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.”