Other E Stuff

As if Birthday / Santa / Anticipating Christmas weren't enough, Ellen has had a few other fun events this month.

First, when does it stop being OK to wear all of your favorite items of clothing at once?

Our neighborhood elementary school has preschool story time once a month on Wednesday afternoons, but I've never been able to take Ellen because I work out of town. I had a change in my schedule and was able to make it work this month - I picked her up early from school during nap time (a huge treat) and we checked into school and walked to the library. She was SO excited. She made herself right at home and found a few books to read while we waited.

A few of her current Pre-K classmates, and future Kindergarten classmates, joined the group, along with a few other kids. The volunteer reader was very sweet and Ellen kept answering ALL of her questions. Not in a disruptive way, but she was eager to participate, as were a few of her classmates, but they kind of dominated the kids we didn't know. I was proud of her for making good observations and I wanted to support her, but also encourage her to take turns and let other people have a chance. Man - parenting is tough.

We got caught in the hell that is school dismissal and the car pick-up line, and my plan to drop her with Erik's parents while I went back to work was thwarted. I decided just to take her back to my office for about 2 hours. I didn't have any patients and I though it would be fun for her to see where I work. Unlike Erik, I don't really have an office that is easy to visit. She was pretty well behaved, ate some snacks and drank Crystal Light, and colored. She asked how many genetic counselors worked there and I told her there were four of us that take turns in the office. "You mean five, right? Now that I'm here ..."

We also had her 5-year well-check and it was a great visit, despite the 4 shots. I knew there was at least one shot for the chicken pox vaccine, since we had talked about it at Georgia's recent visit, but didn't know about the 4 shots, finger stick for blood draw and peeing in a cup. Quite an adventure. Ellen ROCKED it - not a wince or a tear. I was juggling Georgia and the nurse asked if Ellen would want to sit in my lap and I told her I didn't think so, but Ellen said she really did - which kind of surprised and delighted me. Her arms were pretty sore for a few days ("very hurtful" she said).

Finally, Erik's mom was nice enough to invite us to see The Nutcracker this year, along with my mom and Betsy. This was the first year that Ellen seemed old enough to (pretty reliably) sit through it.

We had a really nice brunch first and then got to explore the Kauffman a bit - our first time! It's really an impressive space.

This is my mom with the "willows" (willies) about heights and being nervous standing next to the window.

Ellen really loved the show. Out of the hundreds and hundreds of people there, turns out that one of her good school friends came with her family and had the seats right next to us! It was fun for the girls to stand together and they were very well behaved, though the Sugar Plum Fairy could have cut her bit by about 15 minutes and everyone would have been thrilled. Ellen had to stand up most of the show to see, but kind of danced and waved her arms around while she was watching - too cute. At intermission I read the story to Ellen and her friend, re-capping the first part and telling them what was coming up. I described all the special dancers with the Sugar Plum Fairy and Ellen exclaimed, "Russians?!? I LOVE Russians!"

What a treat! Ellen is so, so lucky to get to do special things with her grandparents and even luckier we all get to do it together!