Ella 's World

Many may stare at the picture above and see a mass of junk. Some may see a mom who has been cleaning up the living room and has placed the remnants of a child's clutter on the table before she puts it all away--for the 4th time. Some may see a carefully placed arrangement of pieces that create an amazing artistic statement (ok, probably not, but work with me people). There are probably 1000s of things one could see when staring at this photo (maybe that's where they get the phrase a picture's worth a thousand words), but to me this says Ella Kalia Ripley.



I know most parents know that in general, kids will play with anything. When it came time for Ella's first Christmas, I can't remember how many times I heard people reciting-- as if they were the original source-- "it doesn't matter what you get them. They'll love the box and paper more." Then we would pretend to laugh and have to hear about how children seem to intentionally only be interested in things that have little monetary value; as if we didn't understand their played out cliche. I always thought this was just one of those lame jokes that people used for small talk. You know, at first the kids only want to play with the wrapping, but in the end it's the toy that matters. I mean, how else would the toy industry get it's billions each year? (In 2005 the US spent 22.9 Billion dollars on toys. I tried to find a more recent statistic, but it's kind of late and I'm kind of very lazy). I just can't see kids wanting to play with crap, right?

Wrong.

These pictures are of someone's treasure--and that person is Ella Ripley.

While you may see some of what we may consider standard toys, most are not. There are some clear containers with white tops that used to hold sprinkles for food decoration. Now they're used as drinking cups for tea parties, salt and pepper shakers, and sometimes telephones. There's also a can of green beans and bottle of conditioner that I have no idea what she uses them for, but I have seen her talk to them quite a bit. There's also a deodorant stick that she uses as a microphone, an electric shaver, and even chap stick. Ella's imagination is very frugal and wants to squeeze out every possible use it can out of whatever treasure our little pack rat finds.


In this picture, Ella is sitting in a box that Shalie was given to hold her groceries from Costco. Ella uses it as a bath tub, a car, and a house. She's also holding in her right hand her sword that is actually that thingy (anyone know what it's called?) that opens an closes the blinds. In her left hand--in all its ghetto glory-- is a half-chewed piece of raw top-ramen ( I wonder if people will think Ella's homeless when they find out she plays in a cardboard box while eating uncooked noodles and talks to cans of green beans?)

If a picture says a thousand words, then the ones with your children in it say 1,000,000 reasons why you love them. I love how creative my daughter is! I love how meticulous her pack-ratting is! I love how careful she is with each and every "treasure" and how it should be played with! I love watching what she creates and sitting front row while she creates it! I love my little ghetto pirate as she sales the sea in her cardboard ship while rationing her ramen noodles! I love Ella's world...

because she's my everything. She's my world.