Back to school!

So Ella started back to school this past Thursday -- can I get an amen?  Don't get me wrong -- the kid is fabulous, but Mommy needs a little bit of sanity time to sleep get things done.

She was totally excited to go back, which was nice to see.  Anytime we drive by her school (which is at the local Friends Meeting), she makes sure to broadcast loud and clear that that's her school over there.  It's pretty cute.

Her teacher said she's matured a lot over the summer.  She's much more willing now to ask for something she needs or wants.  I was really happy to hear this, because to say she's not an assertive child is an understatement.

Anyway, here she is just before we left the house:

Yep, that's my nutty kid.

A couple of Little things.

After a full year of Kindermusik with Ella, Jon and I decided we'd have her do something completely different this fall -- The Little Gym.   Our friends Sara and Randy have had Gracie in Little Gym for a couple of semesters now, and from what Sara's told me, they really like it.  So off we went last Saturday to an intro class!

Ready for a forward roll!

Ella seemed to enjoy herself.  As is standard for her when she's in a new situation, she tends to be more of an observer and more reserved, but she surprised both Jon and I when she ran up and gave Miss Brittany (the instructor) a high-five during the hello song time!  I was fully expecting her not to do it, but she saw the other kids go first, and I think that helped her.

She turned out to be a fan of the balance beam (the low one -- not quite brave enough to go on the tall one, and I can't say that I blame her!), and after some initial hesitation, forward rolls became a big hit as well.  We've been practicing those at home throughout the week here at home, too.

So I think we'll be signing her up for that.  Jon thinks it will help with her future hockey career :)  I think it's a good chance for her to try something different.

The other big thing going on is that Ella started Little Friends today!  In fact, as I'm typing this, she's actually there now.  She didn't cry when I left (and *I* didn't cry when I left, more to the point) -- just gave me a hug and said "Bye!".   So fingers crossed that all is going well.  I go to pick her up in about 30 minutes, and we're going to meet Daddy for a special "first day of school" lunch.

Here's the big girl as we left the house this morning:

Post-preschool update: Ella had a great day, up until about the last 15 minutes, when she apparently decided she'd had enough :)  Her teacher said she did periodically get a little teary through the morning, but she was able to distract her and get her mind on other activities.  She even learned a couple of her classmates' names today.  She says she wants to go back next week -- yay!

A visit to preschool and other things.

(Author's note: I realize that I have been terribly deficient at updating as of late.  I will endeavor not to fall so far behind in the future...mostly to keep Jon and my mother off my back.)

After some debate, Jon and I decided it would be a good idea for Ella to tackle preschool in the fall.  It seems sort of early, but she doesn't get much interaction with other kids her age, bless her heart, and she tends to hang a bit tightly to the apron strings sometimes.

So we (well, I) researched a few local programs.  We just wanted something a couple of mornings a week, nothing crazy...and nothing ridiculously expensive, either.  The combination proved a little harder to find than I expected.  Finally, I hit on one that sounded like a winner -- the Little Friends program up at the local Friends Meeting.  It's two days a week, from 9-12, and as an added bonus for Jon and me, the Quakers are SUPER-liberal.  Woohoo!  It's a co-op as well, so a parent assists each day (you wind up going in about once a month), and I think that's a pretty neat aspect as well.

I got a call from the teacher, and she invited Ella and me to come visit the classroom during their summer camp.  We were there for about an hour, and I really liked what I saw, and what Stuart (the teacher) told me as well.  Ella wasn't opposed either -- she colored some, had a cupcake, and read some books with the teacher on the sofa.  So I think it's going to be a really good fit for her (and for us!).

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The tree is finally down in the backyard, and not of its own volition!  A few days after my last update, the tree people (via Duke Power) came out very early in the morning (well, it was like 8:15am...early for us, not for humanity), and they took it down.

It was quite a process to watch.  They had all kinds of ropes tied to it and looped over other trees and whatnot.  One guy wound up scaling a VERY skinny tree near the falling one,  and was using a chainsaw -- ONE-HANDED -- to cut the dead tree into logs that they went crashing down to the ground.

Once they had it cut down to a reasonable height, another fellow cut the dead tree down at the base, and the guys manning the ropes swung it up and over the fence, and then lowered it to the ground on the other side.  The whole process took about an hour, and I still am amazed today that we never lost power, the fence didn't get torn down, and the shed is still standing.

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BODILY FUNCTION TALK AHEAD.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

Ella's potty-training is going REALLY well, and Jon and I are both really pleased and proud of her progress. We've been working at it full-throttle for about a week now, and are having great success with regular pees, with very few accidents so far.  I've mostly just been letting her run around pants-less, and she seems to be getting a good handle on when she has to go, and self-regulating.  

Up until last night, we'd only had pee, but she absolutely floored both of us by sitting down and pooping in the potty -- completely unprompted!  We hadn't been really focusing on that at all -- just asking her occasionally if she needed to do it, which was always met with a "no".  Last night, though, she just sat down and went!  I think it freaked her out a bit -- she got kind of upset about the whole thing, but it wasn't anything some stickers and a few M&Ms couldn't sort out.  

I would LOVE to have her fully daytime trained by the time we go to FL in January, so keep your fingers crossed that everything continues to go smoothly.