10 New Reasons I LOVE Ella.

1. Because she says things like:
"Croutons are awesome. They really rock a salad."
"Are clowns real people?"

2. She wants roller skates for Christmas and was totally on board with trying the whole skating thing. We took her (and Maya! can you picture it??) to the indoor rink and she went around the rink, slipping and sliding and skidding at a pace that would have a snail doing laps around her. When the torture was over and we were sliding the banana peels off her feet, we asked her if she still wanted Santa to bring her roller skates. "Yep."

3. In the re-telling of the skating story, Ella recounts that she slipped and fell because, "I lost my mind."

4. In order to get Maya to properly wash her body in the tub, Ella is the teacher of "washing class."

5. When we went to help Kristi clean her brand, spanking new, GORGEOUS house (pictures to follow) as part of her birthday party, Ella went full tilt all day. And then her cousin Brevan left, and everyone started to peeter out along with her stamina. She hit the car in full tears and wailed, "I don't like this place." This was followed by, "You don't love me like you used to. Now you love Maya." Where does this stuff even come from? A little tired and the whole world comes crashing down? After attempt number 10 to assure Ella of our love for her, I told her that we would love her always, that she was ours and that there was nothing she could ever do that would make us stop loving her. This was received with the most enormous grin, like she was filled to overflowing with love.

6. The velcro on Ella's boots just won't stick. Today she said to said very solemnly to me, "We REALLY need to call LLBean."

7. When I told Sandi I was going to send Santa (her mom) a text message saying that I like coffee now, Ella asked, "Can you really send Santa a text message?"

8. Ella asked when Brady was going to come over to see our Christmas decorations. I told her I wasn't sure, that Christmas time is a busy time for people. And the sage replied, "But isn't spending time with people we love the whole point?"

9. We have a screaming/whining room at our house now and anyone can use it at anytime for these purposes. Ella doesn't fight it anymore, she just goes in there and gets it out and returns cheerily to the house. However, the impetus for such a room came after she and I had some very angry altercations one morning before school when she was painfully tired and argumentative and I was (embarrassingly) returning retorts like a five-year-old. I told her she was tired and maybe needed a nap instead of school. "I think you're the one who needs a nap," she returned. I came up with the screaming room that afternoon. I use it too.

10. Because last night, after four torturous nights of trying to get Maya to sleep, she willingly climbed into her crib and lay with her sister until she fell asleep. She lay quietly with her for close to 30 minutes, pulling the handle on the lullaby bunny to make it sing to Maya. When I picked her up out of the crib and thanked her profusely she said, "I did what you couldn't do. Well, me and the pink, singing bunny."