1st week of school behind us...

My sweet neighbor, Cathy, snapped this photo of Ellie and I at the co-curricular fair last week. Before she sent it, she told me of a photo she got of us sitting down and I honestly couldn't remember sitting down because Ellie was moving CONSTANTLY! In a crowd of over a thousand people, I couldn't afford to sit and keep and eye on her, but apparently Ellie did take a break.

No news from here... just enjoying reconnecting with our college friends and trying to stay a step ahead of seasonal allergies -- which have hit Ellie hard.

Saturday with Nonna and PaPa

On Saturday Nathan and I attended the wedding of one of our student cabinet members which coincidentally took place only a few miles from Mom and Dad Waggoner's home. They graciously agreed to keep Ellie for us and took her to the local children's touch and feel museum. They captured these pics for us to see what she enjoyed doing. I thought you might enjoy seeing them as well!

Chef Ellie making pizza

Much to our surprise, she really liked the grocery shopping experience. Why doesn't she enjoy it when she's with us?

No surprise to us that she loved the water table!


Apparently she loved the shape sorter so much that when she grabbed the microphone, she immediately said, "Purple Triangle!"

For the record, Ellie didn't want her hair combed and Nonna didn't want to be the meanie. Also, I inadvertently hid Ellie's glasses the night before so that's why she's sans spectacles in these pics...

Ellie completed her 3rd day of school today and so far seems to love it!

First Day of School!

come on! let's go!

Crunching leaves on the sidewalk

more interested in checking out the arriving school buses than posing for a picture

More Brown County Pics and a few Ellie stories

Gotta love Picasa for photo sharing... some of these I pulled off of the community family album from our reunion last weekend, others were found on another photo card I had that didn't get downloaded until just now.

playin' in the rocks

getting a big smooch from Aunt Dianna

Sunday brunch

Ellie's sweet VT cousin, Tua (I love this pic!)
I loved that she was so much more comfortable with us this visit

Because Ellie's had so many delays, we always love and celebrate when Ellie does something so kid normal. Today we told her after church we would go to McDonalds (so she could play at the Playplace). She actually got excited and said, "McDonalds! McDonalds! McDonalds!" I guess she knows the Golden Arches now! She got there and played over an hour before we could tear her away. Partly, I think, because shortly after she finished lunch she was joined by half a dozen or more kids and was fascinated with their agility in the tubes and tunnels. One of whom saw her (apparently) staring at him so he got in her face really close and said (in a friendly way, but in a VERY loud voice), "Buenos Deeeaaassss!" (Maybe he thought that if he spoke louder, she would understand him?) Yes, even in small town KY we don't have to go very far for a cross-cultural experience.

The other day when we were hosting Ellie's teachers, she saw their digital camera on the floor, lens side down which meant that the LCD display was face up. Apparently it resembled our PDA cell phone because Ellie picked it up, put it to the side of her face and said, "Hello! blah, blah, blah. Buh bye!" This kind of imaginary play is something most kids half her age are already engaging in, not to mention, she's always strongly resisted any kind of talking on the phone when relatives call so this was pretty cool to see her initiate. Tonight while Nathan was running a quick erand, he called home to see if I needed anything else while he was out. Ellie was there so I thought I would give it a try and see if she would talk to her dad on the phone. She actually let me hold the phone next to her ear and she said, "Hello! Hello! BYE!!!" before pushing the phone away.

Some of my favorite moments with her now are her singing moments. This happens most frequently in her car seat. She doesn't say many of the words very well, but you can usually understand the tune pretty easily to know what she's singing. Some of her favorites are "Jesus Loves Me" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." But it's not just singing, she's talking to herself in indiscernable speech, but seems like she wants to speak in sentences like everyone around her which is pretty cool.

Finally, she now understands that if she gets any kind of bump or bruise, she can illicit immediate sympathy and kisses. She'll point to the tender area and say, "Sorry. Kiss? Kiss?"

Last Summer Saturday...

My mom told us over Brown County weekend that we have a tomboy on our hands (she likes to play rough and prefers balls over babies). This further substantiates Mom's claim...

pointing to her name on the classroom wall (above)
This was taken at 6:45 this evening (below)

Today we enjoyed some family time at our church's open house for the new children's education wing. They had giant inflatables (which we thought Ellie would never leave), then they also had the Sunday school classrooms open so kids could meet their teachers (which we thought Ellie would also never leave, in spite of the fact that we told her she would be back in the morning). When it was all over, we got a preview of what our evenings might be like when Ellie misses her 2 hour afternoon nap to attend pre-school...

Funny little side-story.... Remember our girl with all the eating/chewing issues? Nathan discovered that she would not only eat a piece of PB&J sandwich, but STUFF her mouth with sandwich pieces to the point of almost choking, to watch him wave his arms above his head and shake his body cheering, "Woo hoo!" It's pretty funny.

First Teacher Meeting!

Here is Ellie with two of her teachers! (Her class of 13 will also have a couple of additional assistants in it). These two visited us at home this morning so Ellie could get to know them better before her first day next Wednesday. It was also a good opportunity for us to give them input into some of Ellie's special ways of working and interacting with others.

They shared with us their various communication methods they will be using each day to let us know what she will have done that day in school. We also learned the kind of curriculum which will be used in the classroom and the kinds of activities the children will do in each discipline to tie into the particular module of the month. All I can say is, Ellie is going to have so much fun, she's going to wish she could go to school every day of the week! We're excited because it's going to provide her little brain with the challenge it craves, while satisfying her social and sensory needs in a very supportive and caring environment. We are frequently asked how we feel about sending Ellie to preschool, and we couldn't be more happy with situation she is transitioning into.

One of the super cool things we learned today (in a rather offhand manner during our conversation) was that Ellie's head teacher (on the left) travels to Haiti every summer to work with orphans and that her ultimate dream is to teach full time to orphans down there! Nathan and I have marveled at God's goodness for giving her such a teacher! All along the way His provision for Ellie has always exceeded our expectation. Why should we be surprised?

And, in another 'random' twist of things today, I learned while checking out that my cashier at Wal Mart has a son that will be one of Ellie's 12 classmates! What are the odds?

slow news day

We are officially down to 7 days until Freshmen Orientation... so we've been kicking the summer project list into high gear. Sorry there's no Ellie picts today...

Nathan did a beautiful job repainting the wood stove insert -- unfortunately it appears that candle wax or something melted and prevented a flawless finish. We tried a wire brush and sandpaper to no avail. Any suggestions out there for removing it? Any solvent?

Oh, and we still have another wood stove yet to do...

I have no 'before' photos here because, frankly, it was too embarassing to show how bad we let this area go. Take my word for it that it was overgrown and we are very fortunate to not have broken out with bad cases of poison ivy from yesterday's clearning job.

This is what 3.5 tons of river rock looks like.

The boards (above) were not 6 inches wide as we assumed and we came up short. Can't check this project off the list quite yet.
Other projects not pictured: mulching the front beds and Nathan repairing the pull-down projection screen.

I'm being quite vulnerable here and sharing my 'to do' list from this week (my master list is on another paper). While I feel pretty good about what has been crossed off, I printed a separate page just for tomorrow. Before you make fun, this is my brain. If it doesn't get on the calendar or master list, it will literally be forgotten. Summertime is my chance to tackle the 'master list' that builds up during busy college semesters. This is why I like summer (and Microsoft Outlook) and why I love days like today. This is also why I'm feeling a mounting pressure to keep pushing hard until school starts because if it's not done by then, we're looking at Summer '09, Baby.

School Open House

Tonight we got to bring Ellie back to visit her new school again before her first day next week.

Here she is working her charm on the special ed TA

This classroom was the same place where Nonna did her student teaching 30+ years ago

Though we're still debating about the use of the school bus, we didn't think it would hurt to take the practice bus ride around town.

She didn't seem to mind it too much!

I think this may very well be her first 'fake' smile for the camera (click to enlarge).

Family Times

We were blessed to enjoy the fellowship of our Whiteford family this past weekend in Brown County, Indiana. This tradition has been taking place for nearly 30 years and been the source of many rich memories. Now it's fun (and not a little strange) to document Ellie interacting with her cousins and 2nd cousins, making memories of her own. We love our family!