Ella loves to dress Jack up. He goes along with it. Here he's sporting her necklace and Daddy's shoes.
I needn't have worried. They were great! They loved to come and visit me in bed, and Ella especially seemed to revel in her self-appointed role as nurse. She would come in and ask, "Do you need anything, Mama?" or "Can I have Daddy bring you anything, Mama? Oh, are you asleep? DADDY, MAMA'S ASLEEP!!!!!!!!" Sometimes, she would bring some books and just sit all snuggly with me and look at them while I rested. I loved that. And for those of you who know my first born, staying quiet is not part of her genetic make-up, nor is stillness a talent in which she excels, so I appreciated it even more.
In her role as nurse, she did a few things I don't think she learned in nursing school. First, she would bring me a different stuffed animal each night. I don't know if they complained to her about me, but she kept switching them out to find the perfect match.
Ella went all out here, putting Jack in one of her shirts that has a purse on the front and a skirt. He now loves this skirt and wears it at least three days a week. But he still has a ball in his hand! All boy, my Jack. Really, he is.
She would also leave a different pair of her shoes by my bed each night and say, "Mama, I'm going to leave these here so that you don't forget what they look like." Maybe in case amnesia was a symptom that had yet to present itself?
She has become pretty concerned about the afterlife through all of this. There have been lots of questions about death. One morning she said breathlessly, "Mama, are you going to be taken away by a chariot of fire into heaven?" Then she turned on the sauciness and added, "because if you are, we need to tell Daddy that he has to take care of us when G.G. leaves."
My cutie.
She wanted to grow up so badly. She tried to boss Jack around a lot, but Jack doesn't boss very well. He is very aware that she is not his authority. I heard the following exchange one day while they were in roomtime. That means that each was in his own room and not allowed to leave, so Jack was pretty safe and he knew it.
Ella: Jack, please give me that book.
Jack: {in a low voice} Noooo.
Ella: Yes!
Jack: {now giggling} Noooo.
Ella: Yes!
Jack: {now laughing} Noooo.
Ella: {in a warning tone} If you don't give me that book, I'm going to get CRANKY!!!!!!!!
Jack: {still laughing} Noooo.
Ella: {in a more insistent warning tone} But if I get cranky, I'll be SCARY!!!!!!!
She never got the book. They moved on to something else. Probably a tea party that spanned the hallway - it's a favorite.
She also likes to dress up Handsome Hero. Does anyone else think she looks way too grown up in this picture?
It certainly wasn't all roses when it came to their obedience, especially once I started getting better. As I began getting out of bed more often, the kids started testing the limits. Jack started hitting and Ella began to scream at him when he didn't do what she wanted. We're working through those things and are seeing good results. I'm very thankful that during the darkest times they were resilient and loving and gracious. It made for one very big headache I did not have to worry about {pun intended}.
Snuggling with my boy after I started to feel better.
I am so blessed.
p.s. Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement after my last post. It has been a pretty tough road, but it's funny how you gain perspective when you have a scare like this. Other unpleasant aspects of the pregnancy have been rearing their ugly heads, but I am finding it pretty easy to shrug them off and say, "What is this next to a brain tumor??" Perspective is beautiful.
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