Jude comes for a visit and more...

Dr. Jackie at Nana's Petinarian Clinic

Eleanor got a chance to visit with her Nana for a day this week. Nana wrote to me about the visit and their adventures. I've included blurbs from her email...

"She correctly speaks of herself as "an artist" (all children are!)....that's good! And she is coming to a representational stage of development---gives her people arms and legs occasionally! Her latest addition is TEETH, which is very creative and I've never seen quite like that before--little circles drawn across her faces. She drew "Papa".....and "Nana"....and when I requested it, she added Maggie to my portrait. (Maggie got four legs....and ears and eyes....and, at my request, she added a tail.) "




In addition to artwork, Eleanor likes to play petinarian when at Nana's. Here's what Nana has to say about this game...
"Among patients she treated were a westie with a broken leg--cure was band-aids, an owl with a mouse stuck in its throat--cure was band-aids on it's throat, a baby loon who had a sore throat--cure was a band-aid over his beak (she told me I could take it off when he ate....gave me extra band-aids to reapply afterward), Miss Maggie--whose heart Dr. Jackie listened to with a real stethascope--also visited the clinic. I reported that she was "not eating well". Dr. Jackie discovered that she had an ear infection, listened to her ears with the stethascope and cured her with--band-aids on her head between her ears (and she still has one attached this morning!). "

Nana also caught some of the dialogue on tape and was able to transcribe a bit of it. Perhaps you can see why it is so hard to keep up with all her ideas... (Nana is in italics)

-------------------------------------------------------
This part is a pure transcript captured at the end of our clinic-- (I have it on tape):

(into the phone) Come see me any time or just call my Dr Lamb. (she'd propped up "Lambie Pie", a stuffed lamb, in a chair in her clinic....and put him in charge of answering the phone!)

Another person who needs your help

It was my Auntie Rae and she said her dog Jack has a sore throat

Do you think he needs an x-ray?

So, What else do you need?

Well, I think I might have to have this mother loon checked out again because she has not been eating very well

Does she need any Band-aids on her throat?

I don't know if she does or not. I don't know why she isn't eating.,

I'll listen to her belly and see what happens....you see, when she flaps her wings um I'm just going to check. Why don't you call me any day but...call me any time and I will fix this lagoon. I'm going to give my x-ray machine on this and see how...It's taking pictures...want to see the pictures?

Oh, yes I do. Wow.

Picture.

What does that show?

This shows the blood is pumping and her ankle might have broken.

Oh, my, what can we do about it?

I might have to put a band-aid over it.

I'm glad you could check her out for me because she really hasn't been feeling too well.

Girlie Vacation

With Jud gone and school out for the week, us girls needed to have some fun. Today, we played outdoors and had tea at our friend's Joyelle and Lisa's home.
We were able to visit and feed some neighborhood rabbits. Of course, what is the most fascinating thing about visiting huge angora rabbits at their outdoor hutch? If you are a four year old, the answer is poop!

It was nice of Lisa and Joyelle to invite us, particularly as we were getting a little stir crazy. For fun, I thought Eleanor and I should potty train Gemma. She likes underwear, doesn't like diapers, and can sit on the potty so I thought it made sense. Eleanor and I found some pairs of small underwear, had her pose for the picture, and let her go play. Three pairs of wet underwear, several wet spots on the carpet, and only 30 minutes later, Gemma was back to diapers. She'll get there when she is ready.

She takes it all in

Today, Eleanor had a great time playing with her Nana, while Gems and I went to Portland to be part of a study. Part of the evaluation was an assessment of her skills in different areas. Right now, Gemma is talking a fair bit, but we often don't have a clue what she is saying. She may go on for several sentences, and we only catch one word. But she does a lot of listening and always seems to know just what is going on. Like when she fills in a word of a story that her sister is reading. At the assessment today, her understanding of language showed to be pretty amazing. No surprise. We all knew she was listening. Perhaps we need to be more careful what we are saying around her...

A Day in the Sun

Auntie Ray - I think we have your glasses. And, finally, a sunny day in which we had to borrow them. The crust of ice on top of snow was sturdy enough that we had great fun walking around in the woods and following the streams in our backyard.

Of course, with Jud out of town and so much birthday money burning a hole in Gemma's purse (she's been carrying cash and checks around refusing to give her "ma-ma" back) we had to go shopping too. Eleanor headed right to the purple mermaid Barbie. No surprise there. Will that girl ever have enough Barbie's?

Gemma checked out everything - Dora toys, Sesame Street computers, baby dolls and dogs that make noises and move - until she finally settled on a frog that busted out in rap when you pushed it's little froggy hand. I blame it on Auntie Joey and her goofy Christmas gifts. She carried it around, playing the song and dancing, until Eleanor and I were totally sick of the thing. Luckily, when I introduced her to a drum she finally lost interest. Thank goodness.

Peas in a Pod

Eleanor and Gemma are really starting to enjoy each other. This has led to some very touching moments. Like yesterday, with Eleanor "teaching" her sister to swim and later holding ballet class, alternating turns with Gem as the teacher. Also, yesterday Gemma had her first date at the McDonald's play land. She loved it, and Eleanor had to keep going in the giant human sized habitrail to find her and tell me she was okay. She finally came out on the top of a series of platforms and was having trouble getting down. Eleanor climbed to the top and at each platform, held her arms out to Gemma who fell into them in a what looked like a loving hug. This was repeated at each platform, with Eleanor encouraging her and telling her it was okay because her sister was there. Too sweet!

Tonight, we had another attempt at a party for the Feb birthdays. They both decided to get dressed up as cowgirls, with pictures likely to show up on poppa's website. I snapped them in their boots and notice how they even pose alike. Two peas for sure.

Cheesecake

Eleanor was planning her birthday party - which she has been doing for the entire year - and talking about who was going to have the first piece of cake (her sister) and what kind of cake she would have. Then she said " You know momma, I think a mouse would have a cheesecake".

Bear

Although these two don't watch much television, this is not an unfamiliar site. Ella and "No Bear" close together on the couch with their eye glued to a Bear video. Gemma just loves Disney's Bear in the Big Blue House on video. She wakes up each morning and says, "Bear on", wanting me to play her new cd of bear songs. And every night, she needs to hear the "Bear Goodbye" song. Can't you just see the glazed over looks?

February Blues

Well, Gemma's birthday was snowed in and we couldn't have folks over for Jud's birthday as we had to quarantine the house due to a new illness. But, who says you can't have fun anyways?



Gemma and Eleanor can always have fun together. They are inseparable (even when you would really like to separate them). Eleanor loves to play imagination games. Gemma does not get to choose her role, but Eleanor gives her cues as to what she should do.

Gemma is growing up in so many ways. It's so much fun watching the two girls together as she becomes older and the dynamic between them changes. Gemma often helps me out in taking care of her older sister. Eleanor has a hard time slowing down to do things like get dressed, clean up, or set the table. She is so excited about life and has so many things she has to look at and talk about, that she forgets what she was supposed to be doing before she even gets started.

Gemma is a bit more focused. For example, I asked Eleanor to start setting the table and then left the room. When I came back, Gemma had opened the drawer and set her place with a fork and spoon. Today, when I asked Eleanor to get her clothes from her room to get dressed, I saw Gemma run into Eleanor's room and grab the pile of clothes and bring them to her sister. When we were struggling with Eleanor's snow pants and boots, Gemma brought over one purple mitten and then searched through the bin and came up with the other and brought them to her sister. With no prompting. This kid knows what's going on, even though she can't always tell us with her words.

A mind that moves a mile a minute - or faster than a speeding alien ship

I cannot possibly keep up with Ms. Eleanor and her active imagination. It can be quite exhausting. People keep telling me I need to write things down, but I don't know how I could keep up. Here's what she is saying while this picture is loading.....

"The horse was very, very, very, very fast. Faster than a speeding alien ship."

"Mom, I have a mysterious and wonderful question. The gum that Emma gave me was yellow, but it was bubble gum. Why was that?"

"I grew up in a jungle. I was raised by kittens. By Jaguars. What are baby Jaguars called? Kits? How do you spell Kits? K----I---T---S."

Two today!

It's hard to believe, but Gemma is now two! We had a major snow/ice storm for her birthday, but she didn't seem to mind. As you can see, she's pretty excited about her trike, already wanting to live dangerously!Eleanor was so good in letting Gemma open her own presents and waiting to use the new toys until Gemma said it was okay.
Gemma is a chocaholic already. Of course, she picked out chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream. Everyone helped make and decorate the cupcakes. And I got to clean up two very chocolatey girls.

Here's Gemma sitting at her birthday chair. She loved the balloons of course. This is her "cheesy" smile that she'll use when someone asks her to "smile at the camera". What a ham.

Taking care of dad

Jud has been quite sick this whole week. The week before it was Eleanor. Somehow, we all survived and have our good humor in tack.

Christmas in Mich

We had a great time in Michigan. Good thing that Grammy got us all PJ's though, as must everyone was under the weather and we spent a good deal of time hanging out in Retsema Tartan. Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas from Eleanor

Princess and the Pea

A couple days ago, Eleanor and Gemma were playing in the living room while I made dinner. They had the couch cushions down off the couch and were bouncing. I kept hearing muffled cries of frustration from Gemma, and I finally asked Eleanor if she thought they could find a game to play that wasn't so rough.

"How about Princess and the Pea?" asked Eleanor. Not a good idea, since a big part of the roughhousing involved squeezing Gemma between cushions. "No I don't think so."

"How about Winnie the Pooh, that's not so rough?"

"Great."

Eleanor then turned to Gemma and say, "Hello Pooh, how would you like to play Princess and the Pea?"

Tattoo Counting

Eleanor had some tattoos left over from Halloween -- she took them out of her bag and asked if she could put them on herself. I asked her if she knew how, and she explained the procedure:

"You go in the bathroom and put it on your hand. Then you run water over it and count to the number that is one after the number before the one that you count next."

Gem loves to dance

The Harcasema Reunion

It was so much fun visiting with the kids, Ray, Joel, Josers, and Matt (and Jack too) in NH! We all missed Uncle Thom and Aunt Jonelle, but tried to catch them by phone to have them there in spirit as well. The Caswell girls could only make it for one night of a slumber party, which of course included very little slumber. Ray and Joel were gracious hosts, even giving up their bed for the Caswell Clan. Uncle Joel wins a prize for BBQing in the middle of a wet noreaster downpour. Michigan beat State. Local Brews. Euchre. Gingerbread pancakes. And of course, Jude stole the show with his sweet little burbles, smiles, and cuddly sleep in our arms (Ray and Joel changed diapers - we just enjoyed the precious little one.) Thanks guys for a great visit!

Rosie Red and the Googah Band

Eleanor latest identity is Rosie Red, the cowgirl. She has the fringed red leather jacket from Grammy, a true "Texas Hat" from dad, and a denim cowgirl skirt from nana. To this she adds pink or leopard print leggings, mismatched bright blue socks, and her rain boots. Give this girl her horsie, and she's off. Of course Gemma and Googah can't help but join in the fun!

Strike!!!!

The girls go candlepin bowling for their first time while visiting with their aunties and uncles in NH. Eleanor bowled a spare and earned the highest score. Gemma dropped and hurled the poor balls for half the game before retiring to her role as score keeper. Her favorite part, of course, was the stylish pair of bowling shoes.

A new cousin!

Eleanor and Gemma are so pleased to announce the arrival of their little cuz, Jude Lawrence. We went down to visit the little dude, his parents, and his grammy at his home in Newmarket, NH. Eleanor was not a bit disappointed that his name is not actually Cucumber Geoff Caswell Hartter as she had suggested. And yes, he is way too cute!

Today tomorrow

Eleanor has got this sense that whenever she wakes up it's tomorrow. It extends to whenever she's in "quiet time" (which is neither quiet, nor a lot of time...) -- before she goes up to her room she'll ask, "what are we going to do tomorrow?" meaning what are we going to do when I come down. We've had lots of conversations about how it's not actually "tomorrow" yet when she comes down from quiet time. Yesterday before quiet time she asked, "Will it still be today tomorrow?" Zen koan anyone?

Family Reunion

All five sibs were reunited when we traveled to Michigan to see Thom (for the first time in three years), meet his fiance, Jonelle, and attend a big engagement fiesta, celebrate Matt's graduation from GVSU, and shower Rachel and her little "soccer dude". We had such a great time visiting and there are many stories to tell.

One quote from Eleanor keeps passing through my mind. "Momma, Momma! Hoover doesn't listen just like I don't listen!" she says excitedly after Grammy explained to her what it meant that Grammy's older dog, Hoover, is deaf.

Tales from Nana's

Eleanor is now wanting to play "petanarian" at my house....and has chosen the name of "Doctor Lucy....no, Fred" (names from the "McDuff" book I read to her). She wanted to put drops in Maggie's eyes but we settled for letting her "examine" Maggie's belly, as she was "four legs up" wanting to be scratched (like Fergus, in another book).

Gemma is following in the "pawprints", too.......I ask, "What does Maggie say?" and she says, "Woof!".....Then I ask, "What does Gemma say?"....and she says "Woof". That's why she and Maggie get along so well.....they speak the same language.

No no no...

Eleanor: "Daddy?"
Daddy: "Yes?"
Eleanor: "No, no, no! I was talking to Mom!"

Birdbumps

Some of just a couple quotes from yesterday...

Elly was talking about "Otter Space," letting me know that, "a spaceship is like a planet that flies when it's really dark."

She also observed that "in the Beauty and the Beast movie they don't sing. They just pretend: it's just their voices singing."

She also posed this jokey riddle, "Daddy, do gooses have bird bumps?" And followed it up with, "Do birds have goosebumps?" She explained that, "That's a funny joke," and when I asked her who told it to her, she said, "The trees, the plants, the butterflies. And our lamp."

Bugs, Mammals, Fish, Birds, Trumpets...

Eleanor asked if Bumblebees were bugs. I told her they were and decided we'd spend some time with the "aminal" kingdom -- she knew right away that dolphins were different than sharks, say, and that mice were certainly not bugs. She rattled right along until I hit her with, "what are hornets?"

"Trumpets! Doot-do-DOOO!"

Learning Language

Both girls are definitely into communication. Gemma definitely understands quite a bit. For awhile now, if you ask for a hug, she'll drop what she is doing and walk over to you, arms outstretched, and give you a little squeeze. She looks a bit like Frankenstein when going in for the hug (Jud says maybe more like one of the early Draculas going in for a bite). In the picture above, she is coming in for a hug and to grab the camera as well. Makes taking pictures a bit more tricky than when she was inert on her back.

Today, Gemma learned her first official word of sign language (other than "hi", "bye" and "up"). With Eleanor's help, she learned to put her hands together in the sign that means "more". So, I peeled an entire grapefruit today and between Gemma and Eleanor asking for more, I had only one bite.
At night, routine for Eleanor includes two books and either songs or a story made up by yours truly. Often she will tell a short story after mine that always seems to hit on the same themes and characters as I talked about. Tonight, she asked to tell the story of Mulan. Granted, she knows nothing about Mulan other than that she is some sort of Disney "Princess". Don't get me started on the Disney princesses. So, she started telling the story about Mulan.
"Is it scary? Why is it scary? What happens?"
I let her know that asking questions is not telling a story. So she starts again.
"Is the story of Mulan going to be too scary for you, Momma? Are you sure? We'll fast forward through the scary parts. Why is it scary? What happens?"
So I told her that if I answered all her questions, I would be telling the story.
"Got you again, Momma, " she says with a sly smile.
We are definitely in for some trouble with this one...

Boys vs. Girls

"Momma, do boys wear underwear"
"Yes..."
"Do boys go potty"
"Yes..."
"Boys go potty backwards. Daddy goes potty standing up. Girls go potty frontwards so they can see their mommas."

Morning with the Girls

Elly wanted to change the music away from Bob Dylan -- the next song was Jim Croce. I told her who it was and asked her if she knew anyone else named "Jim." Her eyes lit up: "Jim-Nastics!"

Gemma came up to dance with me, held her hands up and Elly said, "She's marrying you! Gemma can be the groom and you can be the bride. ---Posted by Jud

Colds and Warms

Elly's Dad says, "You look a little pale, Eleanor -- a little flushed. I'm not feeling too well either. I think I'm coming down with a cold."
Elly answers, "I think I'm coming down with a warm."

Learning to Walk in Michigan

Poor Ms. Gemma got sick over our stay in Michigan (note the pink cheeks). But she was a real trooper. She focused on developing her walking skills. By the time we returned to Maine, walking had become her primary mode of locomotion.

We're Inseparable!

From our newest poet to her mother when putting her to bed:

"We're Inseparable.
Like Zach and Wheezy ----(A two headed Dragon)
Like the Walrus and the Carpenter -----(Alice in Wonderland)
Like Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle Dee
Like You and ME!"


The picture is misleading, but I could find no decent pictures of me and Eleanor.

A Very Jasmine Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas in Michigan, travelling via MINH (our mini-van) with Jud driving through the night in both directions. Eleanor's top two requests for Santa were a Jasmine Barbie and Jasmine costume, and here she is in all her glory.

It's Destructive

Putting Eleanor to bed tonight. Sometimes her cd player skips and the music sounds strange. As I leave the room tonight she asks me to turn the music off because, "It's destructive". After turning off the music, Eleanor asks me, "Did you turn the music off?" I said that I had and she continues, "Why?"

Little Miss Director

Eleanor likes tries to take control when she can. We had a long bedtime stretch tonight. After teeth, stories, a drink of water, changing Gemma's pj's to match Elly's, and two trips to the potty, I was leaving to put Gemma to bed. Eleanor asked for just one more drink of water. When I said no and started to say she had already had plenty of opportunities, she interrupted with, "Momma, no talking! This is not a talking room, this is a drinking room."

Here is a picture of the two in the bath - very decent with all parts covered. Gemma is on my lap smiling at herself and her sister in the picture as I write.

Your Momma

Eleanor is way into familial relationships. She is frequently asking "Momma, who is your momma?" and so on and so forth to the nth degree. She has these relationsips pretty well figured out. For Thanksgiving today, we went over to Nana's for an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. When we later decided to go bowling with the kids, Nana volunteered to stay home with Gemma. As we are leaving in the van, Eleanor comments that, "Dadda, Gemma is staying home with your momma."

We had a great time eating, bowling, and playing today. Both girls adore their cousins, Boo and Tris.


Famili

Mush Veil

Eleanor calls Gemma's baby food "mush". She can't stand the stuff and will gag and at times throw up at the site of the baby food. Pleasant, I know. Makes it tough to feed both girls at once. We were trying to speed up the process today and asked Eleanor, "Do you think you'll throw up if we feed Gemma mush?" She said yes, so I proposed we needed a "mush veil". She instantly exclaimed, "I DON'T NEED A MUSH VEIL! What is a mush veil?"

Gemma now has a little tooth emerging on her top jaw. So, with just these two little tooth buds, she has learned to grind her teeth. Yikes. It is quite a sound!

Quote of the Day

Eleanor says the funniest things and does so with such frequency, that I can never recall what she has said. So, over the next week, I will post an Eleanor quote for each day. I wasn't home most of today, but listening over the monitor tonight while Jud was trying to get her back into bed after she got up to use the bathroom for at least fourth time I heard:

"Dad, I don't need help. I'm a big girl. I need my privacy".

Poor Gemma has been up nights coughing and "horking". But, Dad to the rescue - Here you see her rocked soundly asleep. What an angel.

When I grow Up

Last night it was, "what do you want to be when you grow up, Eleanor?"
"I want to have five jobs."
"Five!"
"Doctor, Princess, Mermaid, Pirate..."
She pauses to think. Knows that she's only listed four.
"Arista."
(Anoter mermaid.)

Swinging

The girls are as much fun as ever, but have been particularly busy lately. I've overheard Nana referring to Eleanor as "Hurricane Eleanor" and this is an apt name. Her language and thinking processes are just taking off. She is so entertaining. It would take me more than every waking minute to properly write down all the funny things this girl says. And meanwhile, she would be wrestling Ms. Gemma to the ground and fighting over a toy she truly didn't care about until Gemma started playing with it.

El always goes to sleep with a pile of books in her bed. She reads them, and then throws them over the side when she's done. She's very opinionated about what books she does or does not want each night. I know she's still awake when I am still hearing them clunk to the floor every couple of minutes. We bought some books at a library book sale. One was a Golden Book version of the Christmas Story. I guess the illustrations were not interesting enough to her. Tonight, when I was handing her books, she threw the book over the side saying, "I don't like Jesus".

Gemma is still just a joyful little girl. Several nights ago, she discovered they joys of sleeping on her tummy. I'm hoping this will revolutionize our sleeping schedule. It is desperately in need of a makeover. Tonight, she fell asleep cuddling with me positioned literally cheek to cheek. You gotta love these moments.

Lately, Gems has been having a lot of fun imitating others. She plays peekaboo using a curtain, gives razzes when you ask, and will even clap. Today, I realized she was imitating me chewing bubble gum. I kept opening her mouth to see what was there, but nothing was. I realized that she was mimicking my chewing motion as I chewed my gum.

Here are some pictures of the girls doing one thing they can have fun doing together.

"Evil" for short...

I was just putting Eleanor up to bed for quiet time. We were lying on the floor, having just read the tale of Two Bad Mice, which she very much appreciated. I said, “well, I'd better go downstairs and get to work.” “Can we make believe this is your work?” she asked. “Sure” I said. “Do you sleep at work?” “No.” “Why?” “You can't sleep and work at the same time.” She thought about it and I guess she must've said she was going to make believe it was HER work. So I said, “What do you do for work?” “I work at evil Wal-Mart. For Dresses. We call it 'Evil' for short.”

Halloween and more...

So much going on with the two little ones. Halloween was such fun with our little Beauty and the Beast.

Gemma's first tooth broke through the day before Halloween. Since then, she has been sleeping much better - thank goodness. This little girl is a mover! She loves to stand and dance - her whole body shaking up and down. Today, she did her crazy little dance for five seconds without holding on to anything today.

Eleanor's language brings humor to everyday life. Jud and I overheard her talking to her cousin, Tris. He was talking about Halloween parties and Eleanor's voice chimes in clearly, "Speaking of which" and segues into her typical talk about planning her birthday party (in March). Today, when I turned off the music in the van before "her" song was done, she shouts out, "Momma, your broke my heart".

Late Nights with Gemma

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Gemma and her mom often don't get good quality time until after big sister Eleanor is in bed. Gems is quite a ham and loves to stand up on anything. She has a habit of pulling the carpet up and trying to eat the little pieces of whatever (dirt, hair, leaves - yum) that collects under there. She knows I don't approve, and you can see she looks guilty in this shot.

Fall is Patriots Season...and pizza...

Eleanor and Jud make a mean pizza from scratch for Patriot's viewing. Some chef's add aprons or other apparel in order to keep their clothes clean. Eleanor has an alternate way to keep her clothes clean. (I'm surprised it hasn't caught on with the late night televised cooking shows.)