Life's Little Shortcuts

I gave Ella a bath in the pool last night. The water was warm (I'd filled the pool from the basement sink), so it was something of a bathlike environment. Of course, the water also had grass and twigs and dirt floating in it (something not typical of a bath in our house--no matter how dirty my bathroom gets). So I can't be certain how clean Ella actually got.

I'm not sure whether this episode makes me the world's biggest slacker mom or whether it makes me the fun, creative mom.

I guess the answer would depend on whom you ask.

In other news, Ella displayed an admirable (and slightly alarming) talent for reverse psychology yesterday evening. We were discussing who would run with whom, which I figured would end badly because I knew both girls would want to run with me.

Ella came into the kitchen and whispered to me that she wanted to come with me and that we just wouldn't tell Sadie. As sophisticated as Ella can be, I fail to see how she thought this particular plan was going to be executed seeing as how Sadie lives with us and has eyes.

So anyway, Sadie (shockingly) got wind of the fact that Ella wanted to go with me. Which meant that Sadie also insisted that she wanted to go with me.

This is where Ella gets clever. She tells Dean how much she really, really wants to go running with him, which prompts Sadie to insist that she really, really wants to go with Dean. Ella makes a show of pretending to be disappointed, then reluctantly agrees to go running with me.

And that, my friends, is how Ella tricked her sister into running with daddy. Nicely played, Ella. I'm impressed. And also slightly disturbed.