As you will remember, in a previous post I mentioned that Ella is an extremely routined child. Since we started daycare we have gone through a lot of transition with teachers coming and going, all which did not affect Ella. However, in the last two weeks we seem to be experiencing issues. Ms. Eva was forced to leave Academy due to her work visa expiring – which is really sad news and we are going to miss her. (Right: Ms. Eva and Ella practices zoo animals)

Even sadder news is that Ms. Toni, our other full-time teacher has been out for the past two weeks. Unfortunately, her husband was in an accident and severely damaged his foot.

With all this transition and Ella’s need for routine, we are going through a rough patch at daycare. When I picked up at daycare Ms. Hanna, the float teacher, mentioned that they had issues with Ella biting again and they really struggled with getting her to nap. I have wrote about Ella’s need to bite in the past so you all will not be surprised however, she has NEVER had any sleep issues at daycare before this week. I can tell that Hanna is tired of dealing with her and I think Ella shares the same feelings in return.

We are anticipating Ms. Toni’s return this coming Monday, and in the meantime hoping Ella can harbor her frustrations in order to not get kicked out of daycare before then. It really will be best for everyone involved when she is back in action. Times like these make me realize how grateful I am that we have a great daycare and amazing people there who love Ella and that she loves in return.

….by work and guilt.
I realize it has been a while since I last wrote – but it’s not because I don’t have anything to talk about. I could write about our trip home this past weekend and Ella’s first encounter with a horse, spending time with our family or our time on the river (see pictures). I could also write about the upcoming weekend -our good friends Becky & Jess’s are getting married (pictures to follow) –BUT, work, both Kella and Kennedy, are consuming my life. So, I have to keep this post short because it’s currently 11:00 p.m. and I still need to color my hair and get all our stuff ready for the upcoming weekend.
Don’t worry though – I am going to bribe you with the pics I mentioned above. Please forgive!

While I am extremely tired and ready to retire for the day, I know I SHOULD write – so I will. Today I got a phone call from daycare – Ms. Toni – who left a message saying, “I’m calling your cellphone because it’s not an emergency BUT……I wanted to tell you that Ella bit somone again today, actually she bit me….AND..it broke through my jeans and actually broke skin!” Hmm….well I am happy I missed that call, how embarrassing. I honestly have no idea how to respond to something like that. Apparently she thought Ella was going to give her a hug and love and instead just bit her in the leg. Needless to say, tonight we made an apology card for Ms. Toni.

Last week (Thursday) we had parent teacher conferences, yes even at a year and a half. In the beginning I thought they were going to be a waste of time, what can they honestly tell me that I don’t already know?!? However, I am eating crow now because I really look forward to each meeting and learn a lot of things that I didn’t know. Ms. Toni shared a lot of humorous stories with us i.e. Ella helps the younger kids learn their sign language by physically putting their hands together for them to make the motions. Or – Ella is very into routine and was very upset that one of the other daddies started to bring his little boy 10 minutes early which meant that they had to wait to go to breakfast, which did not make Ella happy – go figure, don’t mess with that girls food!

We also go over typical developmental things for kids in her age range. Everything was right on track but they were a bit concerned that she may be behind the other kids in speech development. Currently Ella only says Mama and Hi clearly. She tries other words like Narley (random I know), more, milk, sorry, etc.

She is extremely good at repeating and mimicking sounds – she is just not good at physically producing the words. So we are going to have her observed by a speech pathologist just so we can make sure she stays on track and doesn’t fall farther behind. I have no doubt in my mind that she will be fine – she is a strong little fighter and doesn’t let anything stand in her way.

On Friday last week we had our first daycare fieldtrip to the zoo. Ella loves the zoo and making all the animal noises, so Joe and I both took the morning off to go along and see Ella enjoy her time with her friends. Ella was a bit confused in that fact that all of her friends from daycare actually didn’t live at daycare – it was pretty funny. She acted as if, “Hey – how did you guys know I was coming here? And…how do you know my parents?” Overall, I think everyone had a great time, we especially enjoyed riding the carousel for the first time. I think it’s the first time I have seen Ella emotionless – she just stared the entire time, as if she were on drugs. Here are a few pics from the day.

Top Pic: Hans, Ella, Elliot – patiently waiting for the tiger to come.
Third Pic:  Jacob, Hans, Ms. Eva, Ella, Anabelle, Elliot, Jenna, Ms. Toni, Carter
Fourth Pic: Ella’s first carousel ride with daddy.

BTW – I have not forgot that I promised to continue Ella’s story – and I will, just not now.

As you all know, I have openly stated that this blog thing is an eery place for me right now and I am still getting comfortable writing openly and on a regular basis. Today (technically yesterday since it’s so late) I received the nicest compliments from an old high school friend who stumbled across my blog…and I had to share. When I first started blogging I mentioned that I would use my other high school friend Merl as inspiration because I feel like I can hear her voice and wittiness in every post she writes.

SO….. as you can imagine when Krystal said, “I just wanted to tell you I love your blog and it sometimes brings me to tears because I can HEAR YOUR VOICE when I read it.” I was ecstatic! Inevitably this blog was created for Ella and to help my decrepit mind remember all of our great life stories but, it’s so nice to hear that people actually like what I have to say and can hear my voice as I write. Honestly, one of the nicest compliments I have received in a long time – thank you again Krystal.
This is a picture of me and Krystal – it’s an oldie but a goodie —->

While extremely grateful for the compliment, Krystal’s comment also made me aware that people are seeing my blog that I didn’t necessarily think of before. Not going to lie – I panicked a bit thinking of the fact that PEOPLE are actually reading this. After digging into the analytics and data (remember I am a web geek by day) I realized many more people were looking at it than I had thought. After a minor panic attack, I calmed myself and made a promise that I will try to continue to write openly and not filter because of who is or is not reading what I have to say. Besides, this is for Ella, right?

I would love to know who decided that a week lasts 5 days and a weekend is only 2. When God said Sunday was a day of rest, why didn’t he say Friday, Saturday AND Sunday are days of rest? It’s not like he didn’t have the power to make that decision. Seriously!?!
The sun finally decided to poke it’s bright and shiny face out from the clouds on Friday and offered us a beautiful day for the Henry Vilas Zoo on Saturday. We haven’t gone since last summer and Ella was pretty small then and didn’t really care about the animals. This time around was much different. She was very independent and wanted to walk all over by herself and made all of the animal noises as we visited each one. Today was a nice day as well so we were able to hang outside for a bit and planted flowers and played in the dirt. Weekends like this make life so much happier. I love having beautiful weather to be outside and really enjoy spending time with Ella, she is such a good little girl!