Aaarrrrrggggghhhhh!

Not sure if Eleanor knows the extent to which her new fantasies raise her father's blood pressure... "I'm getting married tonight! Then we're going to Mexico. We'll go to a fancy restaurant. Gemma is invited! First, her aunt will give her a bath." Then, "I'm marrying bear (in the big blue house.) I'm 20. Gemma's 19. Want to see my bellybutton ring?"(lifting up her shirt to show her bellybutton) "See? It's purple."

History of Science

I asked Eleanor today if she knew what a scientist was, or what science was. "It's something you do when you're doing what you like to do," she said, and smiled a winky smile that let me know she knew she wasn't answering my question... I told her that there didn't use to be refrigerators, cars... "What did people do before cars?" I told her they rode horses, or horses pulled carts, or people walked, "or people rode in sailboats," she offered. "Absolutely." I also told her that when I was her age, nobody had computers in their home. "How did they get online?" How did we used to get online?

Teasing at the Table

If any of you have had a meal with us lately, you know that the girls are learning how to get each other's goat. And it is not always Eleanor who picks the fight. Lately, when Eleanor teases her sister, "You can't have any Gemma..." we ask that she then says five nice things about her sister. Here was the latest response:

"Gemma, you are cute as a button.
Gemma, you are....happy.
Gemma, you are...pretty as a princess.
Gemma, you are silly as a duck and
Gemma, you are wonderful as a party."

Do you sense a budding lyricist here?

Jumpin Gemma

Gemma always wants to do whatever physical activity her sister is doing. Sliding on the snow is fun. But her favorite thing is jumping. Here she is on the trampoline. Go Jumpin Gemma!

Family Day

We had a great family day yesterday, a real treat with all of our busy schedules. Gemma had her 2-year check-up - average height, average weight, gigantic head, all is well, free book. And that was pretty much the whole visit. Painless, effortless, and no worries.

We packed lunch and ate on the way to the Y, where we all went swimming. These girls are such little fish! Gemma jumps in and bobs up and swims back to the side, all on her own (with the support of the floaty). Eleanor feels even more confident now that she can touch in the shallow end.
After long naps - hallelujah - we did a couple of errands and then went to a family concert. It was great to see the girls up with all the other kids singing and dancing - though El was reluctant at first because the music was loud. Eleanor found her friend from school, Jackie, to hang out with.

Jud started driving to PA today, but the snow storm prevented him from getting far, so we have two more days together. What a treat!

Eleanor has been reading more and more. It is amazing how quickly she figures out the nonphonetic words - like knight, caution, ph words. With her love of language, it shouldn't be a surprise.

Gemma's language is just taking off. Today, for the first time, she said our cat's name plain as day - M-i-L-o. This is a relief as previously, she was calling the cat a name completely indistinguishable from MAMA.