Ellen-isms

Back with more ...

We stopped to get coffee in our old neighborhood recently and Ellen remembered the big center islands in the road that are typically covered in dandelions ...
"Mom - when can I pick more dandy-fliers?"

We had a neighborhood picnic event at our local park recently. I took Ellen by myself because Erik was sick and it was a long day for both of us. We read a bit of Witches by Roald Dahl before bed and she was practically asleep before the lights were out. A few minutes later I heard her complaining and I went to check on her and she said her head was itchy and it kept itching even when she took her hand away. She snuggled on her pillow and I scratched her scalp for her as her eyes fluttered asleep. I got up to leave and she said, "You must have gone to scratching school. You're good at that."

Related to Erik's sickness, I was being a crazy person about sanitizer and disinfection. No room in our lives for multiple sick people. He came upstairs wearing a mask and asked Ellen about the picnic. She got a scared look on her face, slid up close to me and whispered, "Mom! Why can Dad talk through that mask?"

When Ellen sees Erik pull into the driveway she will often "hide" on the couch until he comes in, then run away from him. He always says, "What am I? Chopped liver?"
This morning he came downstairs to leave the house for work and she says to him, "Who am I? Chuck Liv-a?" (and later, Mom - where does Chuck Liv-a live?)

It has come to my attention that Ellen calls Piglet from Winnie the Pooh "that little fella in the pink"

I've mentioned tons of times that Ellen loves to color. Last week, at 8:09am, she sets up a coloring spot for both of us on the kitchen bar. "Mom - you get the paper that was already colored on the back and I get the clean paper because it was my idea."
OK. What are we going to color?
"Well, I'm probably going to color something squiggly. You can color a mermaid. A big one."

I was installing a new car seat in Grammy's car and kept asking Ellen to come sit in it to measure things. She got exasperated with me and told Grammy, "What is going on with my Mom today???"

Last night we were getting ready for bed and Ellen peeked at my hospital bag. "You are getting ready for the hospital, I see." (guffaw from me) "I thought you were going on a vacation, but nope, just the hospital."

And, finally, just something I want to be sure not to forget ... If we are lucky, Ellen stays in her room every morning until her "cow is dancing" (i.e 6:30am). Then I hear her Flintstone feet pounding down the hallway as she runs top speed into our room. She will come to my side of the bed for a hug, then crawls over Erik to snuggle in the middle of us (if we are lucky enough to still be in bed). She talks in her "morning voice" - this squeaky little mouse voice - and is generally impossibly cute. When she snuggles with me she likes to be - literally - forehead to forehead and she breathes heavily in my face, her hair practically suffocating me. I love every second of it.