Being Sat Upon

The last couple of days, Eleanor and Gemma have had lots of fun with babysitters. On Monday, it was a trip to Nana's while I went to the dentist. Monday night, Glenn and Marianne's twin daughters Hilary and Morgana came over for their first babysitting gig, with their play seals in tow. I still remember when those to were younger than Eleanor! Yesterday, Jud got to come to one of my gigs and out for supper. The girls stayed behind with their Nana, who ended up staying the day and most of the night. Gemma woke up this morning wanting to know "When da babasitter comes?" and was disappointed it was not immediately.



Eleanor is in her second week of Mini-camp at the school she will attend next year. It is a great way to be introduced to the building, playground, and some kids for next year. The first day, Eleanor was shy, but Gemma joined right in with the kids and didn't want to leave. Eleanor is much more comfortable now, and Gemma still wants to stay each day.

Wayne, Wayne go away

The girls have gotten into some knock-knock jokes following a recently purchased book from the library book sale. One of their favorite sayings the last week has been "Rain, rain, go away! Come again another day!" So they loved the Wayne version of the joke. Today, they asked to go outside in a rain pour. They were too cute stomping in puddles and, of course, standing under the rain coming from the roof. They loved it, and I had to coax them in when the thunder was too close for my comfort. Playdoh was the order of the day for the rest of the morning as their pants were in the dryer.


Later that day, the girls and I met friends and went to the theater for a play. The girls were great, needing only minor bribing toward the end with some animal crackers. Gemma insisted on her own seat and didn't want me to touch her when seated. Here she is fending me off. (Notice the gum in her mouth. It wasn't there at the end of the show. Can you guess where I later found it? If you guessed loose in my purse, you were right. At least she didn't leave it on the floor.)

Afterwards, we went out for gelato and ran around on the town mall. The girls love to chase from tree to tree. We tried to fit a shopping trip in on the way home. Big mistake. Eleanor met one of her friends from preschool in the store. It was like Hollywood. They both ran at each other from across the aisles, alternately picking each other up. They jumped and giggled and wrestled each other to the floor for hours (okay - 5 minutes) and then we pulled them apart. Needless to say, Eleanor was in no fit mood to shop after that and did not settle down to sleep until 10:30 tonight.

A girl needs her privacy

Daybreak Do and Strawberries

Eleanor has a Barbie Hair Guide book from the early nineties. She's been dying to do the style where you braid your hair into tiny braids at night and let it out as beautiful curls in the morning. Here she is the night before... And here she is with the "Daybreak Do" revealed the morning after. Can you say "crimper" anyone who lived through the eighties? She loved it, though.
We went strawberry picking out in Bowdoinham today, a yearly tradition at our house. This year, Gemma was a focused picker, working steadily to partially fill two quart berry baskets. She insisted in carrying the berries herself to the farmstand (a good distance away) and than again to the car (another good journey) and didn't drop a one. Eleanor had fun tasting berries and assigning roles to the Caswell Family players. Gemma was the momma, Eleanor was Kelly, age 11 (her favorite age - she often confides that once she turns eleven she will stop having birthdays) and Jud was the neighbor - Ichabod who called himself "Icky" for short. Here's Gemma hanging on for dear life to her berries.


When we came home, everyone had a rest. The girls relaxed with daddy under Eleanor's new huggy blanket. You can't leave these three alone for long until they get pretty silly...

Pirates and Princesses

Eleanor and Gemma were invited to a pirate party by one of Eleanor's classmates, Michael. Eleanor is wary of pirates, but dressed up as a gallant pirate princess.
Of course, once at the party, she got into the spirit, fighting her friend Joyelle with a balloon sword.
Gemma also did not want anything to do with being a pirate, insisting on dressing as a full fledged princess, sans crown.
Michael's folks had planned a wonderful treasure hunt that took kids all throughout their beautiful yard, with mown paths through the fields. Here's Gemma trying to keep up with the big kids.
Both girls were in the thick of it when it came to the pinata. Eleanor had some good hard hits, and Gemma also connected with the pinata. She really thinks she is a five year-old! The party was lots of fun. Thanks Michael!

Veggies

"You gonna have some potato salad, Gemma?"
"No."
"No! What'cha gonna have for a vegetable?"
"Ketchup."

The cousins go to India

The next day, we met in Portland for the tastiest Indian I have had in awhile (thanks Josers). Even Jude got into the spirit, doing a pretty good job on the Naan.

This picture is just for gramps. Gemma is the only one who is observing proper etiquette (eating while the picture is being taken).
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Here's the Retsema clan. It has been hard to take pictures with Jude and either Eleanor or Gemma close by as he is pulling on their hair before the flash goes off.

Joey and Eleanor kept each other busy with some darn silly faces. Like this...I had to sneak this picture of me and my nephew. He's such a lovey and growing too fast. Can't you slow that process down Ray?

Seacoast New Hampshire

Auntie "Jo-Jo" came up for a visit

The Caswell girls headed to 3 J and Ray's and a trip to the Seacoast Science Center. They loved it! Eleanor got to dress up like a whale...
Gemma wanted to spend the whole time dancing in the dory.
But she took a break to let Uncle Joel show her the creatures in the cool touch pool.
Then we headed to the playground to get our willies out. Auntie Ray cooked us my favorite - Enchiladas - Eleanor even decided she likes guacamole. But the girls were still flyin' high after 10:00 pm, so we headed home rather than do a sleep over.

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.

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)

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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.