what is with the weird fish at the dr's office?

yesterday, Ellie did a jump, hop, kick move like she always does.
and then she giggled. and she said, "whoa, my ear is being silly."
so i said, "your ear is being silly? what is it doing?"
and then she did a twirl and a half and said, "it's going like that."
and then she wiggled her little finger in her ear and gave me a panicked look.
"it's being tricky now mama."

10 minutes later we were packed up in the car, headed to the doc...for the second time this week.
i had gone on Monday for them to tell me, "oh it's nothing...probably just some viral thing."
in my brain i was thinking, "listen buddy, my 2-year-old does NOT tell me she wants to go to sleep at 6:30 pm the night before....when it is just something viral. nor does she have a 101 degree fever when it is just something viral. and green stuff does not ooze out like that when it is just something viral."
but i'm a respectful sort of human being. and so i didn't say that. i just packed up our circus and went home.

this week has been a whiny week.
lots of tears.
but we've tried our best to stay happy and find stuff to keep us busy.
McDonald's playplace with friends, the park, movies, visits by Grandma and Grandpa, the park again, and even walks.
still, Ellie has had her fair share of meltdowns. ugh the meltdowns. how am i going to survive these meltdowns!?
i was sharing my concern about these meltdowns with a friend and she shared this little gem with me that she does with her little girl- i'll call it the Princess/Queen theory.

the Princess/Queen theory: both the Princess Snow White and the Queen are very beautiful. but the Queen, she is beautiful and she is mean. now the Princess Snow White, she is beautiful and she is so nice. who do you want to be like? the beautiful, MEAN QUEEN? or the beautiful, nice Princess? (good theory huh?)

so of course i explained this Princess/Queen theory to Ellie 10 seconds after hearing it. and now, when Ellie is starting to freak out or be mean, i remind her, "make a good choice, Ellie. be a nice Princess, not a mean Queen."
i think i've said that phrase at least a couple dozen times this week.

it seems to have helped some.
but really, as much i thought it was helping, this stupid runny-nose-fever-cough thing that was supposedly viral just would not take a hike.
so we rushed through the door at the doc yesterday...
last appointment of the day.
i paid that stupid copay...again.
we watched the fish....again.
Ellie's favorite part of going to the doctor is looking at those weird deformed fish. why are they so weirdly deformed? grosses me out.
and a million minutes later, the doc finally strolls in, takes a look at her ear and says, "wow, that's a nasty ear infection you have there Miss Ellie."
duh.

sometimes i think i should have been a doctor.

so today we stayed in our pajamas.
all day long.
do you ever do that?
i hope so.
because it's pretty fun.
we took out of different colors of nail polish to paint our nails.
i decided on red.
so Ellie decided on red too.

i like how she chooses the same things as me.
and we chose pink for these little chubby feet:

and then we ate peanut butter + honey sandwiches and drank juice boxes (a special treat in our house) while watching movies so we could let our nails dry.
but we still we smudged them everywhere because we both stink at staying still.

and then when we were sitting there together snuggling lil miss Alice, Ellie looked at me and said,
"are you happy mama?"
"yes Ellie, i'm happy."
"are you happy because i make good choices? are you happy because i'm a nice princess?"

can you tell we've been talking a lot about making good choices this week?
such a little sweetheart.
she melts me into a big pile of goo.

and this one does too- just by looking at me with those big pretty eyes.

but i can't lie, i'm so ready for the weekend.
i'm ready to eat donuts or waffles or french toast...or something equally saturday-ish (dieting is so overrated).
i'm ready to have my spiritual canteen refilled yet again.
i'm ready to have my hubby back. and hug him real tight. and when the whining inevitably starts up again to say, "it's your turn, buddy."
tgif, baby.

xoxo