Cerin Amroth

“417″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella417.jpg — At a wedding up in New York, Ella adopts a Thoughtful Pose.
“418″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella418.jpg — And here we have the ultimate cheese smile. The accursed delay of digital cameras means that even if you try to catch Ella before she can break out the cheese, she’s still able to make a face before the picture is taken. Suanna has had clearance to get a new, faster camera for months now but hasn’t gotten around to getting one, so you may blame all future Cheese Shots on her.
“419″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella419.jpg — At a lovely arts festival in Del Ray, here’s the beginning of the “Scarecrow Nightmare”:http://www.polytropos.org/?p=598.
“420″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella420.jpg — There’s a bunch of basic food she still won’t touch, but she’ll mow down a samosa. Go figure.
“421″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella421.jpg — Watching something at the festival with Marmar and Gumpa — either tap dancing or kids doing yoga, I forget which. Note the scarecrow lurking in the background.
“422″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella422.jpg — Showing off her new scooter. She likes toodling around with it out back, but turns down suggestions to take it further. When I suggested she could ride it a few blocks to the YMCA, she laughed. “No, daddy,” she said in her you’re-being-silly voice, “That’s too far!”
“423″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella423.jpg — Bedtime stories with Marmar.
“424″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella424.jpg — Enjoying a haycart all to herself at the farm.
“425″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella425.jpg — Orchard Girl.
“426″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella426.jpg — More bedtime stories.
“427″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella427.jpg — Here we are on the infamous hayride at the Pumpkin Patch . . .
“428″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella428.jpg — . . . and here’s Ella on the Yellow Chair. For reference, check out Ella on the same chair “three years earlier”:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella191.jpg.
“429″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella429.jpg — On the troll bridge, in line for the slide.
“430″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella430.jpg — Ella takes her kettle corn carrying responsibilities very seriously.
“431″:http://www.polytropos.org/mt-static/ella/ella431.jpg — Wiped after a long morning.

Unfortunately Ella’s best antics at the pumpkin patch weren’t caught on film. While we were waiting in line for the volcano slide, she spotted the spot on the hayride route where the aliens hop out of their UFO to romp around and high-five the folks on the hayride. (Needless to say, that part of the ride had just made a big impression on her.) She took her hat off her head and pretended it was her camera and that she was taking pictures of the UFO. All the mannerisms were there — she’d sight with her hat, then lower it to look with just her eyes, then raise the hat to its position just to the side of her face again. She’d even crouch a little just before she “snapped” the picture.

Then, a few days ago, she told me she wanted to look at the pumpkin patch pictures, so we went to the computer and she sat on my lap and we went through all of them. But when we got to the end she clearly wasn’t satisfied.

“That’s all the pictures,” I said.

“NO daddy,” she replied, “I want to see the pictures of the aliens I took with my hat!”

Praying Before Dinner – Ella has started going to Sunday school on Sunday mornings. She talks about it during the week and really looks forward to it. She walks down to her classroom after being in the nursery during the service. She hasn’t said so, but I suspect that she likes how leaving the nursery to walk to her classroom makes her feel like one of the older kids. The class is taught from a Montessori approach, so it seems to be very much about letting the kids touch and experience things at their own pace. The very first time that she went, both teachers came up to us afterward and told us that she entertained herself the whole time, talking and interacting with her surroundings. Knowing how reserved Ella can be in strange situations, hearing this definitely put me at ease.
Shortly after she started going, we were sitting down to dinner one night, and she offered each of us one of her hands and asked if we could pray first. I felt a little negligent that we weren’t the ones who had thought of instituting this activity, but I was also proud that she saw the value in doing it on her own. I didn’t put it together at the time, but now assume that she must have been mimicking something she did in Sunday school.

We held hands, and I said the simple “God is great” prayer. If you’re not familiar, the last line of the prayer is “thank him for our daily bread.” I think we were having enchiladas that night, which she doesn’t really like. However, she loves bread, so she immediately asked if she could have a piece of bread. I tried to explain that bread is a metaphor in the prayer for all the kinds of food we eat. She wasn’t buying it!

Arrival of Baby Brother – As I was changing her diaper before bed the other night, Ella informed me that I was going to have a hole in my tummy after her baby brother came. I asked her how that was going to happen. She matter-of-factly stated that baby brother is going to pop out and leave a hole behind. I like the immediacy of that! It also makes me glad to hear that she assumes I won’t be this big forever, but that it’s being caused by her brother inside of me.

Based on this and other interactions, I don’t think she likes what’s happening to my body — can’t say that I disagree with her on that. She walked in to the bathroom the other morning as I was getting out of the shower. She wouldn’t look directly at me until after I was dressed. Later, she was standing on the toilet while I was standing infront of her. Her eyes were level with my belly, and I asked if she was looking at it. She said, “yeah, it’s really big.” I thought, if you only know how big it’s yet to get!

Ella has long been a fan of playing the little web games on the site for “Peep and the Big Wide World”:http://www.peepandthebigwideworld.com.  Like the show itself, they’re head and shoulders above similar content you might find elsewhere.  Until recently she’d sit on one of our laps and point at the screen, instructing us where to click.  The past week or so, she’s wanted to manipulate the cursor herself.

She started doing this while sitting on the couch with the laptop on the end table, using the touchpad.  Just now I set her up on the dining room table and plugged in a portable USB mouse that’s a good size for her — I figured it’d be easier for her than the touchpad.  Not only has she been playing blissfully for a good while now, she has on a couple of occasions closed the game window and picked out a different game off the web page, something we’ve never shown her how to do.  And she’s decided that she prefers the touchpad to the mouse, anyway.

Then, when she gets stuck, either with the interface or with a game, she calls out sweetly, “Daddy, I need some heeeeelp pleeease!”  What did I do to deserve this child?