Cerin Amroth

While I was getting Dominic dressed this morning, I found a garage sale sticker on his shirt for $1.50. After I put the shirt on, Ella asked what it was. When I told her, I asked whether she thought Dominic was worth $1.50. She replied that he’s worth $108. I told her he’s worth at least $108; to which she replied, “What does ‘at least’ mean?” (A common question form from her these days. Be careful what words you use, less you have to define them in 4 year-old terms.) I told her at it means he’s probably worth more than $108.

Ella grabbed the sticker and put it on me. I asked her if she had $1.50 to buy me. Without hesitating, she said, “People aren’t for sale!” Ah the innocence of youth!

I tried not to focus on the fact that she didn’t say that her Mama is worth “at least” $1.50!

We all know how Ella can be when it comes to posed pictures.  So when the day for Official School Photos came along a few weeks ago, I didn’t think much of it.  Some intrepid photographer would strive to get her to smile, with a moderate chance of success, and the result would be either a total disaster or just a fair-to-middling shot not any better than what we could pull off ourselves.  So we’d pass on ordering the overpriced prints, and be done with it.

And then, this. Not only a good picture, composition-wise, but one that captures one of her rare natural smiles, and even more rare, one that captures her personality and not just her image.

Here are pictures of Dominic the artist, apple picking, and Halloween.

Here are the promised pictures of Dominic’s new haircut.

A few weeks ago, Nate and I took Ella for her first dentist appointment. We have learned that it is very helpful to prepare Ella for new situations like this by talking with her about them well in advance and give her time to process. I also tried to give her some sense of control over the situation – asking whom she wanted to go first, second, and last, for example (Nate, Ella, and I were all getting our teeth cleaned). She chose to have Nate go first, then me, then her.

The whole plan was thrown into disarray, however, when the hygienists asked both Nate and me to come back together. Nate quickly explained that we couldn’t leave the kids unattended. When they suggested that we take them with us, I realized that the office wasn’t prepared to handle a curious 2 year-old and nervous 5 year-old! So they took Nate back and left the three of us in the lobby to wait.

As I was doing the math, I realized that if I went next and Ella last, it would mean we’d have to do our appointments one after the other, instead of doing two at the same time. I suggested to Ella that she go next, so one of the hygienists could clean her teeth and the one who was cleaning Nate’s teeth start on me as soon as she was finished with him. That didn’t go over well. Ella immediately hid under the lobby chair and started whimpering. Fortunately, I didn’t have to drag her out. I coaxed her out and held her hand as we walked down the hall.

I had to use the same technique to get her to sit in the chair. Once the hygienist came in, Ella was quite agreeable. She opened her mouth when asked and showed the dentist all her teeth. The only thing she refused to have them do was floss her teeth. And the dentist had good news to report – no cavities and no warnings about braces – at least for now.

Since the dentist saw Dominic there with me, he asked me to hold Dominic in my lap while he took at look at his teeth. Dominic refused to open his mouth. Of course, this gave me the opportunity to praise Ella again for what a big girl she was. And, true to form, she acted like it all wasn’t such a big deal.

On Saturday, I took Dominic to get his first haircut. It was really more of a trim. I told Sophia that we had no desire to lose the baby curls in back just yet. She merely trimmed his bangs to get them out of his eyes. I managed to distract him – mostly – with some animal crackers. He didn’t like the process at all, but she made it really quick. Between his reaction and Ella’s continued tears at her haircuts, I’m wondering who those kids are who hop up willingly into the chair and offer no resistance. I didn’t have the camera with me at the haircut, but I took some pictures afterward. I haven’t had time to sort through them yet to see if they turned out. I’ll do that tomorrow while watching election returns.