30 March 2009

Conversations

We had some pretty interesting conversations over the past 24 hours. These are the ones I (kind of) remember:

Ella had started yet another game with obscure rules that only she knew.

Ella - In this game, the one who is the craziest wins.
Me - Then I'm sure you'll win.
Ella - Who do you think wins the game, mum?
Me - I don't want to win this game!
Ella - Don't laugh then, mum. If you laugh a lot, you'll win the game.

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Ella - Was that funny?
Me - Yeah, it was kind of funny.
Ella - Everyting's funny! Do you think everything's funny, mum?
Me - No, I can't say I do. Some things are very serious indeed.
Ella - I think everything's funny.

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Watching an ad for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala last night.

Me - Oh good, that's on tonight.
Ella - What is?
Me - The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala. It's people who tell funny jokes on stage.
Ella - And kill people?
Me - Huh? What? That wouldn't be funny at all!
Ella - Or pretend to kill people?
Me - Still not very funny.

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Ella - I wish I was a grown-up.
Me - Why?
Ella - Because.
Me - But being a kid is so much fun and you can only be a kid once. Once you are a grown-up, you can never become a child again.
Ella - Yes you can.
Me - No, you can't. Once a grown-up, always a grown-up.
Ella - No, I'm going to be a grown up and then you are going to be a kid and then I'll be a grown-up and then you'll grow up again.
Me - I don't think so.
Ella - [suddenly starts crying] I will miss you when I live in another house.
Me - You don't have to go live in another house if you don't want to, sweetie. You can stay at my house for as long as you want. (I've made this promise before. I might regret it, but what else can I say?)
Ella - I wish we lived at the school.
Me - Why's that?
Ella - Because school is funner than here.
Me - Maybe we can try to make home funner then? How could we do that?
Ella - We need wood! They have wood at school. And we make high buildings of it. It's not rough wood. It is soft. Not like firewood.
Me - I could get some wooden blocks for you to play with at home.
Ella - And there's other wood to hammer nails in. And the soft hammers are in a bag. The hard hammers are not in a bag, they're just on the floor. And...
Me - How about you think about it when you fall asleep. It really is time for sleep now or you'll be way too tired for school tomorrow.

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Ella - Mum look, I did no accidents in my pull-up at night. Now can I have a sticker?
Me - I'm afraid that pull-up is not really dry, sweetie, but that's ok. You were asleep and didn't feel you had to go to the toilet.
Ella - Im no good at this. I can't do it.
Me - Don't worry about it, you'll get the hang of it.
Ella - When I'm 5?
Me - I'm sure when you'll be 5 you'll be able to do it.
Ella - And when I'm 6?
Me - Definitely when you are 6.
Ella - And when I'm 18?
Me - Most certainly when you're 18!
Ella - But then I won't need a sticker anymore!

Phew!

28 March 2009

Compliment

Last night:

Ella - You are the best mum I ever had!

As I was writing this, Ella asked me what I was writing so I told her. She asked me why and I said because it was funny.

Ella - No mum. I just love you too much and you are the best mum in the whole world... that I ever had.

23 March 2009

The importance of being kind to yourself

On our way to the local shops - Ella on her balance bike, me on my bike behind her:

Ella - Mum?
Me - Yes Ella.
Ella - I love you.
Me - I love you too, sweetie.

1 minute later.

Ella - Mum?
Me - Yes Ella.
Ella - I love you.
Me - I love you too, sweetie.

1 minute later.

Ella - Mum?
Me - Yes Ella.
Ella - I love you.
Me - I love you too, sweetie.

2 minutes later.

Ella - Mum?
Me - Yes Ella.
Ella - I love you.
Me - I love you too, sweetie.

3 minutes later.

Ella - Mum?
Me - Yes Ella.
Ella - I love you.
Me - I love you too, sweetie.
Ella - We say that much times, don't we?
Me - That's ok.
Ella - We say that all the times!
Me - That's ok, nothing wrong with that.

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2 hours later at home:

Ella - Mum?
Me - Yes Ella.
Ella - I love you.
Me - I love you too, sweetie.

1 minute later.

Ella - Mum?
Me - Yes Ella.
Ella - I love you.
Me - I love you too, sweetie.

2 minutes later.

Ella - Mum?
Me - Yes Ella.
Ella - I love you.
Me - I love you too, sweetie.

3 minutes later.

Ella - Mum?
Me - Yes Ella.
Ella - I love you.
Me - I love you too, sweetie.

1 minute later.

Ella - Mum?
Me - Yes Ella.
Ella - I love you.
Me - I love you too, sweetie.
Ella - I just want to say that all the time! We say that so much times!
Me - That's ok. That's because we love eachother.
Ella - I'm happy that we are so nice to eachother. And I'm happy I'm so nice to myself.

22 March 2009

Milestones

Of course Ella reaches milestones of different proportions all the time. I don't get as excited about each milestone as I did when she was a tiny baby and even her finding her own hands seemed like a small miracle.

In the past 6 months she's learnt how to:

  • dress herself (finally!)
  • open the fridge door
  • open and close her seatbelt
  • open the car door from the outside and the inside
  • open the car window by herself
  • draw recognisable figures,
  • recognise most letters of the alphabet
  • copy most letters of the alphabet
  • rhyme
  • (pretty much) use our very user-unfriendly dvd player in the lounge room,
  • handle DVDs without scratching them
  • safely cross the road (is not yet allowed to do it on her own though
  • do 100 piece puzzels by herself
  • help me do 500 piece puzzles (she can do pieces I give up on!)
and so many more things I forgot.

But the milestones she reached in the past fortnight were a class apart and brought a huge grin to my face.

Last weekend I suddenly noticed that she can push herself on the swing! Hallelujah, praise the godess! Not only am I exctatic that I will never have to do the tedious, tiring, cramp invoking swing pushing for her ever again, I also do remember what a great activity it is to swing. In fact, I still enjoy doing it now and I still get that dreamy feeling when I do.

I'll be even happier when she can do it without yelling "Look mum! Look how high I am!" every few seconds.

The other milestone is even more significant to me. And everyone who knows me (and her dad) will understand my excitement.

She can ride a bike! SHE CAN RIDE A BIKE!

Ok, it was only 3 times for about 5 metres each time. And ok, I did have to help her get started. And ok, she did fall over twice, once after she stopped - without consequences, once while she stopped and she hurt her leg. But I managed to get her back on the bike straight away for the third round.

It'll take lots of gentle coaching and practice before she will feel confident in her ability to ride the bike without assistance and without thinking about crashing all the time. But we made a start and I feel so proud!

17 March 2009

Sleep

Ella - I wish I was a grown-up.
Me - Why?
Ella - Because then I can stay up later.
Me - You can stay up late sometimes.
Ella - But I want to stay up late all the time!
Me - Grown-ups need less sleep than kids, that's why they can stay up later.
Ella - Are grown-ups tireder?

I managed to stop myself from saying that most of them probably are - and I definitely am - and instead explained that kids need more sleep because they are still growing and growing takes lots of energy.

13 March 2009

Wedding party

Conversation we had last night:

Ella - I wish I could marry you. Can kids marry their mum?
Me - No, it's not allowed.
Ella - Why isn't it allowed?
Me - It's just the rule.
Ella - Mum, I want to come to your marry site.
Me - You mean wedding?
Ella - Yeah. I want to come to your wedding.
Me - Sure, if I ever get married, you can come to my wedding. But who would I marry?
Ella - I know! [Eyes glistenig at this fantastic idea] You can marry my daddy!
Me - [Chuckle] I don't think so, sweetie.
Ella - Why not?
Me - We did already get married once.
Ella - When?
Me - Before you were born. And we didn't think living together was all that much fun, so we would not get married again. You'll have to think of someone else.
Ella - I know, you could marry Dan!
Me - No, I can't.
Ella - Oh yeah.
Me - Because he's already married to Neet.
Ella - [Obviously straining her brain to think of other male friends] You can marry a lady! Because that's ok. I'm going to marry Camilla.
Me - But I don't want to marry a woman.
Ella - You'll just have to, mum.
Me - But I won't. How about I just don't get married then. That's ok.
Ella - [Buries her head in the doonah and starts sobbing]
Me - [Laughing uncontrollably]
Ella - Don't laugh!
Me - [Unable to stop laughing] But Ella, why are you so sad, sweetie?
Ella - [Looking past me with tears streaming down her face] Because you are not going to get married.
Me - [Another bout of belly laughter] Sorry Ella, but me not getting married is no big deal?
Ella - [Sobbing even harder] But I want to come to the party for your wedding!

It took me a while to stop laughing and I had to promise her to have a big party - like a wedding party - for my 40th next year before she calmed down. Sigh.

10 March 2009

Misunderstanding

After Ella telling me a couple of times that she could not remember what she did at school, the phrase "time for bed" suddenly jogged her memory and she launched into a long and convoluted story about her running around with "some people" (she meant some kids - admittedly they are people too) chasing her.

Ella - And the teacher had already given them 2 warnings. She said: "Put your willies back!"
Me - She said what?!
Ella - She said: "Put your willies back".
Me - Willies?
Ella - Whee-eelies. The toys with the wheels. Did you see them this morning?
Me - [laughing out loud] I did. I do remember seeing the wheelies this morning. And what happened then?

02 March 2009

The music and the love

We just spent Friday to Monday at the Corinbank festival. It was a great experience again.

At night Ella got pulled around in her new wagon by me or some of our friends. The first night she'd found a tacky gold tiara in the car and was sitting in the wagon with it on her head, under her little doonah, holding up her fairy Dora wand light. The first person who talked to her said: "Hail queen!" We got lots of smiles and lots of comments walking around with our mobile bed/trolley. And eventually Ella would curl up in it and fall asleep and would not stir as I transferred her to our tent when I was ready to go to bed.

During the day we tried to participate in some of the great creative camp activities, though missed most of them because of getting up late, being disorganised, getting distracted and not having a watch. We did make two bead dragonflies, which was a great activity and the results looked very nice. Though we ended up losing the first one we made.

For the rest of the time, I enjoyed the music and the company, while Ella wandered around, feeling safe surrounded by so many aunties and uncles. Sometimes it seemed like half of the people there knew her! She went to buy her own cups of chai plus cookie. She also managed to talk me into giving her money to buy crystals (which we lost) and some devil sticks (well, she managed to talk her dad into buyinig her those because I'd run out of money by then).

She enjoyed the circus too and she was very fond of the whale helicopter (this really needs a photo, but I didn't take any!).

She was quite scared of the people dressed up as animals in the heavy petting zoo. One night - when I was trying to convince her that the 'animals' wandering around were not trying to scare kids - she asked:

Ella - Are they trying to give kids cigarettes?
( think she might have seen one of them give a cigarette to a friend?)
Me - No, kids are not allowed to smoke cigarettes.
Then the animal in question moved towards us a bit and Ella dissapeared behind me.
Ella - [semi-crying voice] I don't want him to give me cigarettes!

She got to go on stage with her dad for the closing ceremony. I will post that video soonish. I still cannot believe that I now have footage of her picking her nose on a stage in front of hundreds of people! Ha! (And this was the day after I'd tried a different method of getting her to kick this habit by saying: "You can only pick your nose when noone can see you." I don't think that worked...)

I had to let her skip school on Monday, partially because 'someone' had thought it a bright idea to give her a cup of melted chocolate at 9pm on Saturday (thanks Katherine!), partially because it was always going to be a tiring weekend for both of us and I didn't feel like going to bed at 8pm on Sunday night myself.

Ella was sad to leave. I'm sure she'll have happy memories of this year's festival and we're looking forward to the next one.

When her godmother asked her on Sunday night what she had liked best about the festival, her immediate - and in no way prompted - reply was: "The music and the love". They should use that as their slogan next year!