random stories

On Saturday, I was combing Ellie's hair before we went to the grocery store. Having her hair combed is distinctly not Ellie's favorite activity. We were in the bathroom; I was sitting on the closed toilet and she had her face buried on my knees as she cried while her hair was being combed (as gently as possible).

I decided to try to distract her by singing her favorite song, "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain". When I got to the end of the first line, still with her face buried, still crying, Ellie raised her little hand and said in her most pathetic, tear-laden voice, "Toot, toot," while doing the hand motion for pulling the train whistle. Talk about feeling guilty - here I was torturing my poor child and she's still bravely participating in this song. This kept going through a shaky-voiced "Whoaa, back," when we finally finished combing her hair.

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On Sunday, Ellie walked two miles! We walked from our house down to a local coffeeshop, downtown in the small town where we live. This involves some large hills and a lot of steps. She walked almost the entire way. Actually, she never wanted to be carried, but I did carry her for short distances a few times after she'd find a friendly storefront and sit down on the curb. "Sit down? Mom sit down too?" "Do you want to be carried, honey?" "No..." I'd pick her up and carry her a few steps: "Down? Go for walk?"

At the coffeeshop, we had a seven-layer bar, a strawberry shortbread bar, apple juice, and water before heading back up the hill. She napped quite soundly when we got home.

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I think she's going to be a wonderful big sister. She still looks confused when we talk about the baby growing in Mom's tummy, and last night as we were reading on the couch, she cast a distinctly suspicious look at my belly as the baby was moving quite a lot. She loves to take care of her baby dolls, though.

I just hope she's a little more gentle with the baby than she is with her dolls. I take some comfort in the fact that the baby won't have that much hair for a while.