PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

We were headed out to the grocery store when Ellery dawdled in the alley.  "Let's go, honey!"  I urged.  

"Oh!  Sorry Mom!" she replied.  "I was just practicing my pink flower Spring power moves."

FASHION EXPERT

Ellery and Mom were getting ready to go to a yard sale with Dane and Liz.

"Do you need a jacket?" I asked her?

"Yes, I think so," she replied.  Then in an instructive tone she added, "Because the coat always completes the outfit."

MOTHER'S DAY

Ellery's Mother's Day card as dictated to Emily:

Ellery: I love Mommy.  Jackson has a balloon and I'm getting an orange smoothie.

Emily: What do you want to tell Mom about how much you love her?

Ellery:   Tons.  All the way up to my love line.

Emily:   Thank you Mom for...

Ellery:   ...the food that you cook for me for dinner. 

Thanks for playing with me when Dane comes here.

Thanks for being my mommy forever and ever.

And write a picture of me and her hugging each other, will ya?

BE KIND TO YOURSELF

Ellery was speaking softly and tenderly to her freshly scraped knee:

"I'm sorry I falled and hurt you.

A BUDDING SONGWRITER

Ellery was humming quietly to herself and then she brightened and said, "Mom I made up a song that has two parts.  Do you want to sing it with me?"

"Of course!" I replied.  "What's my part?"

With a little shimmy of her shoulders, she instructed, "Possible...Possible...Possible..." giving it a jazzy rhythm with a questioning emphasis on the last syllable.

I imitated as well as I could, including the sassy shake of the shoulders as Ellery joined in with her part, alternating with mine.

"Cracker!  Cracker!  Cracker!"

THE POWER OF ADVERTISING

Ellery looked up from the TV show she was watching and said, "Mom, can you buy me goosey goose?"  

Using my translating skills, I asked, "Juicy juice?"

"Yes," she answered, "So I can shine a little more?  Please?"

BIOLOGY 101?

Ellery:  How do mermaids sleep?

Mom:  I'm not sure.  Maybe it's kind of like how fish sleep.

Ellery:  How do fish sleep?

Mom:  I'm not sure.  I think they kind of just slow down.

Ellery:  But Mom, if you had a robot fish and you put it in the water, it would do everything you command.