the ELLA echo

wash the car?!?!?!?!?

incredulous, and somewhat mystified, by the entire carwashing process.

truest love

this is rudi. rudi is my husband, the father of my child, and the best friend i've ever had. when rudi came into my life, everything that had once seemed so important lost it's luster, and he has been the center of my world ever since.

rudi is the kind of man every girl dreams of: he is smart--he is thoughtful--he is kind. he is an artist, a philosopher, a dreamer. he makes me laugh--he keeps me warm--and he always knows what brand of chocolate i am currently binging on.

if you are rudi's friend, you will always have someone to help you, no questions asked. you will always have someone to speak well of you, someone who will never let anyone speak badly about you in his presence. rudi is the man who will make sure you have a ride home, a hot meal, someone to talk to when you're hurting the most. rudi will be your friend when you have no more friends left.

when you are tired, rudi will finish the job for you. when you are frustrated, rudi will take over so you can have a break. when you make a mistake, rudi will fix it for you and never even mention that you messed up. rudi stands up for what he believes is right, even if he is the only man standing. rudi will come to your rescue even when you don't deserve his courage or his trust. rudi's loyalty to you will never fail, even if your loyalty to him does.

rudi has a tremendous sense of fun, a tremendous sense of adventure, a tremendous sense of silliness. rudi can make a game of anything, he sees the humor in everything, and he makes things bearable by showing me how to laugh at those times when all i really want to do is cry.

when ella was born, rudi had never changed a diaper, never rocked a baby to sleep, never held a crying child when she got her shots, but he jumped right in and did them all and became an expert daddy in no time. ella loves him with her whole being, she knows his footstep, she knows the rattle of his keys in the door, she looks for him when she wakes up and cries for him when he leaves.

rudi is the kind of man that i hope ella finds when she grows up--a man who is honest, decent, and good. a man who she misses the minute he goes out the door. a man who makes her feel like the luckiest woman in the world.

happy birthday, love! i love you most most.

it IS genetic

one of ella's favorite books is happy baby friends, a cardboard book with just five pages--"faces", "things we do", "moving", "things we eat", "things we wear". the only picture in the whole book that she points to is: shoes.

how to have fun being the center of the world

start out looking for something fun to do on a day when the weather is too bad to go out and play. look for a mall that has a play zone for kids, and if you are too little to make the pirate dock bounce, just let several bigger kids help out. simply sit on the dock listening to your voice go "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah" while the big kids do the bouncing work for you.

when you get tired of bouncing, or your throat gives out, find a boat then follow this procedure: try to climb inside the boat, scare mama to pieces by almost falling head first onto the concrete floor, cry because your leg is too short to throw over the side of the boat, let mama help you get into the boat, nearly fall head first onto the concrete floor trying to climb out of the boat, scare mama to pieces again, cry because your legs are too short to reach the floor from inside the boat, let mama get you back out of the boat, cry because you are now not inside the boat, repeat as needed. finally get in and have three other little girls crawl in and compete to tell scary pirate stories to you even though you don't understand any word that is not "doggie", "kittie", "piggy", or "cracker".

sit graciously while your adoring fans valiently attempt to capture your imagination, then lose complete and total interest when you see that the mall has more to offer than just things to climb on, namely, other things to climb on:

and finally, let mama hold you on the dragon while you ride the merry-go-round at the food court (and remember, you'll build up your fan base if you'll wave and smile at all the food court patrons as you go around):

sunflowers

this is the first anniversary of the day we brought ella home. i took her to see our dear midwives today, to celebrate our joy in our little girl and their part in bringing her into the world. and then i did what i did this day last year, i took her to the garden to see her sunflowers.

reasons "Miffy" is just wrong

N O G G I N: Shows: Miffy

1--"the same game" encourages competitive acquisition.
2--the sole bunny of color among all the white bunnies not representative of the true minority bunny population.
3--the game "who has more?" promotes a mentality of superiority that feeds a sense of entitlement.
4--condescending female narrator who lacks a sense of comic timing.
5--based on the various visual elements represented in the scenery, miffy and the other characters not rendered to scale.

reasons "Dora The Explorer" annoys me

N O G G I N: Shows: Dora The Explorer

1--opening sequence showing dora and boots swinging on a vine encourages reckless play behaviour.
2--magic backpack promotes unrealistic expectations of the contents of purses and diaper bags.
3--spanish language, used in a self-conscious and self-referential manner, lacks appropriate sense of irony.
4--boots' language skills greatly exaggerates the true communicative abilities of the lower primates.
5--dora's head not rendered to scale.

reasons "Oswald" deserves an emmy

N O G G I N: Shows: Oswald

1--a cast that represents all the major kingdoms of living things vastly out-classes the incipient multi-racial casting practices of the current hollywood system.
2--soothing instrumental theme song encourages meditation and reflection.
3--re-purposing of common household objects as dwellings encourages thrift and creates a sense of holistic integration with the environment.
4--closing segment that allows cast members a chance to showcase skills like hula hooping and keep away.
5--in what is clearly an homage to the beloved charlie chaplin, oswald's hat not to scale.

reasons "Oobi" is one of the most innovative dramas on tv

N O G G I N: Shows: Oobi

1--simplistic language encourages the viewer to engage his/her powers of interpretative imagination.
2--double casting of hands challenges the common misconceptions about the bare-hand puppet genre.
3--high production values of the scenic and wardrobe departments.
4--haunting theme song that sticks with you long after the show is over.
5--oobi eyes apparently to scale.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET ELLA!

dear ella:

before you were born, everybody told me i would love you, because you were mine. but they were wrong--i love you because you are YOU.

thank you for being my baby. mama loves you most most!