Growing Pains

So, as most of my family knows - I am completely and irrevocably accident prone. I have fallen own many a flight of stairs (just ask Christine - I lived upstairs in our apartment!), smashed my feet and hands in doors, dropped things on my head, and tripped over just about anything you can name - more than once over my own feet or pants! There's just no hope for me.

But I think there is hope in sight for my future children. Carl has an insane sense of balance and tie that in with his...well he calls it fearlessness, I call it wrecklessness...and it seems like our kids might have a fighting chance. :)

Check out these pictures of Carl snowmobiling over the weekend. (I can't even stay up on my own two feet and here he is launching himself down hills and over jumps - yeah, I admit it, I'm a bit jealous!)

It's not that I need attention at all times, from everyone around me. In fact, there are times when I'm downright anti-social. I'd rather just sit at home, hair all a mess, eucerin smeared all over my face (that's a strange one, I know - I'll explain some other time), staring at the TV while huddled up under my blankets with my fluffy socks on.

But there are times, darn-it, where you find yourself wanting/needing attention at the most random and unexplainable times. Take this past weekend for instance. Carl, Ella and I all took off for a fun-filled weekend at Carl's family cabin. Now, generally when Ella spends time with us, it's just Carl and I. And, being the only woman in the house, Ella spends a lot of time with me. She follows me all around the house, mimicks the things I'm doing, and in general sticks by my side for the whole weekend.

You can see where this is going I'm sure. So there we all are, at the cabin - and I find myself in a near role-reversal with Ella. You see her Gramma is there, her little cousin, Jillian (her absolute favorite) is there, her Aunt Robin and her Great Gramma...and there I am checking in on her.

"Are you doing okay?"
"Come get me if you need me, okay?"
"Can I have a smooch?"

And you can guess what her answer was nearly everytime! All of a sudden I thought I had a little bit of an inclination what Mom's go through when their 5-year olds take off for Kindergarten. I've seen them sobbing their guts out all alone in their cars outside the elementary schools and I think, "Good God woman, get it together - they are going to be home in four hours!"

Ahem - sidebar. Anyway, you'll all be relieved to know my little moment of insecurity was put aside when Carl and I got Ellla home yesterday evening. After a little naparoo, and a good snack, she spent the evening playing make-believe with me, ate dinner with her chair pulled up next to mine, and cuddled up next to me for a movie...

But the kicker was when she announced that her and I are best friends and added, 'No more being friends with Christine!" HAHA! Poor Christine. If it's not Carl, it's Ella. :)

It's amazing to me how quickly I have grown not only accustomed to her little hand in mine but how much I depend on seeing her little face each week.

I love listening to little kids go in to great detail about their imaginary lives and friends. I always wonder where on earth they got the idea from in the first place. Just before Christmas, Carl and I bought Ella a Barbie movie based on the nutcracker story. And ever since, one of Ella's favorite things to do is dance like a ballerina with her boyfriend, Eric.


This amuses Carl and I both because up until very recently she spent a lot of time talking about her imaginary friend, Randall. It was always Randall did this, and Randall did that. Once I even overheard her in the bathroom trying to convince Randall to leave the room while she used the potty.


So when we heard she had this boyfriend, Eric, Carl started asking her a bunch of questions about what happened to Randall.


'So what about Randall?'


Oh, he punched my baby in the head so we aren't friends anymore. (I can only assume any references to 'her baby' is based off the fact that her mom is pregnant right now and I assume there has been a lot of talk about babies recently).


'Huh, so where did you meet Eric?'


At Wal-Mart. (Ha-Ha! Classy.)


Anyway, there has also been a lot of talk about her upcoming marriage to Eric and several detailed descriptions of how gently he will put the ring on her finger and how they will dance...this is usually followed by a demonstration of dancing around the living room with her arms out...


Needless to say the arrival of Ella's Christmas present from my sister, Elizabeth, and her family, only encouraged Ella's imaginary world of being 'The Sugar Plum Princess' as Barbie is called in the Nutcracker movie, since they sent her a princess crown, necklace, earrings, and *gasp* a ring, along with a little dress up skirt.

Ella admiring herself in the bathroom mirror

There is barely a moment that she spends at the house without requesting to be wearing her new accessories, if we leave the house she immediately asks if upon return she can wear her jewelry once again. She has even taken to wearing her ring to bed each night.

But my favorite part of the whole dress up procedure is that when we saw the little skirt, Ella and I decided we should complete the look of a ballerina with some white tights and a swimsuit top under her skirt. But, apparently we are going to need to invest in an actual leotard because once we had her all dressed up she took one look at herself and said, 'This is so silly to wear in the winter, it barely even covers my biscuits!'

Apparently, one thing she doesn't need is a lesson in modesty. :)