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March 2, 2004
Two doggy household
Lately Ella is obsessed with pretending she’s a dog. Or, more accurately, a doggy. I remember when I first started reading baby diaries (way back when) reading about a toddler who insisted that he was a dog as well so I’m guessing this is some sort of rite of toddler-hood that I skipped over in the baby books.
Anyway, it’s just too cute. She has a dog costume that I got her a while back and for quite a while she barely gave it the time of day. Then one day she wanted to put it on and ‘bam’! She WAS a doggy. When she’s in her costume she will not respond to Ella (except to correct us) but must be addressed by her doggy name “Coco two” (or Coco too?—I’m not sure which use she meant when she told us her name). She spends the whole time following around poor old Coco—or Coco1, as well call her, to avoid confusion—who had no idea what is going on and why this child, who normally barely acknowledges her, is suddenly her little shadow. If Coco1 lies down, so does Coco2. If Coco1 jumps on my lap, so does Coco 2. If Coco 1 starts barking… well you get the picture.
The funniest thing that Ella—excuse me, Coco 2—does is playing fetch. She goes and gets one of her stuffed animals and brings it to me with the biggest smile on her face and the animal limply dangling from her pearly white teeth. We play a short game of tug of war before I tell her to “Drop It!” and then she runs across the room to retrieve my throw (which I try to make land on the couch and not the floor, as I know it’s going right back in her mouth). I actually took a picture of my two little doggies, side by side, both with toys dangling from their jaws. If it comes out well I will post it on the website.
So this dog thing also extends to her communication. If she is sad she will go around the room whining, and if that doesn’t make us sit up and take notice then she will start to howl. It’s so hard not to laugh. We also do a lot of this “What would you like to drink, Coco2? One bark for water, two barks for milk”. The poor kid had a conniption during the two hours it took to wash the filthy costume (especially dirty since doggies spend so much time rolling around on the floor, under the bed, under the table…).
Memories…
Ella really blows me away with the things she can remember. The other day a yellow VW Bug drove by our house and she started asking about the car that grandpa had gotten her. It’s the same type of car but she hasn’t seen it in over six months! I couldn’t believe that she remembered. She will also sometimes just casually mention people that she met months ago or places that she went. It makes me wonder when and how she will have her ‘first’ memories and when things will start in her long term memory to stick a little more regularly. I think that my first memory was when I was about her age (I was on the farm looking at puppies, and we left the farm shortly after my third birthday). It does add a little pressure to this whole parenting thing, knowing that you could potentially be held accountable for your actions indefinitely.
Cape weekend
We went down to the cape last weekend to visit with the Grandparents. Actually, one of the reasons we went down was that Jamie was helping his parents to move apartments. For those of you that are keeping score, yes, this IS their third move in less then a year. It’s actually something we are a little worried about, like is this the beginning of some sort of senile dementia that they keep uprooting themselves like this over and over? This time they switched apartments within their complex since their upstairs neighbors were too noisy…
Anyway, on nicer subjects, Ella and I spent most of the weekend hanging out with my mom while Jamie was off lugging boxes. We had a very nice weekend. Jamie and I are going to Key Largo for three days next week and my mom will be watching Ella so she spent a lot of time watching closing as to how I interact with Ella so that there would be a smooth transition.
Jamie and I are so excited for our trip. This will be our first vacation with just the two of us since Ella’s birth. We did go to Vegas for a few days last year, but that was with friends and so not as intimate. I am doubly grateful to my mom for watching Ella for us since last year I know she was pretty surprised at how exhausting it can be to watch Ella, and how frustrated she got with the situation sometimes. I don’t think it should be quite as hard this year, since Ella’s verbalization is so much better, you can reason with her more, as well as get a better idea of what she wants and how she is feeling.
Spring!
I am so excited that spring is almost here I swear I am giddy when I think about it. The weather is creeping up, the days are getting longer, and today I saw my first crocus poking out. We are back to taking walks after work/school and Ella has been rediscovering the joys of the play ground. YIPPEEE!!! Can you tell I am just thrilled?!?!?! One of the things I love so much about this time of year—early early spring—is all of the promises that it holds of joyous fun times to come. It’s like a huge pile of presents just waiting to be opened.
Uh oh, she’s up on her soap box again
Just have to put in a quick paragraph to mention that I am so saddened with the state of America these days. I have been and continue to be completely supportive of the gay rights movement and have been thrilled as Massachusetts was taking steps allowing them to wed. I guess, to me, it just seemed so logical and RIGHT that I have been completely thrown off kilter by the extreme opposition coming from people against this legalization. I honestly was shocked to see polls indicating that the majority of Americans—even the majority of Massachusetts citizens—are against gay marriages. And now that Bush, the pompous lying idiot puppet of the religious conservatives, is sticking his ignorant two cents in, it’s gotten even more horrific for this seemingly innocuous cause that is just about treating people equally. The thing is, I really don’t even consider myself all that ‘liberal’ or ‘out there’ but this, to me, is a no brainer. But it seems like on this one I really am in the minority though. How sad. What a huge step back for a supposedly advanced, developed nation.
Bonnie’s book reviews
The Most Unsuitable Wife—I was fooled by the cover, which did not feature a half naked Fabio and a woman with a loose bodice, into not knowing that this book was a trashy romance novel. I could tell by the very first line of the book, however, in that they are all so similar they are barely distinguishable. All the same, I will admit that these so called historical romances are mildly entertaining to me and this one has been as good as any.
As always, thanks for reading.
Bonnie
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