Unexpected Day Off

My daycare provider had to close daycare today. Her son was sick and her husband had job commitments so he wasn't able to stay home. I hope Max is back to his normal self tomorrow.

But, that meant Ella and I got to hang out after a non rush morning. The girls each pretended to be a baby so the other could feed them. It was complete with goo goo gaa gaa sounds from both of them. Check out the pictures from this morning.



After we dropped Elizabeth off at school, we took Dad's taxes over to him to sign and hung out with Dad for awhile in the morning. I was able to pick up Dad's apartment and wash his few dishes as well. Then we stopped at a cute store near Lund's. I was looking for "Way to Go" type cards for my nieces in Florida. They both have been doing great at school with A honor rolls so I wanted to send them something to let them know how proud I am of them. Well Ella was busy while I was looking at some other stuff and dumped some soy beads on the floor. We didn't stay around long after that. We then went to the grocery store and home for lunch.

I tried to get Ella to sleep after lunch but wasn't successful. I did get a small doze though. She was so sweet she gave me a kiss good night. I was hoping if I shut my eyes, she would too. Well... 20 minutes later I popped up and said, we have to get ready for your doctor. Up she got as well. We went upstairs and Ella decided to change. She had a nice shirt and pants on but she wanted something different.


Of course Ella fell asleep in the car. She stayed asleep from the car to the hospital so she got about a 30 minute nap. I woke her when the speech therapist came for us. It didn't take Ella long to get into the swing of things. She had the Nasality test again and said alot more of the sounds this time. She is still a little high on the nasality range but it could be due to her not holding the meter tight enough against her face. The therapist said they will watch it going forward to see if it was just a bad reading or if there is something more. But Ella is doing a lot of compensating in her ennunciation. Some of that is normal for a 3 year old but some isn't. She is going to start going to speech therapy 2 times a week for a half hour each. I am going to contact the county as well to see if that would be the best option to go. I love where Ella goes and so does Ella but if it turns out the county can pick her up from daycare instead of me having to use time off, that might be the way to go. But, I can always work through lunch a couple of days each week to cover the time too. I have some time to decide.

After her appointment, Ella and I picked up Elizabeth at school. Elizabeth started piano lessons at school. I can't wait for her to practice for me. I remember doing the same on the same piano in the same house when I was a little older. My brothers hated me practicing because the piano is right by the TV. They had a Gao Hong, Chinese Pipa Soloist there. She was showing the after care kids and some parents her instrument and playing songs. I was glad to be able to get the chance to see her perform but both girls started putting their hands over their ears so we left before it was done.

We stopped at the DQ for some Blizzard action and played in the backyard before supper. I wish I had the camera out there. I would have taken an After shot of Ella. The yard is a little muddy and she was enjoying herself on the slide. So her pretty outfit has some nice additions to it.

Tonight I was reading a story to the girls about a family waiting for a baby sister from China. I believe its called Waiting for May and is written from the big brother's angle. Elizabeth stopped me to explain to Ella that Mom got Elizabeth from China when she was a baby but then Elizabeth got bored so Mom went back and brought Ella home from China and that Elizabeth named Ella. Not quite the story but close. I questioned Elizabeth and she said, Don't you remember Mom? I said, I'm Bored, I'm Bored, I'm Bored so you said you would get me a sister. LOL She was right about the naming part but I remember the first time Elizabeth and I talked about her getting a sister. Elizabeth and I were at the State Fair on Labor Day 2005 and I asked her if she wanted a sister, she said Yes. We were eating corn on the cob sitting on a bench by the Grand Stand. It took me a long time to really know adding a sister was right for us. Glad we did it!

Elizabeth mentioned again how she wished she had gone with me to China when I went for Ella. I thought long and hard about that decision and in hindsight, I still think I made the right choice. Ella's grief was pretty hard to handle some days and I wouldn't want Elizabeth to have that memory. And I don't know that I would have had the patience for both girls. But, Elizabeth is a very caring girl so maybe it would have helped Ella to have her there. I know I struggled with that one but I know Reenie was the right person to watch Elizabeth and I reminded Elizabeth how I called her every day.

I redid my numbers on my taxes and am waiting for the print out. Glad I revisited the adoption costs again as the amount got better. I need to look into flex spending accounts for day care expenses. I want to check if the pre tax savings would be better with that than the deduction I am getting. I do have to pay to state so I'll be mailing that check tomorrow too.

Happy Pre Tax Day everyone.