Ellie Talked to the Doctor!

Ellie talked to her orthopedist!

Dr. Bellflower looked her over and said, "Well, Ellie, I think we just need to cast you every so often for your own good! So let's get a cast on that foot."

Ellie said, "Boot? Boot, BOOT?!"

Dr. Bellflower did a double-take (he's known her since she was six months old) and said, "A boot would work just as well as a cast. We can do a boot. Which do you want, Ellie? A boot or a cast?"

Ellie answered very firmly, "A boot."

Dr. Bellflower grinned from ear to ear and said, "A boot it is! Thanks for talking to me, sweetheart."

Ellie looked up at him and gave him her sweetest grin.


She spoke, and he listened. Heaven!

Ellie (and Marty) & the Musical!

You're not going to believe this, but, tonight, I took Ellie to see a musical!

My local theatre is doing Xanadu this week, and opening night is tomorrow.  I've done over 60 plays and musicals since I was 14 years old, but I haven't done a single show since I got pregnant with Ellie 11 years ago.  It just happened that the director of this show and I "grew up" in the theatre together - we both started in the same musical in 1988.  He knew I've been wanting to get back into it, but I wasn't sure how Ellie would react (and the kids would have to be with me for rehearsals, etc).

Last week he asked if I wanted to give Ellie a test-run on a dress night.  I said sure, as long as it wasn't the night the reviewer would be there, just in case.  He texted me tonight and asked us to come for final dress because he wanted a mini-audience, and potential distractions, before tomorrow night.

So, Ellie, Marty, and I sat in the center of the front row, and SHE DID FANTASTIC!!!  We watched the whole 2.5 hours and NOT ONE SINGLE FUSS!!!  She loved it!  She clapped (without prompts), she laughed at funny stuff, she bounced in her chair, she DANCED when they invited the audience to dance - ON HER OWN, NO PROMPT!  She watched the whole show and was engaged the whole time (she even sang softly during a couple of the numbers - no words, just tone-matching like we did when she was a toddler, before she "went away").  She was so enthralled that SHE FORGOT TO DRINK HER COKE!!!  She never even tried to get up out of her seat.  She even peed in the bathroom during intermission!

I could not be prouder of her!  It was amazing.  It IS amazing!  This is fantastic.  This is awesome to tears.  I'm so proud!  I don't know what she'd do with a whole audience, and right now I don't even care.  I know how she did tonight, and it was beyond my wildest hopes.

Marty was just as awesome, but I expected him to be so.  He was such a good boy!  He paid attention, followed the plot, laughed at funny bits, clapped in the right places, and didn't interrupt by talking.  He got up and danced like a wildman when the audience was invited to join in!  After the show, one of the actresses gave him her glowstick that she used in the final number.  You would have thought she'd given him an emerald!

Tonight, I am the proudest Mommy there ever was.

Ellie Read Her Name!

Ellie read her name at school today!  GO ELLIE!