Pretty Nearly Perfect

Today was a banner day for Elise. She is finally getting over a real bear of a cold (which the grownups now have) and things are going her way. The picture above shows Elise wearing her party clothes and checking out her Xmas stocking.

This morning, we did a make-up class at My-Gym. Our first several weeks there were pretty rough because it is (a)noisy (b)active and (c)structured. None of these conditions really help Elise shine. All together, they spell frustration for everyone involved.

Lo and behold, today was the day that it all just clicked. Elise tried new things, did the group activities, and had fun with the teachers. We’d like to think that the previous leaving early and time-outs helped, but really it seems she just wanted to be there today. At any rate, Elise learned a lot, played a lot and is pretty excited to go back to her regular class on Monday. All of this is most wonderful because it’s increased her confidence at the playground, and increased her activity levels in general. Yay Elise!!!

This afternoon, we went to a birthday party. We’ve only played with the birthday girl twice, but apparently it was memorable enough for her to insist on inviting Elise. Oddly enough, Elise also remembered the name of her friend’s little brother even though we haven’t seen him in something like a month and a half.

The party was a lot of fun. Games galore, and of course cupcakes. Elise likely would have preferred brown frosting (as brown is her favorite color) but the pink tasted pretty good, too. Fresh from her own birthday experience, Elise gave quite the rousing rendition of the happy birthday song when the time came.

We’ve been doing a lot of talking about Santa here, and would like to share Elise’s requests in case he happens to be an avid schmiedesgruebl blog reader. Santa, for Christmas Elise would like (and we quote), “a ball, a brand new book and a dog with a leash.” Do your best, big guy, but that dog had better not materialize...

Yesterday, we watched “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and there is some reason to believe that our girl has an impish streak. Much of the last day and a half has been spent with her running around the house saying, “Mommy, I’m the Giiiinch. Kissmas will not come because I am teeeealing ya onaments and tees and pesents.” We really have no idea from whence this curmudgeonly streak comes...