COSI - Columbus Science Center

The family took an unexpected road trip yesterday.  A monster winter storm hit Ann Arbor Tuesday night.  7 inces of sticky, wet snow accumilated on the trees, weighing down branches to the point of them breaking....everywhere!  Living in a nice tree'd area has it's down falls when you don't have buried power lines.  We lost power sometime over Tuesday night and it wasn't predicted to be back until Friday!!!








Braden was scheduled for a day trip to Columbus, OH.  So he offered to let us go and hang out there.  Today Ellie and I went to a really neat Sceince Center, COSI.  She could've spent the entire day hanging out there.  After, we headed into this fun part of town called German Village for lunch.  In German Village, the streets are still brick pavers and the housed are all old colonial bricked buildings.

Kids Kick the Cool Out of You

Before we had Ellie, a New Yorker we met skiing told many hilarious stories about how his kids slowly dismantled his previously "cool" life.  And at the end of ever story, he'd say "kids kick the cool out of you".  And although he seemed to genuinely miss his previous life (fancy cars, nice furniture, big vacations, etc), he'd always say just how much he loved his children and the life he was currently living.

I had an epiphany moment the other day as Ellie and I were tromping around at a local park.  Children are the great equalizers of life.  Children have no idea what status their parents hold in the world (at least for now), nor do they care.  They are driven to grow and learn and grow and learn.

Ellie could care less about all the "cool" things I have achieved.  She just wants me to be her playmate and tromp around in the park.  I finally understood what that New Yorker meant.  The "cool has been kicked out of me".

I've realized just how humbled Ellie has made me.  I really don't seek nice, expensive things anymore because there's a high probability that they will be slimmed up with sticky hands or punctured or accidentally broken. 

That staying patient and calm with a 2 year old is one of the most difficult skills I've ever acquired.  Getting upset only makes things worse and gets neither of us anywhere.

That time goes way too fast and we don't "see" it in our regular adult lives.  But with kids, we get to watch time pass as the inches accumulate, the words collect and they become people.

And that I'm caring less and less about status in the world.  When I meet other parents, no matter who they are and what they do, they have the exact same struggles with their children that I do with Ellie.  The great equalizer in life.

The moon

Last night Ellie and I were driving back from my sister's and there was a full moon in a clear sky.  She struck up this conversation:

E: The moon is following us
Me: Yes, the moon follows us
E: Silly moon
Me: Yep, silly moon
E: We take a rocket ship to the moon
Me: (Surprised) Yes, we have to take rocket ships to get to the moon
E: In outer space
Me: (Again, surprised) That's right in outer space
E: And we float!
Me: (Where is she learning this stuff?) You're right Ellie, we float in outer space because there's no gravity
E: Yup!

Ok, note to self, there's way more going on in that little than I could ever imagine.

Haircuts and #2's

It's a beautiful day in Michigan.  Sunny and bright.  Ellie is fully recovered from a bad bout of norovirus last week.   She's in a great, playful mood.  What I had planned for our Monday morning was cancelled so I decided to take Ellie for her first haircut.

We've been prepping for this.  A new children's haircut place opened in November so I knew this would be the best place for a great first experience.  Ellie and I went and checked the place out in person a couple weeks ago.  We met a really wonderful stylist, Kristin, who helped us decide to cut 4 inches off.  Then we watched a YouTube video of a little girl getting a haircut.  So all that was left was to go do it! 

Ellie did great!  She asked to hold my hand but she sat still and did all the things that Kristin asked her too.  It didn't hurt that there was a sucker, a certificate and the promise of Chipolte quesadillas afterwards :)

And if that weren't enough excitement for the day, she decided to go #2 on the toilet at the place.  After she completed her job, she looked at me with a smile "Do you want to see it?"  Oh, the things we do as parents. :)

I Funny

Ellie's starting to do things and then asking "[Am] I funny?"  I'm not sure if this is something all little people do at some point in their personality development, but it's cracking me up.  And it's just plain fun to see.

Pink Socks

Another gear showed up last week.  Ellie's language took a jump in range (like lots of new words) and complexity.  She was using slang and inflection I haven't seen from her.  We were having full exchanges of conversation.  Talk about startling and funny.  It's pretty hilarious to hear her thoughts...they sometimes are a flowing stream of conscientiousness.  She just starts talking as if eveything that comes into her mind then flows out the mouth now that she has the words and capability. 

The other thing that happened last week involved pink socks.  We were getting ready for daycare/school on Tuesday which we do twice a week.  I've always picked out most of her clothing.  Sometimes I'll give her a choice between two shirts or two pants.  But she's never shown a lick of care about what she wears.  Until Tuesday.  I put her in a pink top with jeans.  I chose black socks since they hide more.  After putting them on her little feet, she looked down and said "Not those momma.  I need pink socks." (knowing that the black socks wouldn't match her top but the pink ones would)  My eyebrows raised in astonishment and I happily complied.