"Do you think Dad is really a Jedi?" ~ I don't want to give anything away.
"Well, sometimes I do. But he's ticklish."
Like, a true Jedi would just use the force, right?
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When Ella was four years old and we were eating Chinese food, she pulled open her fortune from the cookie and handed it to me so that I could read it for her.
"You will marry Ellis Leominster" I read out loud, eyes wide, astonished!
Ellis is a toe headed, brown eyed little bad ass in her school that lives just down the road. He's so shy that he mostly just looks put out, but he's awfully sweet. And I really wouldn't mind having his folks as in-laws.
Ella is nine years old now and still she believes that that fortune was the real deal. At one point, I wonder, will she put two and two together? I don't know if her crush is just a strong crush or if that fortune has just written it in stone but I can't figure out how to go about it at this point. Just let it organically happen? Like the tooth fairy and Santa Claus? Can you imagine if she actually ended up with Ellis?
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How do people rationalize spending $87 on a doll that doesn't even do anything? Oh wait, it does stuff. It wears expensive clothes and collects expensive stuff. How on earth did I get myself stuck in this situation? If I'm going to spend that much money, the doll should be doing my dishes at night. Maybe feeding the dogs and bringing in firewood.
I've somehow ended up in the American Girl universe. I flat out told her that I wasn't going to buy her an American Girl for Christmas. No way. So, she says a few days later, "Maybe Santa will bring one...."
Then, in Pennsylvania, visiting my folks, she find the catalogue in my mom's pile (my mom is a consumer with perfect credit. You name the catologue, she gets it in the mail.) and she spends the entire four days with the thing under her nose. Not asking, mind you, for anything. Just looking.
Ella hasn't ever really asked for anything for Christmas. I don't think she realized until this year that that was even an option. And still, other than that American Girl request, she just wants "surprises". When people ask her what she wants, she tends to look at them like they're aliens. Like they're breaking the rules. Blasphemy.
Three or four years ago, she was looking through the very expensive, very dreamy Magic Cabin Dolls catalogue in the living room. She came tearing into the kitchen, all red faced, with the catalogue folded over to the page with the beautiful flower fairy ring that you can hang outside on a tree limb or over the bed. She was out of breath and all electric and I figured the next question out of her mouth (it being early December) would be, "Can I get this for Christmas?" But it wasn't. It was, "Can I rip this out of the catalogue and hang it on my wall?" Like, that would have been sufficient. It might have satiated her wanting.
So, I somehow ended up with a check from my mom, covering half the cost for the doll. In the hypnotic blur that usually happens during those visits, I somehow rationalized that buying an $87 doll is okay if I'm only covering half the cost. Like $43.50 is a reasonable price for a doll. And now I can look forward to scrambling around, looking for those homemade American Girl doll clothes so that I won't have to buy them from the catalogue. I'd much rather support some local granny. Too bad some local granny doesn't perfectly replicate American Dolls.
But I remember deciding to go ahead and buy that flower ring. At no point did it ever occur to her to even ask for it. But that Christmas morning, she unwrapped that thing and I still have yet to see her more thrilled. She was like a child on hyper speed. Her pupils dilated, she started jumping on and off the couch and running around the room, screaming, "oh my god, oh my god".
Maybe as a parent, I'm just trying to get that high again.
___________________________________________
Speaking of Christmas, Ella had another strange request. In my Buffy post, I'd mentioned my friend Teri, with the purple streak and the essential oils..... Well, I guess last year, after her mother passed away, Santa delivered a letter from her to her daughter. Her daughter told this to Ella and it got her thinking.
My great aunt Margaret was very much like a grandmother to me and was well in the throws of Alzheimers by the time Ella was born. But they're very much cut from the same cloth and if she had died before Ella was born I would be very convinced that Ella was a reincarnation of Margaret. They both have the same shaped twinkling eyes, the same coyote trickster personality. They have the same coloring, love of songs and poetry and jingles. They're baby pictures are eerily identical. They are always trying to pull one over on you and never ever give a straight answer.
I think because we talk alot about our ancestors, especially as Halloween draws near and we build our alter every year, Ella is very aware of these older relatives and their relevance in our lives. After her friend told her about the letter from her grandmother, Ella got it into her head that Santa must be able to do that for everyone.
She wrote him a letter yesterday and fastened it to her stocking with a safety pin.
When Ella was four years old and we were eating Chinese food, she pulled open her fortune from the cookie and handed it to me so that I could read it for her.
"You will marry Ellis Leominster" I read out loud, eyes wide, astonished!
Ellis is a toe headed, brown eyed little bad ass in her school that lives just down the road. He's so shy that he mostly just looks put out, but he's awfully sweet. And I really wouldn't mind having his folks as in-laws.
Ella is nine years old now and still she believes that that fortune was the real deal. At one point, I wonder, will she put two and two together? I don't know if her crush is just a strong crush or if that fortune has just written it in stone but I can't figure out how to go about it at this point. Just let it organically happen? Like the tooth fairy and Santa Claus? Can you imagine if she actually ended up with Ellis?
____________________________________
How do people rationalize spending $87 on a doll that doesn't even do anything? Oh wait, it does stuff. It wears expensive clothes and collects expensive stuff. How on earth did I get myself stuck in this situation? If I'm going to spend that much money, the doll should be doing my dishes at night. Maybe feeding the dogs and bringing in firewood.
I've somehow ended up in the American Girl universe. I flat out told her that I wasn't going to buy her an American Girl for Christmas. No way. So, she says a few days later, "Maybe Santa will bring one...."
Then, in Pennsylvania, visiting my folks, she find the catalogue in my mom's pile (my mom is a consumer with perfect credit. You name the catologue, she gets it in the mail.) and she spends the entire four days with the thing under her nose. Not asking, mind you, for anything. Just looking.
Ella hasn't ever really asked for anything for Christmas. I don't think she realized until this year that that was even an option. And still, other than that American Girl request, she just wants "surprises". When people ask her what she wants, she tends to look at them like they're aliens. Like they're breaking the rules. Blasphemy.
Three or four years ago, she was looking through the very expensive, very dreamy Magic Cabin Dolls catalogue in the living room. She came tearing into the kitchen, all red faced, with the catalogue folded over to the page with the beautiful flower fairy ring that you can hang outside on a tree limb or over the bed. She was out of breath and all electric and I figured the next question out of her mouth (it being early December) would be, "Can I get this for Christmas?" But it wasn't. It was, "Can I rip this out of the catalogue and hang it on my wall?" Like, that would have been sufficient. It might have satiated her wanting.
So, I somehow ended up with a check from my mom, covering half the cost for the doll. In the hypnotic blur that usually happens during those visits, I somehow rationalized that buying an $87 doll is okay if I'm only covering half the cost. Like $43.50 is a reasonable price for a doll. And now I can look forward to scrambling around, looking for those homemade American Girl doll clothes so that I won't have to buy them from the catalogue. I'd much rather support some local granny. Too bad some local granny doesn't perfectly replicate American Dolls.
But I remember deciding to go ahead and buy that flower ring. At no point did it ever occur to her to even ask for it. But that Christmas morning, she unwrapped that thing and I still have yet to see her more thrilled. She was like a child on hyper speed. Her pupils dilated, she started jumping on and off the couch and running around the room, screaming, "oh my god, oh my god".
Maybe as a parent, I'm just trying to get that high again.
___________________________________________
Speaking of Christmas, Ella had another strange request. In my Buffy post, I'd mentioned my friend Teri, with the purple streak and the essential oils..... Well, I guess last year, after her mother passed away, Santa delivered a letter from her to her daughter. Her daughter told this to Ella and it got her thinking.
My great aunt Margaret was very much like a grandmother to me and was well in the throws of Alzheimers by the time Ella was born. But they're very much cut from the same cloth and if she had died before Ella was born I would be very convinced that Ella was a reincarnation of Margaret. They both have the same shaped twinkling eyes, the same coyote trickster personality. They have the same coloring, love of songs and poetry and jingles. They're baby pictures are eerily identical. They are always trying to pull one over on you and never ever give a straight answer.
I think because we talk alot about our ancestors, especially as Halloween draws near and we build our alter every year, Ella is very aware of these older relatives and their relevance in our lives. After her friend told her about the letter from her grandmother, Ella got it into her head that Santa must be able to do that for everyone.
She wrote him a letter yesterday and fastened it to her stocking with a safety pin.
Dear Santa Claus,
How are you doing? How old are you?
Can you get a letter from my aunt Margaret?
How are the reindeer? Can I give you this bell?
How do you get from house to house?
I wish you a merry Christmas.
Love, Ella
Help.
2 comments:
thats so cute I can't stand it.
great writing as ALWAYS. I love your mother daughter stories.
Great post. So do you make up a letter or let her be disappointed?
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