Of things to do and books farmers like

By popular request (ie. Greer), another post. Because Ella is still as cute and funny as ever. But now with a broader vocabulary.

I walked her to school today and she went to park her bike while I tied up the dog. When I went to check what was keeping her, I saw her comparing bells with another bike-riding kid and show off her bike to a friend. When I urged her to hurry, she rolled her eyes at me and said: "Mum. I have things to DO, you know".

Then she read me her 'critique' on a kids' book about a farm that they read in class. The review was meant for the library.

It was very well written (I'll have to wait till the end of the year before I can post the whole thing) and full of delightful phonetic spelling. But what made me laugh was the fact that her last sentence started with: "Farmers would like this book".

Vegan food

A conversation prompted by an episode of My Kitchen Rules:

Ella - The sore losers, you know the boy and the girl? The boy just yelled "Go on girls! Love you!" at those other girls that are cooking. I bet the girl thought that was a bit mean.
Me - They aren't a couple though, they're just friends.
Ella - You would have to be very, very good friends to go on a cooking show together. Me and Katie could do it!
Me - Does Katie like cooking?
Ella - Yes, she does. And she is not fussy about food either. She eats grass.

The things that matter

Me - God Ella, we are so disorganised. We'll never get this bedtime routine down pat, will we?
Ella - But at least we have our friendship.

Nothing to add to that...

Strong or alive

Ella - You know how boys when they grow up, grow into men, how most of them are stronger than girls?
Me - Yes. But you know how I always tell you what's way more important in life than how strong you are?
Ella - But girls or women are better at hanging onto things. They can hold on longer to the monkey bars for example.
Me - That can be true, but you know what I think is way more important than being strong OR hanging onto things. You know what I'm going to say, don't you. Being...?
Ella - Alive?
Me - Yes, that too. Not much use hanging onto the monkey bars when you're dead, is it? But I was going to say being s...m...smart.
Ella - Oh, I thought you were going to say 'Being kind'.


It evolved into a conversation about equality and suffragettes. And ended with Ella's statement that girls have power. That she has power. Girl power.

Amen.

As you do

I parked the car on the side of the road in Braddon and left Ella and Banjo (the dog) in the car while I quickly ducked into Officeworks. I made sure I closed the windows on the street side, the dog's side, so there was no chance of Banjo jumping out onto the street. There are quite a few cafes in this area and it's usually a fairly busy area.

When I got back in the car, Ella and Banjo were sitting in the same positions I left them in, so I didn't suspect anything. Then Ella said:

Ella - Banjo jumped out of the car.
Me - Really? That must have been a bit scary.
Ella - It was.
Me - Did she jump through your window?
Ella - Yeah.
Me - How did that happen.
Ella - Well, I was on the roof of the car about to do some hula-hooping.
Me - As you do.
Ella - Yeah and then I saw Banjo, about a kilometer away. So I had to climb off the car and get her. And then I had to sit in the car with her so she couldn't jump out again. And people kept telling me to get off the car.
Me - So what did you say to them?
Ella - I said: "I've done this before".

Is it my imagination or is she getting more Pippi-Longstocking-esque each day?

For the sake of OH&S, I will have a chat to her about appropriate and inappropriate places to perform circus act on the car roof.

I missed this performance, but a friend snapped this picture when we were camping at Mystery Bay.

The ancient Egyptians vs the internet generation

We were watching an episode of Horrible Histories. Featuring the usual eclectic appearances of ancient Greeks, medieval English kings and Egyptians.

Me - I don't mind this show. I hope you are learning something from it about history too.
Ella - But they say something is true when it isn't.
Me - But when they say it is true, it actually is. Those things really have happened.
Ella - Ah, but why did they then say it was poo but it was actually jam?
Me - You do realise they are all actors. Because the real Egyptians died thousands of years ago.
Ella - But they could have took a video before they died and planned this all along.

Kaboom! Best punchline I'd heard in a long time.

When she realised that I was not going to take this suggestion seriously - cleverly deducted from my laughter and thigh slapping - she offered another scenario.

Ella - Maybe they made images in their heads and then when they died they cut open their heads and got the images out and then they passed it on and on and on until video was invented and then took a video of it.
Me - That's actually a pretty clever scenario.
Ella - Not really, because you cannot see the images in people's heads.

Told you so

Ella had the girl across the road over for a play. She likes a bit of err... civil disobedience. So together they get up to a bit of mischief at times. Today while I was on the phone, they got undressed, sprayed the trampoline and their discarded clothes with the hose and then came to ask me if I could attach the sprinkler to the hose.

I grumbled about the wet clothes and told them that it wasn't warm enough yet to play under the sprinkler and they'd get cold. But they begged and because they were nude already and I couldn't be bothered arguing I told them I'd give them 5 minutes.

They managed to attach the sprinkler to the hose themselves and I could hear their squeals in the backyard while I was in the kitchen. Then I saw them running past the kitchen window and heard this:


Girl across the road -: I'm cold. We should've listened to your mum.
Ella - C'mon, we won't tell her that we got cold.

I think I managed to not look too smug when they came back in wrapped in towels.