Method acting

Joey had sort of a rough night last night, so Dennis stayed around to help get the kids off to school. He had sent Ella ahead to her school so that he could visit with Alex's teacher about Alex’s upcoming birthday, but he thought he'd go visit Ella’s classroom as well since it had been a while since we'd checked in.

Ella's original teacher, the one who went on leave a few days after Ella started school, had her first day back in the classroom today.  And she was very, very concerned about Ella.

"She seems really tired today! She keeps whispering that she isn't getting enough sleep! Is she getting enough sleep?"

Dennis thought for a moment, and then he started laughing.

Do you remember how I told you Ella was given a pair of lines in her class play? Ella's other teacher, the substitute, had added those lines to the script just for Ella. And since the play is tomorrow, Ella, this morning, decided that maybe it was time for her to try to learn them.  The teacher had told her she could speak the lines in English, but Ella wanted to try in German, so on the way to school Dennis helped Ella recite.  The first line is easy: "Ich gehe ins Disneyland!" I'm going to Disneyland!

But the second one was trickier, and that was the one Ella was focusing on during the walk to school. And, apparently, she was still murmuring it over and over, trying to memorize it, when class started.

"Ich bekomme nicht genug schlaf." I can't get enough sleep.

That poor teacher.

Joey and I were trapped in the house all day.  In what I can only suppose now was a wild fluke, he used the toilet yesterday, so I thought, why not, let's try to toilet train him today.  So I gave him lots of juice and let him run around bare-bottomed all morning. And, several times, found him, crouched over a small mess, looking incredulous.

"Oh, Joey, no, that goes in the potty!" I kept telling him. "Yes," he would nod sagely, "That go in potty." Pointing, helpfully, at the toilet. Or, another time, I found him crossly addressing his little pile of poo: "No! You go in potty!"

We spent a lot of time washing up today.

I may have miscalculated.

So, after a few clean-ups, I threw in the soiled towel and suggested a diaper.  While Joey isn't quite old enough to be toilet trained, he's well past old enough to take off his own diaper. "Nope. I big boy. No diaper. I go in potty."

I'll believe it when I see it, kiddo.

It was past 4:00 before I finally convinced him that a diaper might be a good idea.  So, held hostage to Joey's bum, I stayed around the house all day. I did send the other two kids out in the courtyard for a little while so they could enjoy the pretty weather, but they spent a lot of time in the house, too.  Ella decided it was time to clean up her room, and so we swapped that mess out for a little cardboard pastry shop (or, actually, a Bäckerei). We have big, big plans.

But Ella and Alex spent most of the afternoon playing with some animation software that I found last night: my new favorite iPad app.

They made several movies, and I posted  them here, here, and here. I must warn you, though, that they take a little while to load, and they’re very silly.  But you may want to watch a minute or two if you have an iPad and a child and $2.99 to spare on a fun new program.

However, if you’re a grandparent or Aunt or Uncle, you are absolutely obliged to watch all three videos. And you will be quizzed.

Collaboration