The 'Post' Post

One last post - the 'post' post, if you will-at least until I am asked to be Auntie-In-Charge again someday.

First, a few people have asked for pictures of the infamous spaceship. It was fun to build (despite the fact that my talents lie in education, not engineering) and it occupied a large part of our playtime ...errr... rather we occupied it.
The base was the box that held my little Weber grill-which oddly enough, has a flying saucer-esque quality to it. Nella would point to them and say "Look Sara, MORE spaceships."

Left to right: The radio, the Jigg-a-ma-whizzer (Cat in the Hat reference), and the steering wheel. The top button turned on the in-flight music, the next one was the turbo booster, the third gave us ham sandwiches and the last one gave us hot cocoa. I did not make those up. Nella did.


And lastly, part of any experience for me is taking the time to reflect. So here are a few of the things I've discovered along the way:

1. Childcare is hard work. I knew my sisters were amazing moms, but my respect for them has only deepened. And for those of you raising children on your own-I am not being overly dramatic when I say that your efforts are heroic.

2. I've done so much technical writing or academic writing in the past few years, I forgot how much fun it was to write just for...well...fun. Nella's antics made blogging easier to do, but I look forward to doing this again soon. Maybe as I learn to skydive this summer...

3. Gandhi said "the law of love could best be understood and learned through little children". Nella, Evan and Callie show me this is true every time I am with them. It remains one of my deepest hopes that I have the chance to raise a child of my own someday.

4. Last but not least-Nella takes pretty good pictures for a two and half year old. Case in point:

Happy Girls

(Nella and I are wearing the t-shirts Jess and AJ brought us back from Puerto Rico. Nella's says 'Sky Diva' on the front.)

I can't truly capture in words how much this week has meant to me. Life is short-there is nothing more important than spending time with the people who bring you joy, laughter and peace. Nella is one of those people for me.
I hope I am one of those people for her.

My own Florence Nellagale

Nella and I had a bonus night together with Jess and AJ's delayed arrival home. I think she had a very late nap at school so she wasn't ready to go to bed until later than usual. We went through our routine of dinner, dessert, bath, books (I got her Big Dog, Little Dog-one of my favorites!) and finally...well, if you've ready any of these posts you know what came next -Stories!

I've been fighting a little cold that Nella shared with me and by last night I was exhausted and losing my voice. I could sing her a bit of Toora Loora Looral in a frightful falsetto, but storytelling was severely compromised. She insisted that I lay next to her, on the floor-she even gave me a pillow for my head. I made it through a couple of lame stories and finally had to tell her Auntie Sara was out of commission. She said okay, but asked that I stay in her room. Then she offered me her sippy-cup of water to help my throat and sang me a little song about 5 little chickadees and something that had the chorus of "polly wolly doodle all the day". When she was done singing she rolled over and rubbed my back a little bit. A few minutes later she rolled over again and said "I hope you feel better tomorrow".

And then, with barely a whisper, she said "Good Night".

There isn't any medicine in the world better than that.

Relaxing after a long, hard, day at school

Valentine's Tulips, soy milk, afghan by Ya-Ya and a mini pink recliner = Nella's Happy Hour

Last "Coming Back From School" Story

As we were driving home tonight Nella told me that her friend Ellie had to get a new leg. I asked her why and she said that Ellie had fallen off of a little billy goat and broken her leg so she had to go to the leg doctor and and he made her a new leg and sewed it on. (I met Ellie and she very definitely has both of her original legs, so I don't know where this came from).

Then she said that when she was at the farm, she saw a little billy goat and (no joke) "I put it on my bottom and I didn't fall off! I didn't!"

I asked if she meant that she sat on it, and she said yes.

So even though I wanted to giggle out loud, I just told her I thought she was brave.

Last "Going To School" Story

Let me preface this by saying that I told Nella a story this morning about a kangaroo and a dingo that decided to race to Sydney. They crossed the finish line at the exact same time-it was very dramatic-and ended up sharing first place. I think that may have planted the seed for the following conversation. Ok...

The crosswalks in Middlebury are made of red brick and make a very distinct pattern in the road. As we drove to school this morning Nella saw one and said "Look Sara, it's a finish line. And there's another finish line...and another one!" (There are a lot of crosswalks in Middlebury!) She had been at the Leaf Peepers Half Marathon finish line this past October when I limped across...so after she pointed out all the 'finish lines' in Middlebury she said:

"It's like your finish line when we cheered for you. And then did you have to go lay down and rest somewhere?"

I told her I wanted to (and oh sweet Jesus, how I wanted to ...) but that I had driven back to her house and then we all went out to the dropzone and Daddy and I went skydiving. She said " You did! And Nella too. And Milstone was there and he gave me cookies!"

I asked her if they were yummy cookies and she said "No, I don't like yummy cookies." So I asked what kind of cookie she did like and she said "Ummm ... chocolate."

So Jess...AJ...next time you talk to Milstone could you make sure he knows Nella doesn't like
'yummy cookies' only 'chocolate' ones.

Nella shuffled into my room this morning and put her face very close to mine. I opened an eye and said "Good Morning, Nella." She replied "Ummmm, are you Aunt Sara?"

Guess she wanted to be sure before she climbed into bed to watch cartoons with someone else.