Tuesday, November 05 2002
Ella has gone out tonight with her dad and I'm home alone so I can finally write in my diary. It's often impossible to find some private time because Ella uses the computer for assignments and I don't come home until late afternoon.
On Saturday, I took Nikki out for the first time since she got sick. When I came to pick her up, I asked her mom if she could stay overnight with me and Ella, but she was worried that it's still too early for her to be away for too long because she is still taking antibiotics. Then Nikki and I tried to win her over for almost a half an hour, and she finally gave up when we promised not to go anywhere outside for too long because Nikki can't be in the cold weather or she could end up in the hospital again. Before we left, I helped her dress up and made her hair in braids and packed her little backpack with jammies and games for the sleepover.
We went to see Klatretøsen like I promised her and she liked it a lot. I liked it too the second time around but mostly because of the little girl. After the movie I wanted to take her out somewhere, but I was afraid she would get cold because it was raining and the weather was atrocious. So instead, we went straight home. I told Ella I wanted Nikki to spend the night with us, and she thought it was cool. She knew that Nikki's been sick so she wanted to make a surprise for her. When we opened the door, the room was filled with balloons! We couldn't even see where we were going, it was so crowded with balloons. I somehow turned on the computer so Nikki could play with it and later at night Ella showed her how to make origami by folding pieces of paper. Ella is really good at it and she can make anything she wants. She showed Nikki how to make a bird from a piece of paper just by folding it. Then after they had made an entire collection of animals and became bored with origami, we watched a movie on TV with Nikki sitting between us. It felt great; It felt as if we were a family at least for one night.
We went to bed really late. It was around 1 am when the movie was over, and by the time I convinced Nikki that we should all get some sleep because we were tired and until I helped her in her jammies, it was almost 2 am. She climbed in the middle of the bed between Ella and me and said she wasn't tired yet. So she sat up and kept talking and asking us every minute if we're asleep yet. Then she caught two balloons from somewhere and bounced them up and down in bed. I think Ella was ready by that time to sleep alone on the couch in the living room. I finally said that's enough and took her balloons away and hugged her next to me until she settled down and fell asleep. I didn't know how much I missed the feeling of her in bed with me until I could hear her soft breathing next to me.
It was morning when I realized we were holding hands under the covers. I looked around and saw that Ella wasn't with us. She was probably in the kitchen making us breakfast. Nikki was still asleep so I left her in bed and went to the kitchen making my way through piles of balloons still floating around the rooms. I found Ella in the kitchen making coffee and reading her school notes, and when she saw me she smiled and asked if Nikki was still asleep. I said yes and kissed her on the cheek. I asked her how she slept and she said surprisingly good considering that Nikki was having a party in our bed last night. I said that's why she was still asleep. She will probably wake up at lunchtime. But only half an hour later Nikki emerged from the bedroom and tiptoed barefoot in the kitchen. She was so cute, still sleepy and holding a balloon in one hand and her toy dinosaur in other hand.
Later, after she finished breakfast and dressed herself, all three of us played some games she had brought with her. And then in the afternoon I made her favorite chocolate cake. It was fun because we both did it and she helped me put it all together. I took her back home in the evening. Ella said she will miss her, but no one will miss her more than me. She will go back to school now and will probably be busy catching up with lessons so we won't have time to be together again until her winter holiday.
So this is how our weekend went. I guess I was lucky that her mom let her sleep over. It was great. Maybe we should do it more often.
Yesterday, my mom met Ella for the first time. We went out, but I'll write about it next time because I don't have time right now.