happybuela

Sees You

Adam and Ella and I were getting ready to leave for Huntsville, for Danette's graduation, and Adam & Ella were switching from Adam's truck to my car. As I started the car and got the AC going, Adam was buckling Ella into her car seat in the back. I moved the rear-view mirror for a good view of Ella in the back, and Ella gazed up to the mirror and then pointed at it.

Ella: "Sees. You. See, see."
Me: (gasp) "Yes, that's right, Ella! I sees you too, baby!"

A short sentence, yes, but enough to melt my heart.

 

It’s Got A Good Beat, And You Can Dance To It.

That old catchphrase from American Bandstand has been running through my mind a lot lately, for two reasons:

1) Ella has become quite the dancer. When she hears the mere hint of music, she starts to do that dance thing that babies do automatically, but she adds her own flair. She  shimmies her little shoulders, moves her arms around (occasionally like she’s doing a rumba or something), twirls a little, at times some tummy tapping, some Riverdance-esque foot action, and from time to time she even adds some funky head movements (a sort of “dance like an Egyptian” thing.)

Dancing Girl from Mary Kennedy on Vimeo.

But I became a little concerned one day when she was at my house, and a car drove down the street. You know the kind I mean. It announces its presence to the neighborhood and surrounding territories by shaking the walls and rattling the windows. If there is any actual music playing you can’t tell it, due to those enormously heavy bass sound waves that are penetrating everyone and everything that isn’t shielded by lead or something. At the second “beat” (wave), Ella was dancing. My heart broke a little. And then I realized my new mission: that I need to find some music, good music - music that has a good beat and you can dance to it - to expose Ella to for our dances together. So far we’ve been dancing to most of Yo Yo Ma’s “Obrigado Brazil,” Bob James, and some Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass, with a little bit of Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music thrown in. It’s been fun rediscovering some of my old vinyl and dusting off long forgotten CDs. (There’s a whole generation of music on cassette tape that is lost, I fear. I have no way to listen to it, and it will be too expensive to replace it all.) The icing on the cake is that Ella seems to appreciate all of it.

2) I’ve been working on this wrap.

Pattern: Button-up Shrug, in Classic Elite’s “Make It Modern.”
Determined to work from my stash, I chose some humble Lion Brand Cotton Ease (50/50 cotton/acrylic blend) in taupe. I’ve been really happy with the weight, the drape, and how the stitches look. And it was such a happy discovery that the stitch pattern is so nice and rhythmical, I can even knit this while listening and talking to other people. As I began to learn the stitch pattern, I kept thinking that, “It’s got a good beat, and you can dance to it.” A seven stitch pattern with a four row repeat, the wrap practically swirls off the needles.

And it does feel like my knitting is positively dancing.

Dream Baby

Every one of my Ella Days is full of digital camera action, as I try to document Ella's every moment - an impossible task, I know, but one I'm still compelled to try. After all, I'm the Buela, right? Due to difficult light conditions and an even more difficult camera, I lose a lot of really great shots, and the ones I get are often blurry or the light is really bad.

Last Friday some of those blurry and badly-lit photos accidentally turned out to be shots I love. I love them because they evoke (in me, at least) the feeling that I am in a dream, watching Ella in a dream... she is a real dream baby, after all.

The little "baby stole" she is wearing is actually the bottom of a Noro Hat, knit with Noro Kureyon. I just plopped it over her head and she was immediately at home wearing it. She never tried to take it off (like she quickly yanks off the hats and crown that I made for her.) In fact, she crawled and crept and rolled around and played, all the while grasping the tail end of the yarn ball.

The little stole is now half of a scarf, but I'll be knitting a new one for her as soon as I find the right yarn. Until then, I'll gaze into Ella's sweet eyes and enter the dream with her... 

Sit up!

 

Sit up and take notice, look what Ella started to do while she was in Austin last weekend! It looks like magic... and it is...
:-)

(Sorry about the bad music edit, I just wanted something other than the stupid TV blaring in the background.)

Love Celebrated

Every day is a day for love, every season is a season for love, but on this day that is so celebrated for love, I bring you some of the people/things that I love:

My family, and friends who are family, with a special celebration this year of our newest love, Ella. Happy Valentines day, family! Happy Valentines day, Ella!! Buela loves you!

My kitties, who keep me company, cuddle and snuggle with me, try to sit all up in my face, chew the cable of my favorite pair of circular knitting needles, try to eat my yarn, and take up all the space on the bed at night. And who appreciate and enjoy the garden as much as I do. Happy Valentines day, Jinx and Schroedinger!

My garden, always changing, often challenging (in a good way), filled with many of God's fascinating little critters, a source of both exercise and relaxation, delight and sorrow, color and "greyness", and a source for dreams. Happy Valentines day, garden! I'll be spending much more time with you very soon (I can hardly wait!)

My ever-growing yarn stash for knitting and crocheting (a recent discovery for me), with so many colors, textures, lusciousness, and unlimited potential. I especially love knitting hats for Ella, who makes everything look like a masterpeice (even when it is not.) Happy Valentines day, stash!

To you and yours, may every day be a day of love celebrated. Happy Valentines day!

Beauty

Katie's  post on happykiddo has prompted me to finally complete this post and publish it. I completely agree with Katie, "hoochie-mamma" (my words) clothing for little girls is simply unacceptable. And now, for my post:

Ella lay sleeping so sweetly in my arms, I couldn't help but ooh and ahh over her, and whisper to her that she's the most beautiful child on Earth.

It struck me that I've gone on and on about her appearance. While it's true (not just a proud grandma talking) that she's an exceptionally stunning creature, I realized that I don't do her any service to constantly compliment her appearance. Appearance is fleeting, and even the most "beautiful" people will eventually wrinkle and sag with age - or end up looking totally ghastly due to overdone plastic surgery. I want Ella to know that our love isn't about her looks.

Even our accolades about her obviously superior intelligence aren't doing her any favors, because our love has nothing to do with her IQ, or her future accomplishments. Our love is about her- no matter her height, weight, hair color, skin color, how early she talks and walks, what she decides her favorite color is or her favorite food, or any of the rest of it. She is a precious gift straight from God, and we mustn't lose sight of that.

Instead, I've been praying for the attributes that God would like to see in her, those qualities He longs to see in us all. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but some of the first things that come to mind as I pray for Ella:

Father God, I pray that our precious Ella would be kind and generous. Help her to see people and their situations from Your point of view. May she have the gift of forgiveness, and the ability to let go of anger. Grant her understanding and wisdom. May she not only recognize, but give thanks for Your many  blessings. May she be willing to stand courageous for what is right, yet speak the Truth in love. I pray that she will be filled with faith, hope, and unconditional love. Thank you for loving Ella, even more than we do (one of Your greatest mysteries.)      Amen

Ella Eyes

It's amazing- a travesty, actually- that somehow I haven't managed to post a single picture of an open-eyed Ella on this blog. Ella's eyes are truly remarkable - really, people remark about them every time I show them her pictures! You can just get lost in her gaze.... I wonder what she's thinking? I wonder how we look to her, how this world looks to her?

A friend read my post about the people at Jamba Juice giving us a free drink when I showed them Ella's picture on my digital camera. She said that she's going to download some Ella pics onto her own camera before she goes shopping next. Hmmm....    

The Ella phenomenon

Looking at my most recent photos of Ella, I noticed something. At first I thought it was just this picture, Ella with her first Ugly Doll. But I looked through my growing collection of Ella photos and noticed that this same phenomenon happens in every picture where Ella is shown with someone/something else: whoever or whatever else is in the picture with Ella, always looks better just for being in her general vicinity! They can never eclipse her (of course), but she apparently shares some of her beauty with her surroundings. What a generous little girl!

Wow, I can't wait to see her in my Spring garden!

Expert Breather

Those who know me - and are around me when noon hits - know that I have a daily alarm on my cell phone to remind me to breathe. It sounds kind of silly to some, but there came a time at work when I realized I was so stressed out and focused on a task that I was barely breathing. I was only breathing very shallowly, hardly getting any oxygen in my lungs at all.

"Gee, that can't be good!" I thought. Shortly afterword I heard something about the fact that many people don't breathe correctly, don't really get the good exchange of oxygen that they need for good health. This happens a lot when we're stressed, and in turn it makes it harder for us to deal with stress.

I was watching Ella at rest in my arms, and noticed how her tummy looked as she breathed in and out. She does it exactly the way adults are having to be taught  to breathe! Her stomach - not her chest - moves up and down, pulling air deeply into her lungs. She allows her diaphragm to do the work. She is an expert breather.

I knew I would be learning a lot from my little grandgirl.

Little Sweetpea

I love sweetpeas in my garden in the very early Spring. I told someone earlier this year that sweetpeas are the girly-girls of the garden, with their soft colors, curlicues like tendrils of hair, daintily nodding buds, and sweet fragrance. Ella is a little sweetpea. She doesn't have curling tendrils of hair yet, and her fragrance is not exactly like the sweetpea, but she already looks very much the girly-girl. It doesn't have anything to do with what she's wearing, either. She is just a girly-girl. No apologies. And just like those sweetpeas climbing up the trellis in my Spring garden, I can't get enough of her.