no more tears

she doesn't cry now when i drop her off at school. it's such a corner turned for us that it brings tears to my eyes. tears of happy! we had a very rough morning today after a rough night of not enough sleep. i let her sleep in a little and she still didn't want to get out of bed. then she cried and had a fit during her bath, actually threw cups full of water at me until i managed to wrestle them away from her. she didn't want to get dressed. after all that, i was sure leaving her at school this morning would be traumatic and i dreaded it since it's been a whole week of no tears at morning drop-off. but no. she got right into line with her classmates, waved goodbye to me and even smiled. sigh.

goodness how i love our girl....

ash-lie

whenever elsie has an itch in her eye, she informs me she has an "ash-lie" in her eye. very funny. every time, no matter how many times she says it. just tickles me.

Pumpkin Patch

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch. We usually accomplish this task much sooner but we put it off this year just being busy with other things. Carving hasn't been done yet, but probably later this week so I'll try to post some pictures of that funny business before Halloween.

Fall City Farms, our usual pumpkin fetching destination:

(just in case when you drove into the farm you missed the giant green field peppered with big, round orange things with stems at the top and seas of families traipsing around in rubber boots with wheelbarrows!)

riding in the pumpkin cart. so fun!

she was very serious about finding the perfect one. or two or three.

mommy, help me!

i can smell the cow from over here!

mmm, apple cider in a pumpkin cup!

I'm also happy to report that our girl is doing better in school these days. Friday was her first day with no tears. None when I pulled into the driveway, none when I walked her inside, none when I left. Sigh. I'm so proud of her! Today is her very first picture day so we picked out a special outfit (okay, I picked it out and gave it to her as a gift for being a good sport about school on Friday - she was no impressed with my "surprise." Oops.) Her classroom is celebrating Harvest this week so she'll be painting a mini pumpkin, carving up a larger one to peer at its insides, partaking in an apple tasting and making apple sauce! So fun!

orcas island

apparently blogging comes in waves for me. sometimes i just can't seem to make the time. my poor girl was sick. it all started back on 9/28 when she woke at 11 p.m. and began throwing up. it lasted until about 10 the next morning. she had a fever and slowly began becoming congested. she had a fever and could hardly breathe through her nose by the end of the day. it ended with antibiotics for a sinus infection and she's still a bit snotty to this day. but she's recovering.

missing school was very hard for her so when she finally returned monday, 10/4, we basically went back to square one. the good news is that her bff sophie began at her school that day so we walk in with her and amanda every day. i think it helps.

so we celebrated four years of wedded bliss on 10/7 and decided to take a long weekend as a family. we left for orcas island on saturday, 10/9, just for a two night stay. it was lovely. elsie still wasn't feeling 100% but she was ready for some fun since she'd been forced to hang at home so much when she was sick.

watching the approach for stop at lopez. she loves going on the ferry boat. "big, big boat!"

my beautiful girl, enjoying the ride.

drove out to rosario for a quick visit on our way to moran state park and mount constitution. this deer was so friendly, let elsie walk right up to him. unreal.

mount constitution. incredible view. i forget to fix the saturation on these pics and when i load them to the blog, they fade. take my word for it, it's beautiful.

always a silly smile for the camera. school pictures will be interesting.

some art in town that elsie was very impressed with.

the museum. shame on us, didn't go inside.....

this was a much prettier picture before i uploaded it.... loses something here but i like it.

love this little wooden chapel behind our inn.

view from our room. beautiful. to see and to hear.

catching a nap. had to talk her into it. took about an hour.

yep, view's still there later in the day.

not complete without singing "single ladies" once or twice.

she was a great kid and we had a good time. it's fun to travel with her because i tend to see things differently when i'm with her. everything seems incredible through the eyes of a child.

sick.

stomach flu = first school absence today..............

bunny got to go.

bunny (who now she calls "bunny" as often as she calls her "demma") made it to elsie's school with her yesterday. not because bunny was invited or even welcomed by the school, but because when elsie's teacher pulled her from the car, she had an unrelenting death grip on bunny. when teacher tried to pry bunny from her hands, elsie said "no!" through her sobbing and red face. okay, bunny goes.

the good news is that it's really only the departure that poses such anxiety. once inside, she calms after 10 or 15 minutes. she's then fine and seems to be more independent than she was initially, doing her own work, even dancing for the teacher by late afternoon.

still very attached to mommy when not at school, but i think this will get better, too. of course, bunny is still constantly in tow.

day three

with tears in her eyes, "i don't want to go to cool." that was before we left the house. on the way to school, it was "i don't like my cool." sigh. when we arrived in the school's driveway, i turn to see her eyes brimming with tears. she's trying to hold it back but it's coming. by the time she saw the teacher walking toward the car, she was sobbing. mrs. gatchalian opened the door and tried to unbuckle elsie from her car seat, but elsie pushed her hands away and said "no!" my heart was breaking. when the teacher finally freed elsie from her seat, elsie reached out and grabbed a hold of the seat back trying to pull herself back in. she was sobbing uncontrollably and i almost couldn't stop my own tears. i just couldn't let her see me cry. "have fun at school today, i love you." mrs. gatchalian swept elsie away on her hip, carrying her lunchbox in the other hand. swift walk to the front door and they disappear inside. i pull out of the driveway, make a right turn, pull over and sob for five minutes. by far the hardest day of being mommy so far.

rest assured, when i checked on her via the classroom webcam, she was doing just fine. close to the teacher, but not crying. she even pulled out a mat, sat and did some "work."

sigh.