the ELLA echo

toddler still life

installation piece:  "panda with pea pod"

stuffed animal and plastic, 2005

from the collection of the artist

today's guest list

a bear, a bear in drag, a panda on a hot pad, and jack of jack-in-the-box fame.

(and i've been informed that the thing she is cutting open is an egg, which bears a remarkable resemblance to a peach.  i'm thinking on offering it to the media as some kind of miracle egg).

overheard:

"here go, beer-beer.  opeen wide!"

"oh, panna, where's your foon?"

"who wants apple pie?  me too!"

"ok mama, seat down, your turn!"

post-christmas breakfast

here panda, you sit here.

i get de pwate weady.

wet's eat fwuit!  i wub fwuit!

note to lala:  luis has successfully indoctrinated ella that she should not cut things herself but should instead ask for help from an adult.  thus, she won't cut this fruit, she always gets me or rudi to do it for her.  however, she has figured out that it will all peel too so nobody is going hungry.

the end of the best christmas of my life

"hite, dada, hite!  shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"aprise!"

and the sweetest thing anybody has ever said to me:

"may cwismas, mama.  i wub you."

now THIS is more like it

"a bicycle!  i don't bewieve it!"

"dada, i did it!"

"mama, i sewing!"

"i see da wain!"

<insert happy squeal of delight here>

HOW CAN YOU SLEEP AT A TIME LIKE THIS?

I'M NOT KIDDING NOW, THIS IS NOT FUNNY,

I WANNA SEE SOMEBODY OPENING PRESENTS.

WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!

AM I THE ONLY ONE IN THIS HOUSE WHO CARES

THAT SANTA WAS HERE LAST NIGHT???

santa has left the building

the classic toy list: 

a tricycle, a jack-in-the-box, some lacing cards, a rain stick.  (daba, i hope you like the table and chairs).

while ella has visions of sugar plums dancing in her head, we have visions of an angel baby sleeping in our bed.

i wish you and your loved ones the richest of blessings.

twice in one week, or why i can't watch winnie the pooh ever again

ella and i watched "the new adventures of winnie the pooh" this morning, sitting in the dark in the wee hours, snuggled up under a blanket with our legs twined together to keep warm.

you'd think winnie the pooh would be safe enough, and it is--for her. but not for me.

the episode we saw was "find her, keep her" .  in it, rabbit finds a small bird who is being blown around by a heavy wind, and he decides to keep her and protect her. and in his love for the little bird, he tries to keep her from learning how to fly, because he doesn't want her to fall. he teaches her to grow carrots, and reads books to her, and does all kinds of things to keep her firmly on the ground, and yet one day she learns to fly anyway, and soon she takes off to fly south for the winter with the other birds.

the last thing rabbit says to her as she is flying off is,

"wait! i've changed my mind! you can fly--but please just don't leave."

poor, poor rabbit. 

i sometimes wonder if i'll end up like him--sitting on top of a hill, holding the first carrot my baby bird grows, wondering when she'll come back.  i pray i'll have something "important" to do that day, something to keep me busy.

it's like they're TRYING to make me cry