A lesson from Ella

Its been awhile since I've posted anything here, what with the hospital drama we've been starring in this last week.
But I knew eventually one of the kids would say something that would have me running for the computer. lol
Today I got frustrated with the remote and said "Oh I give UP!" Ella looked at me sadly and said "But momma, Yo Gabba Gabba says "don't give up, never give up"
Thanks for the guilt, kid.

Oh, and here's a story from the hospital that I found amusing. Especially since she totally set me up. Ella asked me "What are you allergic to again?" and I said "Oranges, Kiwis and band-aids"
Ella replies "Eeew, gah-ross!"
I asked her what was gross, and she said, completely deadpan "Why would you ever eat a bandaid?"
Hahahaha

Oh the WHORE!

Sometimes your kids misunderstand something so delicious, you just HAVE to tell other people. A LOT of other people. *evil laugh*

Colin was goofing around, about what I forget, and he said "Oh the WHORE!"

"Um...do you mean, 'oh the HORROR?' "

"No, whore is when there's one, and horror is more than one"

I decided not to ask "one of WHAT?"

lol

Big Brother

Ever since Ella was a baby, Colin has used the exact same routine every time she gets hurt. It goes like this--
Step 1. "Ella, are you okay?"
Step 2. Run and get one of his OWN stuffed animals (that normally he won't let her touch)
Step 3. Perform slapstick comedy to make her laugh.

Works everytime. And now she expects it. lol

Today she fell off the arm of the couch (Gee, wonder why we have the rule, no sitting on the arm of the couch??) and as I was comforting her, he ran away and she looked up at me and said "He's bringing me a stuffed animal" lol

I turned to Brook and said "Do you think this will continue her whole life? When she's in the hospital having her first baby, will he bring her a stuffed animal" and while Brook and I both pondered that and got choked up, the two kids said "Yes".

I hope so.

Although, what I REALLY want to see is him, at age 30, 35, or whatever, falling down on the hospital floor, just to make her laugh.

Ella is not a good listener

Ella is the most stubborn child I've had. And my other two kids are 1)a stepchild and 2) a child with a mood disorder. So I KNOW stubborn. Ella beats them both.

I'll tell her to do something, and she acts like she never heard me. Brook jokes that all parental and authoritative voices speak at a frequency that Ella is deaf to. And it seems that way. Sigh.

So today I tried a trick I've used for YEARS, as a preschool teacher and later as a parent. I got the kids to play the "good listener game" with me. Its a modified version of Simon Says to demonstrate what it means to "listen" (IE. do as you are told) Ella completely ignored me. COMPLETELY. Like I wasn't even in the room. So, I gave Colin a candy for "winning" the game. And she lost it.

I gave her a few minutes to freak out, then I said "Ella, would you please get pick an outfit to wear today" (because, God forbid I pick an outfit for her, but she refuses to get dressed, so getting out of the house is an ordeal) And she said "I can't. I'm busy." And I said "That's too bad, because I know how much you wanted a candy, too, and I thought that if you did what I asked, I would give you a "good listener sticker", and if you get 3 stickers, that means you get a candy!"

Suddenly, she was picking and outfit, and putting it on. lol

THEN she put her shoes on the first time I asked BY HERSELF (another never-ending battle) THEN she came in the bathroom so I could brush her hair the first time I asked (ANOTHER never-ending battle)

So, in other words, we'd be good to go to the library right now..........except that now she's eating candy. Doh.

Colin's form of sweetness

As you probably already know, Colin has a mood disorder, and has a tendency to handle his emotions in completely inappropriate ways (like screaming bloody murder if Ella sits too close to him, pushing her to the ground if she touches him, etc)

Today he spent 2 hours at Lazy Lego Days at the community center, so I knew that he was going to be extra tense when he got home.

I was right. Its been a tough couple of hours.

But, in the midst of his disorder he's still a sweet kid.

At one point he screamed "I HATE YOU!" to me. Sigh. After he spent some "cool down" time in his room, he came out and said to me "You know how I sometimes lie? Well, I lied when I said I hated you."

Awwww.

Then, in order to get Ella to get dressed, he "raced" her, saying "Oh you're gonna beat me! I bet you get dressed before I put all my silly bands on!" lol She got dressed.

Who's the boss?!?!!

I ask that question 100 times a day, and mostly I get ignored. lol Ella is a unique kind of stubborn that requires me to be on her case nearly 24/7, and it gets exhausting.

This morning, while Brook is still sleeping, Ella was playing with a Littlest Pet Shop playground, cranking a Merry Go Round at the top, which makes a really loud "click click click" sound. I told her to stop, because Dad was sleeping. She kept doing it, so I counted "1............2..........." and she snatches the thing up, rips the Merry Go Round off the top and says "There, now it won't make noise" and stormed out, leaving the toy in here.

She's 3. I'm very scared for her teenage years.

Awww!

Its a sweet post today, all sweet stories.

First, we went to a different zoo today, in Grand Rapids. This zoo has penguins, sting rays you can pet, flamingos, alligators, lions, and a wide variety of monkey-types. Ella was very excited about the flamingos. She would exclaim "I love them because they are PINK!!!" lol During our trip, she realized that there are people who work at the zoo, people who have the job of caring for the animals. Suddenly that's the best thing she's ever heard. Now she says "When I grow up I wanna be a momma, but my job will be to be a zookeeper! A zookeeper that pets the animals!"

Now we're home, and the manager's son is doing some work on the outside of our place. Ella asked what all the noise was and I said "There's a man doing some carpentry on the house." She said oh, and walked away. A few minutes later she asked me when the man was going to be done with the carpet treehouse, she wanted to play in it. lol

Tonight is Doctor Who night (a new episode on BBC America!) and the deal is that Colin has to EARN the right to stay up and watch it. I told him that he was pretty good, he could watch tonight. So he made a card for me and his dad that says "I apresheate all you do for me" (he means appreciate) How sweet is that?!?!