Ellia Update

"Stage 5 Clinger"
We all know that Ellia has, for some reason, put Jackson into a catagory all his own.
She shows such a different side of her when she's with him. I think she had envisioned Jackson's birthday party a certain way, in her own little head. And in the beginning things went according to plan: she sat next to him at his party table & then they went to the tunnel crawling maze together. Jackson had lots other friends there and naturally he wound up in another part of the maze with another friend. Well, that was not in the plan
. . .

After that happened, Ellia had a somewhat letdown look to her. And Jackson at times had a held-hostage look to him. These goofy kids are so interesting to watch, as they grapple with 'real world' emotions. And then they squeal and skip off.

Thank goodness for Gramma & Grampa's house! Ellia always looks forward to going there: Picking oranges with Uncle Adam, The Castle Amusement Park with Grampa, grooming Kirby (the doggie), and lots of loving attention!

We had some recent bouts with random illnesses & a few trips to the doc. But both girls did so well waiting in the lobby, then the patient room & then letting the doc figure out what was going on. Plus, on one visit, we didn't have a car to get there so we had to take a loong stroller/trike trip...but we made it fun!

"That's beautiful, Mommy."
I don't think anyone says "beautiful" more beautifully than Ellia. When I sat down with Ellia and started coloring in her book, I suddenly realized that it's the first time since I was an adolescent that I've colored a page in a coloring book! There's quite a few 1970s era photos of myself, head bowed, calmly but intently coloring, coloring, coloring. I hope Ellia & I can do artistic things together throughout the years.