Share the Cantelope

Before Ella's nap we read a story about Christmas Elves who discovered that some kids didn't need toys but instead needed food so they brought some families a Christmas feast and toys. We talked about how some famlies don't have very much money and they don't have enough food and how it's good to help them. I told her that sometimes Gideon (our adopted Compassion Intl. child) and lots of kids in Africa don't have enough food sometimes too. I didn't know if she'd get it but it was worth mentioning. Then she napped (read: laid in her bed and talked/cried/sang for 45 minutes).

She's been up for a few minutes and was playing. Then, she walked into our bedroom where I was (the furthest point in the house from the kitchen) carrying a whole cantelope. I didn't want to startle her and make her drop it so I tried to remain calm.

Me: Ella! You got the cantelope!
Ella: Yeah! From the refrigerator! (It was in a drawer too-I have no idea how she managed this)
Me: Wow! Well, let's be careful with it so we don't drop it on your feet. Let's go put it back!
Ella: NO! We can't, it's for the children.
Me: Huh?
Ella: The children don't have any food so let's go give it to them ok?
Me: Oooohhh. You're right Ella, some kids need food and that's very nice to want to give it to them. Who should we give it to?
Ella: (still holding the cantelope) How 'bout Miss Jen?
Me: I think they have enough food.
Ella: How 'bout Uncle David and Aunt Jew-ee (Julie)?
Me: Why?
Ella: They can give it to Africa! (Dave and Julie just got back from a missions trip to Cameroon)
Me (laughing): that's a good idea! But maybe we'll keep this cantelope and send some money so they can buy some food in Africa.
Ella: ok. This watermelon is heavy Mom. But I'm strong.


Also, as I'm writing this she was "reading" a nail polish bottle and said "this says dear Ella, you should pray." She said, let's pray and held my hand and said
"Dear God, thank you for the sun and for the Lord. Let's be nice. And I pray for Lexi and Aunt Holly. The End. I mean Amen"

We DO NOT scream!

Ella was at my parents last week and helping my mom "clean" by wiping everything she could reach with a wipe. At one point my mom turned around and saw her wiping the outlet on the wall...

Mom: ELLA! NO!!!! (Loudly)
Ella (startled, quiet for a minute then walked toward my mom and then in a very serious tone) : Abuela, we do not scream. We talk about it. DO NOT SCREAM. You just talk about it.

I was cracking up when my mom told me this-I can hear myself saying those exact words to her almost daily. I guess in some weird way it's sticking!

She has been a HELLION for the last two days but today is much better so far. Yesterday I lost my temper and really yelled at her for the first time in her life. I've never heard myself say "Come here now" so meanly (is that a word?) EVER, to anyone. I apologized to her later and I hope I don't let her get the best of me like that anymore (or at least only annually or so). As for today going better, the only thing that's different is how much I've been praying for her (and that Holly took her for 2 hrs this morning so I didn't lose my mind). I'm trying to figure out the best way to inspire respect in her and get her to do things the first time I tell her to. I'm open to tips from you blog readers...

Also, at lunch at Holly's today, Holly and I were chatting and eating (thanks for the Chinese food Hol!) and Ella was sitting and eating quietly (yay Ella). If that wasn't good enough, out of nowhere she said "Mom, I love you and you're very pretty." Awwww...she can be so sweet! When I told her I loved her and that she's pretty too she said "I know, I'm is pretty!" Oh well, grammar and humility are definitely skills to worry about another day.

Missing Blogger

My blog posting is directly correlated to how much school work I have. This was the last week of summer classes so now I'm free for a whole month! I love school but this last class was somewhat painful at times. I will NEVER take a class from 4pm-8pm two nights a week in the middle of the summer again. Being hungry and thinking about everything you could be doing while staring at power point was torturous. But I'm done :-)

Ella has been pretty good behavior wise this week and continues to sleep like a champ at night-it's kind of creepy that it's been about 6 months since she's made a single noise during the night. It used to be that every month or two she'd wake up for a few minutes during the night, just to keep us on our toes. Since she's stopped napping very faithfully (we're at about 2-3 times a week now) she sleeps SO soundly at night and doesn't make a peep between bedtime and the morning. I'm realizing I kinda liked the random times of waking up with her during the night-it made me feel like I was doing the hard work of a mom, slugging to her room all drowsy and concerned. Now, I just get to do the hard mom-work during the day :-)

Well, off to nurse my second bladder infection of the month. So not fun. I'll try to take some pictures soon and start posting regularly again :-)

PS-Confession-I'm totally hooked on the High School Musical Reality show that started last week on ABC. I'm such a dork but I'm ok with that :-)

Marissa rocks

Marissa rocks. She's the coolest sister ever. The newest reason for this is that she has a billboard up in Baltimore!!! (see above) She got the grant for it and the kids she works with helped create it. There's more info at www.buildunitythroughart.com. Also, here's her bio...hope she doesn't mind that I'm bragging about her publicly :-) But, like I said, she rocks.

Marissa Berk-Smith grew up in Columbia, MD. She received her undergraduate degree from Boston College where she studied Sociology and Communications under Dr. Kerry Anne Rockquemore. Her primary focus was finding a way to integrate the sociology of racial identity through photography and qualitative research. The majority of her work has focused on biracial identity. Being biracial, she explored the question “what are you?” Having to reduce her racial and ethnic identity into one box on my college application forms sparked her interest in racial issues and how they affected educational opportunities.

After graduating, she spent a year teaching at-risk, urban elementary school children in Baltimore and Boston. There, she saw that there was a need to expand children’s creativity and imaginations. As a result, Marissa attended Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies, to research alternative teaching methods. Literacy Through Photography, a teaching method she learned while at Duke, encourages students to find their voice through photographs and written text. Her first application of Literacy Through Photography methods was teaching Photography II at Massachusetts College of Art to high school students,

Inspired by her work with the youth, she enrolled in the Master’s in Community Arts degree program at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She hopes to continue to gain the necessary experience and knowledge to begin working more in depth with community art programs for youth.

Update and Pics from Dad

Not a whole lot to report about Ella, she vascillates constantly between super sweet and super disobedient. We had our best trip to the Mall ever, just the two of us on Monday-shopped, had lunch, played, and she was great the entire time. It was wonderful! It felt like a glimpse of the future-a child who I can take places without fear of her running away, whining, crying etc. Then, the next day she played with Aunt Amy while I did school work and proceeded to beat her cousins up and openly defy Amy a million times. AHHHHHHH! The roller coaster of behavior is draining-I never know which Ella I'll have moment to moment. Thank God for all of the good moments though...and that she's so darn cute.

The only other news is that Ella's chipped tooth that was bonded fell off again and we got it re-fixed at the dentist last Tuesday. That night Ella got pushed off a slide, fell on her face, got a HORRIBLE fat lip, and of course, knocked off the bonding in her tooth that was done that morning. Her lip is almost completely healed now and we're trying to decide what to do about her tooth. The dentist has assured us it will continue to fall off every few months. So do we let her have half a front tooth for the next 4 years until it falls out? Or do we keep getting it bonded so she doesn't look funny? I'm up for advice...

Anyway, on a good note, here are some pics my dad took and passed on to me recently :-)

At the pool with Popeye and Abuela



I love this picture of Ella and Aunt Marissa-they look like models!

I love how she's looking at my grandmother with such admiration and interest.

Showing Ella the locket Marissa made me with a picture of us as kids

Dr.Ella! In her words, she currently wants to be "a monkey doctor, so she can help animals to feel better."