Visiting Grammie

On Sunday, Randall, Ellie, and I took the afternoon to visit Grammie (Ellie's great-grandmother, Anne's beloved step-mother) at Hughes Home. Hughes Home is an assisted living facility which is just wonderful. The facility itself doesn't necessarily look like the most appealing place but let me tell you, the aides, nurses, and owners are loving and care about each of those residents. The love I have seen during my brief experiences there make me feel so good about Grammie being there-- and selfishly, it makes it easier to be a visitor. This brings me to a sidebar-- I think young children are very intuitive. I truly believe they are extremely sensitive to their environments and emotions around them. When we decided to visit we knew it would be after church. Ellie had been in the church nursery for two hours and our friend Norah who had nursery duty said "these babies are tired!" when Lindsey and I came to get our kiddos after the service. Norah's warning made me very hesitant about how Ellie was going to act during our visit. A tired, cranky baby + unfamiliar environment + the potential for Grammie to be very out of sorts (and perhaps make alarming noises)= a bad visit with no quality time. However, Ellie was an angel at Hughes Home-- the entire time. I think Ellie could sense the love and comfort there.

To make the visit all the more better Grammie was having an excellent day! The last time Randall and I went to visit Grammie was when we brought Ellie to meet her for the first time-- I believe she was only 3 or 4 months old. The day we went Grammie had a terrible day and was heavily sedated. It left a scar on our hearts and ever since we have sadly kept our physical distance from Grammie. This past Sunday's visit was one of healing and happiness for us, or at least for me, I shouldn't speak for Randall. Ellie was calm and cautiously curious. Usually, Ellie will cry and cling to me or Randall when she is uncomfortable. During our visit she was quiet and calm. She stared inquisitively and toward the middle of the visit she began to interact with Grammie by "high-fiving" her and blowing kisses and even doing the motions to "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" when I sang it.

Let me take a minute to talk about Grammie's state on Sunday. She was sleeping when we arrived and her nurse woke her up. I felt myself brace when we knew we were going to have a visit on the coat tails of a nap because my mind flashed back to our last groggy and disconnected visit. Well let me tell you this visit couldn't have been further from that fear. It was a wonderful visit where, while Grammie was still confused and babbled a lot, she was able to have some conversation which made sense and above all she smiled and laughed. I felt a connection with her when I looked into her eyes. I wouldn't be surprised if she had no idea who I was the entire time and will never be able to remember that we came, but, I'm telling you, there were moments when we looked into each others' eyes that I felt a connection. I felt love. It was a visit I will cherish.

Grammie played peek-a-boo with Ellie and made silly faces to make Ellie laugh and then it would seem that Grammie would laugh at herself. I may be overly optimistic about that but that's what I saw through my eyes- and Ellie seemed to agree that Grammie was playing with her. So sweet!

Our visit ended when it was time for Grammie to eat lunch. She had missed lunch because we came at lunch time. The nurses held her lunch for her but they had waited as long as they could so we could visit. We followed the nurse and Grammie to the dining room and when she was settled we said our good-byes. We snapped a good deal of pictures. I pray that we will have plenty more opportunity to take pictures with Grammie. But what I really want are more moments of happiness and peace for Grammie, and ultimately, I pray that we'll have her here on Earth long enough for Ellie to have memories of her--especially if they are as good for Ellie as mine will be of this particular visit.

As we walked out to the car we walked through the side patio which has a pretty long sidewalk. We let Ellie walk beside us but she seemed to take her sweet time instead of doing her best to keep up with mommy and daddy like she normally does. Ellie kept looking back over and over again to a resident and her visitor, perhaps a mother and her daughter, who were sitting in the annex. These two ladies were near to us for the majority of the visit enjoying a special lunch the daughter had brought in for the mother. The ladies waved through the large windows and Ellie blew kisses and waved back to them again, and again. A few steps forward and a few more glances, a wave or a kiss for the ladies, another few steps, repeat. It was incredibly endearing as a mother to see, and I think Ellie may have left an impression on those ladies too. Certainly a visit to remember.

Bookworm in the Making

We have a bookworm in the making here in our little family. Even in her infancy Ellie loved books. This love affair has continued to grow (and I hope it keeps growing!). We are doing our best to encourage this exciting and wonderful pastime/ hobby/ love. Our family is definitely tuned-in to this. For Christmas, Ellie received about 15 new books from great-grandparents, grandparents, and her aunt and uncles. It was amazing! We loved seeing these gifts come to her because we know how much they will be loved. And to be frank, she'd often rather read and laugh along with a book than play with toys anyway. Don't get me wrong she certainly loves her toys and babydolls but she holds a special place for books. We, as parents, are happy to see so many books in her library already and we're actually thankful that she has more books than toys-- again, let me clarify-- I don't think she's deprived of toys by any means!

There are three ways Ellie will let you know she wants to read: The first, and most common, is for her to hand you a book, turn around, and sit in your lap. If you're not already sitting cross legged on the floor you had better get there because she is ready! The second, and the one I find most endearing, is for her to grab a book and find you (wherever you may be, whatever you're doing), hand you the book and sit down and smile right then and there ready for, and sweetly demanding, her mini-adventure or silly little story. And, I do mean she will come searching for you wherever you are or whatever you're doing. She has approached me while I've been cooking dinner, cleaning, in the bathroom, taking a shower, doing laundry, watching TV, or just talking to Randall. I love that she knows I'll always drop whatever I'm doing to read to her-- even if we have our coats on and are walking out the door to daycare/work (late because Little Bill has already started). Reading is just that important to encourage. The third, and most recently developed, way of letting us know she wants to read is for her to select her book, and then either run to her new purple chair, or stay seated where she is and then sternly say "Sit! Sit!" until you come over. She is becoming more comfortable testing out the words she knows. I like that she is confident enough to try it out and remain persistent until she gets what she wants. She's not bossy, she's just clear about her wants and wishes (it will be interesting to see if this trait sticks with her as she grows up).

I love that kids have their favorite books. I remember having my favorites-- who doesn't? Picture books are great. Ellie was blessed with a wonderful gift from all of my and Randall's friends and siblings when she was born. Laura had coordinated an amazing effort for everyone to give Ellie their favorite childhood books. A few great friends even went to such great lengths as to find out-of-print books in odd places, and on eBay. We are so lucky to have such awesome friends. Ellie's favorite books (at least for the last few months) which we have read over, and over, and over, and over again, are "Hush Little Polar Bear", "Soon Baboon, Soon", "10 Little Rubber Ducks", and more recently Sandra Boynton's "Blue Hat, Green Hat", "Moo, Baa, La La La", and "Are You a Cow?". We happily know these books by heart! We had read "Soon Baboon, Soon" so many times around Christmas that when I made Mickey Mouse Christmas cookies all Randall could see when looking at the cookie was one of the chimps from the book! It was pretty funny, I took a picture to capture the likeness. Ellie's reactions to and interactions with the books are just priceless and would make anyone fall in love with reading again. No wonder so many kids love reading, children's books are just magical! Now, to continue nurturing this love so it always stays with her. Who knows? Maybe she'll be reading full picture books by age four like her daddy was!

January 20th-- Update :)
Tonight Ellie threw a full blown temper tantrum. After trying almost everything like food, juice, new diaper, milk, even resorting to a paci-- what was the only thing that stopped this tantrum? A book. I picked up "Are You a Cow?" and read the title. The crying stopped and I heard "no". Randall and I smiled and quietly laughed. So, I read the book and the tantrum stopped. The girl loves books!

Morning Routine

We make it a practice to let Ellie wake up on her own. It is extremely rare that we will ever wake her up. We will even call Grandma to come over and get Ellie ready and off to daycare on the days I have to go to work early or if I'm out of town and Randall has to be at school by 7:30am.

We have our morning routine and thanks to a fabulous job at UMW (and before at the Moss Free Clinic) I have the luxury to go into work around 9:30 each morning. This allows us to put Ellie down at 8:30/8:45ish after a full evening of playtime and then sleep until 8:30 the next morning.

Ellie is starting to talk more and more. She knew baby sign early on but she's saying about 40 words clearly now. One of her favorites (and a favorite of most toddlers) is 'no'. She can say this word in more ways than I knew. We laugh at her determination and cuteness as she says it. We even find ourselves impersonating her when we talk to each other because it's just too darn cute. But I digress. One of my favorites is when she looks up at me and smiles and then says "no!" as happily and sweetly as humanly possible. I hear this version of "no" when I say "Good morning, babydoll! Are you ready to go downstairs?", or when she's in the bathtub and I ask "Are you ready to get out?", "Do you want to get out and watch Pajanimals?" and a host of other questions. She's just too cute and I'm beginning to think she knows it. Or maybe she just knows she has mommy and daddy wrapped around her finger :)

After I hear her response to "Are your ready to go downstairs?" we go downstairs and eat a banana and oatmeal. She is a very independent eater-- even her teachers say so. No more spoon-feeding this girl. She doesn't even want to eat a cut up banana-- just peel that sucker and she goes to town. It's pretty funny to watch her get that heavy banana in her mouth while trying so hard to be a big girl. She loves her oatmeal but it must be the perfect temperature. She is quick to hold out her little palm and exclaim "It's HOT!" even if its just a little warmer than she'd like. This makes me smile- particular, just like her daddy.

She watches Oswald and Little Bear when she eats breakfast. She loves those guys-- if Little Bill comes on we know we're late!!

After breakfast, I get her dressed, she brushes her teeth, and we're out the door to Growing Kids Academy just 3 minutes up the road. Before we get there it is a no brainer that she will immediately stick her hand into the carseat cup holder in search of her treasured "rai-rais" (AKA: raisins) if she hasn't eaten them all from the last trip we're safe, otherwise, she will sign "more" and repeat her request until we are at school or she has been satisfied. I've learned to carry raisins with me at all times. Why not? :)

Everyday Smiles

I have said pretty much at every month and every stage "THIS is my favorite stage/age" and have truly meant it every time. It is just unreal to me how amazing motherhood is and how much better it gets by the day. Seriously, by-the-day. I cannot recall a day where I have been so frustrated with her where I just needed to walk away for a minute, or a day where I have thought "wow, that was a tough one!" I've tried to approach mommyhood from the perspective that we are both learning each other. This approach has really lowered my frustration (and possibly her's too).

So I'm now starting to document WHY I think each of these stages are my favorite. In general, I think it's because I love learning more about our miracle and the amazing person she already is. Right now I know she is sweet, mischievous, curious, funny, patient, an excellent communicator, wonderful with imaginative play, great at mimicking/aping, and silly. Oh, and she ADORES her Daddy!

I also know that she loves bath time, she loves babies (in fact, 'baby' was her first word), she loves Chica (on PBS's Sprout preschool show), she loves books, she loves raisins, she loves ketchup, she loves peanut butter, she loves her daddy, and she loves playing with cups, and she enjoys balls-- big pink bouncy balls, tiny bouncy balls, golf balls, balls that she can propel put of her toy airplane that our good friends Laura and Will gave her for her first birthday, and the balls that go to her Elefun toy that Santa brought to her on Christmas.

But, above all, I know that she makes my heart and soul laugh and smile every single day.

Saving Memories for the Future

I've seen many, many blogs over the last few years and I've decided to join the "blogosphere". My main motivation for doing so is to document these sweet, silly, fleeting moments of couplehood and parenthood. I have read mommy blogs which I love, and while I'm no writer I'm going to try.

I was blessed with being able to live with my sister, Geri, and nephew, Hunter, at my parent's house after college but before Randall and I married. During the time living in that crazy household I witnessed and experienced some precious time with Hunter as a toddler. My mother and I often laughed as we saw his innocent and funny personality blossom. We frequently said "we need to write these things down!" However, sadly, I don't think we ever did--or if we did it was out of context and no longer makes sense.

Now that Randall and I have been married for 5 1/2 years and we have our Elliebelle who is 18 months old it's becoming very clear that we are generating memories faster than I think our brains can hold! There is a lot of fun and love in this house. I want to freeze time right now in my life! But, since that's not possible it is my hope that I can capture some of the daily smiles Ellie and Randall give me.