Etan and Ella arrived around midnight the night before last (Wednesday). I went to pick them up and was a few minutes late due to a forced highway detour that took me through the scenic route of downtown Boston (Ted Williams tunnel was closed). Ella looked pretty exhausted by the time I got there but she perked up once she was in the warm car and listening to her music. She looked happy (and surprised) to be back. She has to wear a plastic protector over her ear for a week. That has an elastic band that holds it in place with a stretchy net sleeve that goes over her head to hold all that and keep her hair back. She looks like a perfect little Ompa Lompa, as Beth put it, from the television scene in Willy Wonka when they are all dressed in white. Anyhow, she hasn’t seemed to be in pain at all except that she doesn’t like anyone fooling with the dressings and she complained alot when I tried to put bacitracin on. I had to distract her with a movie. The ear looks kind of bloody, swollen but amazingly small now (compared to what was there before). I can’t wait to see what it will look like when the swelling goes down. So far, looks like Dr. Bauer did an amazing job. Ella went right to school yesterday, albeit late. She was fast asleep when I came in after 8 am. I brought her to school around 10 and at first she seemed really tired but then perked up to her usual self once kids were picked for snack. I stayed a bit and when the kids had turns on the indoor swing, Ella gave her characteristic happy scream and I knew she was feeling fine.