Mariel really enjoys singing her own made up songs.  Since the musical, her melodies have changed a bit but her creativity in lyrics remains quite remarkable.  It is hard for us to walk a fine line between nonchalant recognition ("That's a nice song, hon."), paying what is considered too much attention (which results in a teenager like storm of totally unwarranted rage, such as "FINE. I am NOT going to sing for you anymore if you keep talking!"), and laughing hysterically.  Walking home from the 4th of July parade, her song lasted about 15 minutes.  Some snippets:

I love God
God loves me
He loves me when I am good
and when I make bad choices
He loves Noella
Even though she bites...

...I try
to be kind
and to share
and not
to eat hot dogs with ketchup
in my bed
that would be
a bad choice
and would maaaake
a biiiiiiig
meeeessssss!
_ _ _ _
Today marks 6 days without hives, 9 days without visiting a doctor. 
This afternoon, Noella was pretty grumpy and I carried her around in her Snugli.  She started to fall asleep so I put the carrier in the front position instead of the backpack.  We went downstairs for dinner.  Patrick and I asked her if she wanted to eat and she shook her head no.  I walked over to her seat, and she shook her head again.  She coughed and made a funny noise, and I said "I don't think I want to give her any dinner if she does not feel well."  Patrick says "She's fine!  She was coughing like that all morning."  Noella immediately vomits all over herself, me, and the floor.  She did not eat any dinner.