Ella Houdini!

I learned the other day that they call her "Houdini Baby" at preschool.  They said she can work her way out of a high chair in no time at all!  We noticed that ability at home too, but nothing could prepare us for her most recent disappearing act!  The "Exer-saucer" is the greatest child-containment device ever invented.  No child has ever escaped its grasp since being commissioned for child restraint years ago.  The toys and bright colors are there to make the device look fun and friendly, but make no mistake about it; the real purpose of this device is to keep children restricted to an area while parents attend to daily chores and seek a moment's rest.

Well, Ella was in her seat while Holly was cooking and I was putting a new picture into the family photo frame.  I looked up to check on her and she was GONE!  Vanished!!!  I located her elsewhere in the living room and told Holly, "I didn't know you took her out of the exer-saucer."

"I didn't!" replied Holly.

We have no live visual evidence, but based on the scene, I'd say she pulled herself over the side and landed safely upon the purple bean bag as she made her escape.  I bet she did it like those covert ops special forces do in the movies... all diving and somersaulting and stuff.  We may need to call in local detectives to recreate the scene and look for additional evidence.

Flowers for Mr. Remy

Mr. Remy is Brooke's bus driver. He is a very nice man and we are lucky to have him watching over her on the way to school. Mr. Remy is a rather large black man who, to a 6 year old girl, you would think looked a bit intimidating.

Not to Brooke though. She has her routine every morning as we wait for the bus. She picks some purple "flowers" (aka weeds) and carefully bunches them into a bouquet. She hops on the bus and with a huge smile and hands the purple flowers to Mr Remy. He kindly accepts them every morning and places them on the dash of the bus.

One particularly cold morning, the flowers were frozen. This didn't stop her from picking them for Mr. Remy as she endured the frosty cold dew on her hands.  When Brooke got on the bus, I noticed she paused a moment before going up the steps to the bus driver. She had cupped the flowers in her hand and held them in front of the heat coming through one of the vents to warm them up before handing them off to Mr. Remy!!! Love that girl!