover and showed her. “See? No batteries. We can’t turn it on.”

“No bat,” Ella replied. She took the device from me and examined the area where the batteries are supposed to go. Then she had an idea, maybe even a revelation.

“Pay say pa ba!” she said. “Ma mee ta may pa ba! Pa ba!” Or something like that. The point is, as is often the case, I had no idea whatsoever what she was trying to say. But she was very excited about it. She set the GPS device down, stood up, and then continued repeating the words to me, trying to make me understand — all the while pointing insistently at her bottom.

And even after listening to her go on for several minutes, both Suanna and I, straining our ears to hear what she was trying to say, wracking our brains to interpret it based on context, still have absolutely no idea. We probably never will.

Ella’s latest thing is blowing her nose. She doesn’t actually accomplish much, but she’s got the idea. And since she has a cold right now (lovely leftovers from having croup last weekend), she has plenty of opportunities to wipe her “juicy” nose, as I call it. She goes into the bathroom, climbs on the toilet (which fortunately we got in the habit of keeping the lid closed on), turns on the light (or off the light, since it’s more about flipping the switch than having the light on), pulls out a tissue, wads it up a bit, holds it up to her nose, and blows some air out to simulate the blowing sound. Since she doesn’t object and even walks over when we ask to wipe her nose, I’ve decided not to be upset that she’s wasting tissues.

Ella is also simulating politeness and even actually being polite, thanks to Nate’s diligence. It started with please – or what-to-say-to-get-what-I-want-from-the-adults. Then it moved to adding “thanks” after the word no. That now regularly comes in almost all situations in which she uses the word no – except when she’s really upset and/or having a tantrum (which she most definitely does). This morning I asked her if she made a poopy, and she said “no than.” This past week, she started saying “yur well,” after we say thank you to her. The funniest thing about all this is that she says all these phrases in a little sing-song voice, which makes me wonder if that’s what we sound like to her.

Ella’s latest favorite toy is a small race car (a bit smaller than Matchbox sized). It’s one of those that goes on its own power after you pull it backwards a bit. She hasn’t figured out how to make it go, but she loves sitting on the opposite side of the room and having me shoot it across to her. Yesterday morning, she was playing with the car in our bedroom. She dropped it, and immediately picked it up and gave it a kiss and said “all beh.”

Ella and I had our second swimming lesson this morning. At the first lesson, she seemed more interested in the activities. This morning, she wasn’t very in to it. At first, I attributed it to her cold and tiredness. Then I realized that it was also partly due to Ella’s personality.

She is very interested in watching what all the other kids are doing. Maybe because she’s shy, but also because she’s really interested. Nate has talked about this with respect to the way she interacts at story time. With swimming lessons, it’s different because it’s not about sitting and listening. I don’t think she’s uninterested in the activity, but she seems almost as interested in observing. I’ve tried to adjust to this by turning so that she can face the other kids (since we usually do things while standing in a circle) and still kick her legs or blow bubbles. Since she seemed a bit tired this morning, I let her sit on the edge of the pool for the last 5 minutes of class and observe all she wanted.

The thing I’ve observed about swimming class is that it’s a delicate balance between wanting your child in the water and participating and being sure not to be pushy about it. Of course, if you’re too pushy, they might easily grow to hate it or even fear it. The teacher also has to strike this balance. As she walks around to observe parents and kids, she clearly wants to check to see that we’re doing it right, but also try not to be too concerned if we’re not. Since – at Ella’s age – it’s more about having fun in the water than learning how to survive in the water.

I take full responsibility for the gap between picture updates. No reasons, no excuses — just sloth. Silly, really, because “Picasa”:http://picasa.google.com/index.html makes it way easier than it used to be to export & resize pictures for the web. Anyway, since last update there’s been another trip to Michigan, a trip for Suanna and Ella to Ottawa, and a random assortment of pics of daily life. Suanna’s going to cover the Ottawa stuff in a separate post, though. Without further ado . . .

“317″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella317.jpg — The ol’ Viking helmet was, until yesterday, still her favorite headgear. It has now been replaced by her bicycle helmet, of course. Around the time of this picture I lost my cell phone for about 36 hours, and finally discovered it in the bag she’s holding, stuffed in the corner.
“318″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella318.jpg — Ella spent as much time as she could in Nana’s car during our last Michigan visit.
“319″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella319.jpg — Chilling with Nana at the family reunion picnic . . .
“320″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella320.jpg — . . . and with Uncle Rick — er, Great Uncle Rick, technically.
“321″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella321.jpg — Windowsill leisure with Aunt Kate.
“322″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella322.jpg — Playing in the nursery with Cousin Seth — er, Second Cousin Seth, technically.
“323″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella323.jpg — Familia Bruinooge. Ella is the only one suspicious of the camera. Clearly she knows something we don’t.
“324″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella324.jpg — Ella with Grandma and Grandpa — er, Great-Grandpa and Grandma Pekelder, techincally. Still with the camera suspicion thing.
“325″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella325.jpg — Over on the Steeby side of the family, here she is with Cousin Lydia. Just regular, plain old _cousin_ this time, honest!
“326″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella326.jpg — Ella enjoys D&D night at least as much as the rest of us . . .
“327″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella327.jpg — . . . as you can see, though, she mainly likes playing with the dice and still hasn’t gotten around to creating her character.
“328″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella328.jpg — A “Moe Thun” moment — looking outside during a rainstorm, hoping for, nay, _demanding_, more thunder.
“329″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella329.jpg — Ella likes playing backgammon. She has troubling resisting the urge to sit on the board, though. She also has yet to memorize the opening moves, and doesn’t have much of a back game yet. All things in due time.
“330″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella330.jpg — Nice pic of Ella and Suanna.
“331″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella331.jpg — Cheesin’ for the camera.
“332″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella332.jpg — At the playground with Abi.
“333″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella333.jpg — Working on a card.
“334″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella334.jpg — Yoga straps are always best unraveled while wearing Spider-Man pajamas. I’ve always said so myself.
“335″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella335.jpg — Some days, I bemoan the fact that Ella never wants books read to her except for before naps and bedtime. Other days, she’ll sit like she is here for over half an hour, perfectly content. Go figure.
“336″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella336.jpg — Because the playground equipment isn’t quite exciting enough, she’s started pulling this trick at the top of slides. She likes to hang there as long as she can.
“337″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella337.jpg — At the sandbox with Suanna.

Now that the weather’s cooling off, I decided to hook a child’s bike seat up to my bike to give Ella and I a few more choices for our daily excursions.

This was not a course pursued without a degree of risk. After all, even though I was able to borrow a bike seat for free, when you factor in the cost of tuning up my bike (unused for ~3 years), getting a rack to mount the seat on, and getting helmets for Ella and I, it was still pretty expensive. And there was no guarantee that Ella would even _like_ bike rides.

So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I strapped her in earlier this morning and we set out for a test drive to Iwo Jima and back. Her verdict, as we coasted down our first hill:

“Hooraaaaaay!”

Phew!

Tonight, Ella was walking around wearing an oven mit and carrying a hot pad. I asked her if she was going to bake something, so she ran into the kitchen and brought back the muffin pans. Next, she came back with the large frying pan and a spoon. She wore the oven mit on one hand and stirred the ingredients in the pan with the spoon. I asked if she had some tomatoes to put into the pan. She said “oh” and walked over to a blanket that was laying on the floor. She brought back the blanket and shook it over the pan while making a shushing noise. She repeated this same move when I asked about the onions and chicken.

When I asked about the spices, she grabbed her small blue chair and pulled it into the kitchen. Standing on the chair, she is just high enough to grab the spice jars off the 3rd shelf of the open shelving unit. She came back with almond flavoring, vanilla, and honey. Then she brought the ginger along with a measuring cup. Somehow the powders were different in her mind and had to be poured in the measuring cup, rather than shaking directly over the pan. She did the same with the Italian spices. In between these trips, she stirred the ingredients and kept repeating “too hot” and blowing on the pan.

When I asked for a taste, she put the spoon up to my mouth. She insisted that Mouse and Daddy have tastes, as well. When it came time for her taste, she lifted the entire pan up to her mouth and gulped large ammounts. I guess the heat no longer bothered her.

Now if I could only get her to wash the dishes …

Last Thursday, I was getting ready for work when I heard my cell phone beeping to indicate that it needed a charge. I took it out of my bag and asked Ella to help me find where to plug it in. She may not understand about batteries and electrical charges (heck, I don’t understand those things), but she does know where to take my phone to plug it in. Not only did she know where to go, but she was very adept at plugging the cord into the bottom of the phone. After I set it on the window sill, I told her that I’d have to come back for it before I left for work.

We went about the rest of our morning routine. I picked up my bag and asked her if she wanted to walk me to the elevator (our usual parting place). She mumbled something quickly and dashed off to the bedroom. I didn’t understand her, and I assumed she was going to grab some random thing to carry to the elevator, which she often does. A few seconds later, she returned with my phone in her hand. I couldn’t believe it. I had completely forgot. Now I’m going to start telling her all the important things I need to remember!