First Parent Teacher Conference

I had my first one today. It was strange. It made me feel old.

It ended up being another one of those things that brings out memories from my own childhood. These moment always take me by surprise and I wonder if I'll ever get used to that feeling of "I'm now my mother. Or *A* mother, anyway." I recall my mom missing out on a lot of parent teacher conferences, though when I look back on my grades in elementary school I would think she would have had a lot to say to my teachers. I didn't do so well in elementary school.

I wonder if my memory serves me right. Did she really miss out so much? I know she was busy, much busier than I will ever be (hopefully) and just had a lot on her plate (being, for the most part, a single mother of 3). However I do recall feeling like my school didn't mean much to her because she would not be able to make it to the parent/teacher conferences.

I'm going to have to get over this thought, though, because it was all I could think about while sitting there listening to Ellie's wonderful teacher. I may be wrong, but I'm guessing that parent/teacher conferences are not meant to be substitutions for counseling sessions to help heal your own childhood wounds. =)

M-I-C? K-E-Y? MOUSE!

Last week Grandma was nice enough to watch Ellie while I ran some errands. They love spending time together. As it turns out, I returned from my errands right as they were getting ready for bed, so I camped out on the stairs listening to the two of them together (a rare opportunity for me).

Things were going very sweetly at first. Grandma was reading her a book and singing songs to her. Then suddenly things changed dramatically...

Grandma: OH $#!+ there's a mouse! Oh my god! Oh, Ellie, you didn't hear Grandma say that. Oh my god! There's a mouse! Ok, calm down Ellie. It's ok.

Seconds pass

Grandma: OH S#!+ it can jump! Oh my god it can jump high! Did you see that, Ellie? Oh $#!+. Shhhh... don't tell Mommy you heard me say that. What do we do?

Seconds pass

Grandma: Mommy? Are you home?

At this point it became apparent that Ellie would not continue being sweet until Mommy came to her rescue. There is something about knowing that Mommy is around that brings out the fussy side in this child.

Mommy: Where's the mouse?

Grandma: He jumped all the way into the hamper?

Mommy: Wow! He can jump high. Here, take the hamper outside.

Mommy starts to put Ellie down for bed. Meanwhile, in the distance we hear:

Grandma: Oh! Oh! Ahh! Oh my God. $#!+ $#!+

All the neighborhood dogs: Bark! Bark! Bark!

Ellie (still laying down with her eyes closed): Oof! Oof!

So Grandma is afraid of mice? Who knew? According to Daddy, it's completely out of character.

We'll keep this one to ourselves

Uncle J can be a little sensitive about certain things, but it won't stop me from sharing!

Ellie: Ma Ma!
Daddy: Yeah, that's Mommy in the picture. Who is that?
Ellie: Da da.
Daddy: Good job. Who is that?
Ellie: Na Na!
Daddy: Yep, that's Aunt Erin. Who's that?
Ellie: Gapa!
Daddy: No, that's not Grandpa, that's Uncle J!

Name calling

I've recently posted a question about whether or not I should say something to daycare for using "Lori" as a nickname for Ellie. As a result, I had a conversation with Michael about it and it turns out that even "Ellie" bothers him.

When we first came up with her name, we liked it because we could use "Ellie" as a family nickname. Michael liked that idea until "strangers" didn't know her real name. The real connection was this:

Ellie and I stayed with my sister and brother-in-law for a month when we first moved back to CO. Aunt Erin calls her Ellie. My brother-in-law's sister was living with them so she called her Ellie. Then at Aunt Erin's graduation dinner, the parents of the sister of the brother-in-law didn't know Ellie's real name. In fact, they thought that Ellie WAS her name. This bothered me, but it REALLY bothered Michael.

Since then I have tried to tell my family that we like them using Ellie, but to introduce her by her full name. But the damage has already been done. Apparently whenever he hears "Ellie" he cringes and wonders if the person even really knows her full name. He admits that it's not logical because he knows that Grandma knows her full name, yet he has the same thought whenever he hears her say Ellie. Same goes for Grandpa.

He also admits that it's probably something that just needs to take some time to get used to. Much like it will take me time to get used to people calling her Lori long before she's mature enough to be a Lori. I guess in the end, I now understand what other parents were saying when they got upset that people don't use their children's full names. Thank goodness we didn't have a boy and named him Harrison, even though Grandma insisted no one uses the name Harry anymore. LOL.