Driving Miss Ellie

Lately some of the best direct conversation I have shared with my almost-four-year-old has been in the car. I suppose that is because there are fewer distractions and we can't physically walk away from one another. She has been learning how to express her emotions verbally, and I must say I am quite proud! Since she was very young I have tried to teach her the words for the emotions she feels, both to validate her feelings and give that feeling a name. Hopefully, then she would learn to tell us she is very frustrated, rather than physically acting out when she is feeling that way. And so far, so good; thankfully she's not a violently reactive kid.

Last week we went to Pat's school to see the his 6th grade play. It was very good, too! Pat and his students actually wrote, directed, assembled and produced the entire thing - very funny and impressive! The girls and I were driving home that evening and it was just about bedtime. I was doing everything I could to keep them from falling asleep in the car during the last 15 minutes of the drive. Ellie can be extremely grumpy if she dozes off and has to wake up and get out of the car.

When the very loud New Kids on the Block music was not working (even when i was singing along), I rolled down the windows. The wind was whipping her hair into her face and eyes and it was obviously annoying her. She whines at me, "Stop, you're hurting my feelings!" I laughed at her and it made her even more upset and she began screaming and crying, "Put the windows up, it's HURTING MY FEELINGS!"

The very next day, we were getting buckled in the car to come home from the library. Ellie asked me if we could come back tomorrow and get a video, because we didn't check one out that day. I explained that the next day would be Saturday and we had something else to do and couldn't come back. Upset by this, and also upset that I was talking to a friend in the parking lot and only half-listening to her, she started yelling, "That makes me jealous!" Iasked her if she was mad, and she insisted again, "No, jealous!" So perhaps we need to check out a book about emotions.

Another new skill Ellie has been toying with is rhyming. She understands what it means to rhyme and likes to say different words aloud to hear for herself if they do, indeed, sound the same. Last week we were driving home and I gave her some words to see if she could name some rhyming words. Boat, coat, goat, moat (even though she probably has no idea what a moat is, it counts!)... she's a pro. Then she wanted to give Mommy a word to rhyme with. Glasses. I tried to think of some words that she might know what they were. So I explained classes and molasses and she didn't seem to need verification that those were actually words and not just rhyming sounds. She told me, "No, no Mommy. You forgot the other one! Asses." Hmmm. I assure you I do not use this word. :) "Glasses, asses. It rhymes!" Indeed it does, big girl. :)

Oh, and I really love this stool. It's super.




Kids can climb up and down it, mostly unassisted, and reach the sink and the soap. It's really nice to just be able to tell them to go wash their hands. And usually I am very close by to supervise. And the stepstool is not always in front of the sink. But this is what happens when I leave the stool there just long enough to unload the dishwasher.

A 19 month-old completely soaks and 'shampoos' her hair with handsoap, of course!

And this was just too darn cute!