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.

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.