The Gingerman House

Start with a $10 gingerbread house kit from Costco, full of goodies like these:

Okay, a few less of them than there should have been, due to this little sweetie, making her insides a little sweeter...

Add some frosting...

And give the girl some creative freedom...

... some details to plan...

... some Mommy - Daughter time while Daddy took pictures...

And you get a girl who is proud of her handiwork (she decorated pretty much everything you can see in this picture)....

... and a Gingerman House (as Ellie calls it) that looks like this! We're having fun kicking off the holiday season this year!

Mommy-Ellie Movie Moments

Lately Eliana and I have been watching a movie together some evenings. Tonight it was Wallace and Gromit's Grand Day Out. Good coffee (for me), snuggles from the wee one, and excited chatter as Ellie watched the show and told me all about it. Mommy-Ellie Movie Moments are good. =D

The need for speed...

... meets the look of fear...

I'm pretty sure she got the need for speed from her daddy. That look of fear must come from me. Poor thing.

It runs in the family

We have long laughed about the fact that my mother and I see colors and patterns while listening to music. I didn't find out until recently that everyone doesn't. I just assumed it was so, and Leif likes to mock me for it. =D Well, I guess it runs in the family, because tonight as I was tucking Eliana into bed, here's the conversation we had...

Mommy: Do you want to listen to some Christmas music tonight for bedtime?
Eliana: No... how about the black and yellow one that dances and dances and dances?
Mommy: Umm... You want your regular music? (Not quite sure what she means by the black and yellow one...)
Eliana: Yeah.
As the music starts playing
Mommy: Is this the black and yellow one?
Eliana: Yep! The black and yellow one where they dance and dance and dance... (She makes swirly motions as she says "dance and dance and dance".)

I had to share the bad news with Leif immediately. It looks like he's out numbered. Synesthetes: 2, Normals: 1

Sorry, Leif. It runs in the family.

Overheard

Ellie: Ow! Owwwww!

Elizabeth: Ohhhh. Sorry about your face!

Leif: That's probably not a sentence you should use.

Elizabeth: Well, she does get it from me.

Well, I thought it was funny.

Ellie's first pseudo-sleepover

first sleepover, originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

Last night Eliana got to get ready for bed and sleep half the night at her friend Corinne's house, while Corinne's mommy and I went to a movie (while Leif supervised the sleeping girls). It was her first taste of a slumber party, and I can just see more of them in her future! We got back from our movie about 12:45, and we were back home by 1am. Ellie went right back to sleep and it didn't phase her at all, but apparently Corinne was very concerned when she woke up at 2am and her little friend was missing! Oops. Still, it was fun for them to get half of a sleepover, and maybe, just maybe, we'll attempt an all-nighter some time.

Bozeman News

Two llamas and a "giant sheep" were wandering down Mactavish Lane around 4:30 p.m.

102.6

Ellie went to a friend's house today, like she does every Thursday, to play. When I picked her up, she'd been asleep on the couch for about an hour, which is out of character for her. She was pretty warm when I put her in the car, so I took her temperature when we got home. 102.6. Uh oh.

I gave her some tylenol, a movie, and she slept.

She woke up and wanted to move to the bed instead of the couch, so I got her set up there, and she slept more. By this time her temp was down to 100, so that was a good sign.

I went in to check on her not long ago, and she was still warm, and still asleep. When I left her room, I heard her talking or laughing or crying or something, so I went back in.

"What did you say?" I asked her.
" I said I don't feel sick anymore, and then I giggled, and said I was just kidding!" is what she told me in a groggy voice.
"You're not sick anymore?" I asked.
"Nope!"
"That's wonderful!" I knew she was still sick, but figured I'd encourage her good mood.
"Yup! And I burped at Josie's house, 3 times!!"

So... perhaps she's delirious, but at least she's happy!

Just now I went back in to see how she was, and she told me, "I'm feeling good, like I'm not sick anymore! But I want to lay here for one more minute, and then I'll get up."

She's cute when she's sick and happy.

Candy Land

Eliana has really started to enjoy playing games, for a while at least. She doesn't always keep her focus until the end of the game, but she enjoys it while it lasts! A while back I heard sweet little conversation snippets coming from the living room, and when I went to investigate I found Leif and Ellie playing a game of Candy Land. I love documenting these sweet moments!

Did I mention she cut her own bangs?

Yeah... I only found out because she got her scissors stuck in her hair and asked me to get them out. Yikes! Thankfully the damage wasn't too bad, but she did end up with short bangs for a while! They've mostly grown out now, but here's what they looked like right after the incident... Notice the one side that is significantly shorter than the other!

I told her she made her hair ugly by cutting it, and that made her sadder than the spanking she got for cutting her hair! (We have discussed the proper use of scissors on several occasions before, so she did know better!) She even called Mommom and Poppy and left a voicemail saying that she gave herself 'ugly hair'. Aside from the fact that it was so sad, it was kind of funny! I'm hoping she learned her lesson and won't do that again!

All Dressed Up to Paint the Town... Green?

Ellie and her friend Josie were playing downstairs a couple weeks ago when I realized I left the craft room door open. I realized it a little too late, though, and this is what I found:

They got a bath, and the dress up clothes went straight into the wash. Hooray for washable ink!

Conversation

Leif: Ellie, why are your pants falling down?
Eliana: (twirling and shaking her hips) Because I'm dancing! Like this!

Self Sufficiency

Eliana has become very self sufficient lately. I have to say, I am loving this stage. Here are some examples:

* The other morning Eliana wanted breakfast and I wasn't ready to get out of bed yet, so I told her to find something herself. I assumed she'd find something from the pantry to snack on until I could roll myself out from under the warm covers. Instead, she opened the fridge and got out a slice of bread. Then she put it in the toaster, pushed the button, and waited. Once it was done, she got out the butter and a knife, and buttered her bread before putting it on a plate, sitting at the table, and eating some of it. She didn't finish all of it, but, wow! I was impressed.

* Two days ago Eliana wanted to play in the snow, so I told her to go get her snow pants. Instead of bringing them to me to put on her, like I'd expected, she returned from her room fully clothed in snow apparel: Snow pants, coat, mittens, hat, snow boots. The only thing she needed help with was getting her coat zipper started! She happily tromped around outside in the snow for 30-45 minutes while I watched from the comfort of the warm house. Then, when she was ready to come inside, she came to the door and knocked. This is great!

* Yesterday Eliana wanted me to make her some chocolate milk, so she brought me a cup, her rice milk, and some chocolate syrup. Then, after I poured the milk, she put it back in the fridge. I added the chocolate syrup, and she put that away. By the time I had her drink prepared, she'd put everything away. That was the easiest glass of chocolate milk I've ever made!

Halloween 2009

So... Halloween was a few weeks ago. But Leif promised a recap full of photos, so here it is!

This year I was in no mood to make a Halloween costume. I'm too cheap to buy one (because, who really pays $30 for a costume?!), and Robert wasn't volunteering. =D So I bribed Ellie into wearing one of her existing dress up outfits as a Halloween costume. She chose the purple fairy costume Grammee gave her for Christmas one year. How did I bribe her, you ask? Well, I told her that if she went as a fairy, I would put glitter all over her body and she could be sparkly. Every 3 year old girl's dream! It was perfect.

Of course, when people asked what she was going to be for Halloween, she told them she was going to be a princess with glitter all over her bottom. Eh, close enough.

So I armed myself with some glitter hair spray and Mary Kay Shimmeriffic Body Powder and went to work, making our little dress-up girl into an enchanted fairy. Here she is in all her sparkly glory...

And, in a nice change of pace from most Montana Halloweens, we had a warm day, so Ellie didn't even need to put on a snowsuit to go trick or treating! Since the inside light wasn't cooperating for pictures, Leif and Ellie trekked out to the back yard for a few snapshots. Of course, once the light started cooperating, Ellie stopped, so here's the best of what we got:

And, of course, a couple closeups of the sparkly hair...

Because we got invited to a couple Halloween parties this year, we decided not to have one of our own. I took Eliana to a kids' party at the Palmer-Warner home and she had a great time. She spent half of it playing by herself instead of with the other kids, but she had a great time. =D

After going to the Halloween party, Leif took Eliana and met up with the Richters and Gravings for some trick-or-treating. Ellie was very excited to get to go trick-or-treating with her friends!

After trick-or-treating, Leif took Eliana to another Halloween party while I stayed home and distributed candy to the kids who came by our house.

Ellie got quite a bit of loot, half of which was chocolate or caramel she couldn't have. We had fun separating the candy, though, and she got a few pieces each day from the "pure sugar" stash. She stretched her candy out for a little over a week, which I thought was pretty good!

Hugs

Lately Eliana has been very insistent that she give Leif a hug and kiss before he leaves every day. It's very sweet. Today, however, when I asked for a hug during the day while we were at home, she told me, "Well, that's embarassing, but I guess I can."

Whose kid is this?

This morning as I was getting ready, I overheard the following between Eliz and Ellie:

Eliana: Mommy, can I have a piece of candy? (Elizabeth told her that she had to ask before she got candy out of her Halloween stash. She's been surprisingly obedient about it.)

Elizabeth: Yes.

Ellie Leaves. Time passes. Ellie comes back.

Elizabeth: Where's your candy?

Eliana: I put it down

Elizabeth: alarmed Where did you put it down?

Eliana: On a plate on the table.

Sure enough, she'd gotten a plate out of the cupboard, put it on the table, and placed her sucker on it. We were a little stunned and really proud.

So Proud

I was so proud of Ellie when we went trick-or-treating because she politely said thank you at almost every house we went to without being prompted. Also, when she and Elizabeth inspected the loot back at our house, she was totally calm about the idea of having to forgo candy containing milk.

(Don't worry: there will be a full, photo-illustrated post on Halloween when we have time.)

Affection

Day to day, Ellie is not particularly affectionate to me and Elizabeth. She's just got too many things to do to really be interested in us, it seems. Sometimes she'll snuggle with us, but usually it's not for long and it's most often triggered by wanting to watch a show or trying to fall asleep. Usually, it seems, she'd be just as happy snuggling with anything warm and cozy.

However, over the last month or so, she's started to be a bit more demonstrably affection with me. This has made a huge difference to me. It's made me feel very special to have her run out and ask to give me a hug and kiss when I'm leaving for work. I'll admit that I've certainly had a better attitude toward her given that it feels like we have something of a relationship now instead of just being perpetually adversarial over the evening routine, our primary point of interaction most days.

I love it. I know it's fleeting. It's so precious.

Button

Ellie is refusing to go to bed because she's hungry. She's refusing to eat her before bed snack because one of the buttons on her pajamas came undone. She's refusing to accept help with the button because she insists that she needs to do it herself.

And as I finished typing that, she politely asked for help.