When we’re home during the day, Ellie will sometimes ask to watch a movie. A favorite of late seems to be Veggie Tales (not an all bad favorite to have!). She’ll ask to watch “bob larry”. Its so very cute, and how can I resist getting a little time to accomplish something as well as some quality cartoons for her? Its a win, win.

A couple weekends ago, we were out shopping for minivans…ahh, the dreaded but so necessary part of being parents of 2…

We stopped at Rydell Chevrolet, where one of the salesmen used to be a volunteer for me when I was a youth director in Cedar Falls. We were out looking around and went inside to warm up a bit when another salesman asked Ellie if she wanted a bear. I wasn’t really listening (I was across the room talking to Todd), and I heard “would you like a beer?” “A white beer or a brown beer?” Assuming all was okay, and that my husband wouldn’t really let this guy give my daughter a beer…I went on talking to Todd and ignoring what was going on.

Eventually this man disappears and a few minutes later reappears holding not one, but two white teddy bears. I was a little confused, but thought…okay…whatever. Apparently, when asked how many bears/”beers” she wanted, one or two…she said two.

Only after having Nathan recant the whole conversation with me in the car on the drive home and realizing that the man had indeed offered her bears, not beers, did this all make sense to me.

A long story short…a new friend is here…both the bear, and the salesmen at Rydell Chevrolet.

Here is a photo of Ellie, our salesman, and the new van…

When Ellie was born I expected her to go through different phases as she grew up. For example, the phase as she learned to talk where “No” was her favorite word. This wasn’t as bad as I had expected, probably because we thought it was kind of funny when she would yell “NOOO TANKYOU!” or “STOP IT!” at us. And I fully expect that at some point I’ll probably be the meanest person she knows and I won’t understand anything. And I’ll take that as a sign of being a good parent.

A phase I didn’t expect for some reason is the “Ellie do it!” phase which she seems to be in now. She wants to do everything. It doesn’t matter that the 40lb bag of softner salt weighs more than she does and she can barely drag across the floor it much less get it over the baby gate and carry it downstairs. If you say you’re taking it downstairs she screams “ELLIE DO IT!” and throws a fit when you pick it up after she’s spent three minutes pulling at it and has moved it half an inch. It also doesn’t seem to matter that there are some things that she really can’t do. If I tell her I’m going to the bathroom she yells “ELLIE DO IT! ELLIE COME TOO” and ends up lying on the floor crying outside the door when I don’t let her come with. I think my favorite times, though, are when she really is able to at least think she’s helping. For example, when Janette gets home from work and changes her clothes Ellie “helps” by lifting Janette’s legs up out of her pants. For some reason I don’t seem to rank high enough to get that help.

I’m sure some day I’ll be glad that Ellie is independent, and assertive, and likes to help. Until then I’ll just keep reminding myself that she means well, and that’s nice.

This past weekend, Ellie was invited to a birthday party for a little boy she knows from daycare. It was at McDonalds. I had never been to a party at McDonalds prior to this, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew, of course, that it would be in the play area (which we have only recently introduced Ellie to) and that it would be a chore to try and convince her that eating was the thing to do when there was much playing to be done…

All went well…and in the end, she had the best time of her little life. There was only one occurrence of someone having to go in after her…Thanks Heather. In my present state, there was no way I was climbing in after my crying child…although the thought did cross my mind for a brief second…and while Nathan was deciding whether she’d stop crying on her own or not, Heather ripped off her shoes and climbed right in. Thank goodness for moms who worry when they can’t see crying children, just like I do.

I’ve also decided that I need one of these things for my house. One, look at the joy on her face when she came down that slide…

and Two, think of the containment factor.

This could be the answer we all look for. Just close off that sucker and let her play in a nice, plastic enclosed space. Sounds like a winner to me, after a very long winter with very few outside play days!

So, last week I blogged about my frustrating day, starting with the chocolate people that made me crazy…I thought this week, you may like to see what exactly it was I ordered from a chocolate store in Vermont of all places.

Yes…among my newfound talents…toilet cakes. I did not know this talent was one I posessed, but it was brought about by other creative minds and a willingness to try anything once. The seat came from Creative Chocolates of Vermont and is solid chocolate with painted on flowers…all edible of course.

Doesn’t it just make you want to eat cake?