IPOD Drama

Ellie got an IPOD Nano from Grandma and Grandpa last Christmas. She was thrilled. Her dad admired it. She saw this and hatched a plan to earn money to buy one for her dad. Little did he know that was the reason she was asking so many people for odd jobs for pay that she could do. IPOD dropped the price for a shuffle from nearly $70 to around $50 in late April. Ellie saw this and intensified her efforts. Then she had me take her to Sam's Club where she bought a blue shuffle for her dad. She knew he wanted a big one with a screen, but this was her only viable option. She proudly purchased her item and gave it to her daddy who was waiting for us in the cafe. He was THRILLED. They had such a good time picking out music. Ellie especially loved showing him how to use it. She beamed each time he would clip it on (although she forbade him from using it when riding his bike). She had found the perfect non-Ellie-made present. We tried to get her to understand how important being Ellie-Made is, but I think she thought we were just trying to make her feel better about non-purchased presents. We also learned, after a while, because she could not keep a secret, that Ethan was going to buy one for me.

Then the bottom fell out in a BIG, TERRIBLE way. Larr found that he could get an IPOD Classic for both he and I with "thank you" points from our credit card. He was gleeful, Ellie was crushed. When Ellie found this out she was inconsolable. She took it from her coloring table in her room where they had shared it and threw it in the trash. Then she took it out and tried to see if she could make it so that it could be returned. She felt crushed and spurned. It broke my heart. She would not let either of us touch her. She would not talk with us. Nothing seemed to help. She wept, no, sobbed, for a few hours. She went to bed alone, without a little reading together, without a kiss, etc. I wondered how we would solve or get through this problem.

The IPODs arrived yesterday. Ellie was upset, again. She cried, again, but not so hard this time. She tried to throw away the shuffle, again. Larr got it out of the trash and tried to explain to her how he STILL loved it and how it still made him feel special that she would buy it for him. In the end we had to go to mountain bike practice. We wanted her to go with us, she did not want to go. He picked up Ellie and the IPODs and put them in the car. Once we had a picnic dinner she got out my IPOD and began to examine it. Apparently it is okay that I have one. I am not sure if she is at peace with her daddy having one. Only time will tell...