12.5

Ella was cuddling in bed with us in the morning and we gave her a present. It was some Christmas books. Then Dave read some to her and explained Santa to her.  She was listening intently.

I felt like it took forever to get ready to go. Ella played with her dolls. She never played with her toys like that. I hated to make her leave but we had to get to the secret snowflake meetup. I was putting Ella in the car and she had an accident. We ran back inside and put on a pullup this time.   We were late but not too late.  I planned to be late but still arrive before the gift exchange. I was still coughing a lot and having a runny nose a little so I didn't want to be out and about for hours.

Ella had fun. She started coloring right away. She decided standing on the chair was easier so she could see the table.  She colored a few things. She surprised me with her ability to color actual objects. She colored snowflakes on this one coloring sheet. She didn't color them in well but she had a couple scribbles at each snowflake.

She asked to go potty while we were there and I used her new potty seat cover and she went!!!! This is her first time going in a public restroom that was like a normal public restroom. She only went one other time before in a public restroom and this was in a diner and the bathroom looked like a normal bathroom with a normal toilet.  I was so proud of her.

We left and headed home for lunch. Ella didn't want to eat much. We did eat a little at Panera. She was bad and kept being bad. We told her she had to take her nap. She was not interested. But then Dave reminded her after she naps we get to go see Santa at the Holiday Train. She said Santa then very nicely lied in bed and went to sleep.

I tried to be productive during nap. I have no idea how time flies so much.  We were organizing toys we got from Kathryn. It's so hard to know what goes with what. It seems like a lot of junk until you figure it out.  Also checking if we have all the parts is another story too. I'm still trying to find a missing track.

Then we had to wake Ella up. We woke her up at 6:20 and got ready to go see Santa. Ella wouldn't wear her coat. She was doing fine until we got close to where the train would be. There were so many people. It kept getting more and more crowded. By the time the train showed up, we couldn't move with all the people. Ella got scared and wanted to be held tight.  She did like seeing the lights on the train.  Then we backed up further from the train and the people and she was a little better but still a little scared.  Once the train left, and so many people left, she got happier. Then she wanted to walk. She held both of our hands and walked and was so happy. I feel like she thinks seeing Santa was fun once it was over.

We got Wendy's on the way home.  Ella ate some in the car then she ate at home. She wanted to eat at her picnic table instead of her high chair. She was a pretty good eater at the table. I just didn't trust her with ketchup.  We were going to get her into her crib by 8:20 but that failed and it was 9:01 when we left her room. She was asleep by 9:05 or at least very still. I couldn't see her eyes based on where her head was but I think she went right to sleep.

Dave and I were going to watch a movie. We were both so tired. Dave fell asleep. So we stopped it and went right to sleep. I don't even think we saw the first 20 minutes of Iron Man 2 but I am so glad I got to sleep early.