Haircuts for Dogs by Ella

Ella was home sick today from school but was feeling much better after she started on antibiotics so this afternoon she had enough watching Curious Geoge and decided she needed to get moving. She was all fired up because she was feeling better and bored and ready to burn off some energy. I had taken off for the morning but was working in the afternoon so I told her she needed to play by herself for a bit.

She went upstairs and played with Cory for a little while in her room and then gave Cory some treats from the kitchen, and then came and asked me to write a note that said "Haircuts for Dogs" on it. She usually asks me to write words so she can copy them, and I figured she was doing this for her game with Cory. She stayed downstairs this time, and was bustling around in her playroom and the kitchen and told me that she had a surprise to show me and she'd tell me when she was done.

About 10 minutes later she brought the note back in and said I needed to write on it "by Ella" or else no one would no who was doing the haircuts. And then she said "oh - and write 'open today' so they know that I'm open!" I thought this was for some imaginary customers so I said "ah, that's really neat, who is coming to get their dogs haircuts?" and she said completely seriously "our neighbors, once they see the sign."

I told her that I was really excited to see her dog station, but I didn't know if the neighbors would be coming over because they may not know about her services. She said "well let me just put the sign on the door and we'll see if they come."

I realized then that she was completely serious and really hopeful for some customers. It was a mix of heart breaking and heart warming because I didn't want her to be disappointed when no customers showed up, and heart warming that she's just so sweet and adorable that she expects by making a note and taping it to the front door that clients will be ringing our bell for her dog grooming serices.

So she taped the sign to the front door and then was very excited to show off her handiwork.

This is the dog haircut station she had set up - she had gotten all her supplies together and organized them on this table, filled her spray bottle with water and even towels. She told me that she set up the picture of Cory because it would make the other dogs happy when they saw it.

 

 

Then, she took me into the kitchen and showed me all the snacks she had set up for the guests who would be coming over. She had bowls, water bottles, crackers and chips, salt and pepper, coffee cream, splenda, peeps and milk all set out for her company. Talk about heart breaking! - - I couldn't even stand her cuteness and just scooped her up and give her a giant hug and told her what a great job she did setting everything up. (I was this close to texting the few neighbors that I know to see if they'd be willing to come over, but my better judgement prevailed).

Unfortunately, the sign on our front door did not do the trick, and no one showed up for her reception or dog grooming, and she kept asking me why no one came. I said that next time we'll need to make sure everyone knows in advance and we can invite them, and hopefully she'll have better luck next time.

 

She asked if we can make flyers for people's mailboxes, so I'm hoping she'll have forgotten about that idea by tomorrow morning...