Eleanor 3.9

This kid is full of funny statements lately. We were at the park and Nora was on the swings. The swings have always been her favorite piece of playground equipment and she can literally spend hours on them. On this day Michael was with us and she requested that he give her a monster underdog push. He obliged time and time again, with her saying, "higher!" after each one. Finally, he did one that was so big, that the swing started cavorting about rather wildly. Nora's face of glee quickly became one of terror, and she yelled for him to stop the swing. After the swing was still, she told him, "only little pushes now Daddy! I'm just a little kid and I don't understand what 'higher' means!" It was the most poignant and funny little phrase, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself.


She said another funny thing the other night. Michael was showing Will a picture he had taken of him when he was 3. Michael jokingly told him that the picture was taken back when Michael used Will to 'pick up babes.' Will asked what 'babes' are and I told him that they are girls. Nora thought about that for a second and then quipped, "thanks for picking me up dad!" Shes so quick witted, and makes me laugh so often!

The other night I was reading to the kids and after I finished one book, I suggested that maybe Michael read them the second. Nora said, "NO! I want YOU to read it mom! You have a beautiful voice!" Michael said, "hey, do I have a beautiful voice?" and Nora replied, "No, you have a dad voice." She certainly has opinions, that girl!

Often, right before the kids go to bed, Michael likes to wrestle with the kids. All 3 of them LOVE this, but Nora gets really into it. My normally sweet, quiet, loving little girl, will aggressively challenge Michael to a wrestling duel. Tonight she proclaimed, "Dad! I'm going to wrestle you and I'm going to win because I have pink power!" We both got a chuckle out of that one!

Her favorite game lately is to play 'Rapunzel.' She gets a long scarf, holds it to her head and goes up into the second story landing  above our foyer. She will then instruct me to stand on the ground floor and shout up, in my best Mother Gothel impression, "Rapunzel, let down your hair!" Then she replies, "ok mother, I will do it!" And lowers the scarf down enough that I can reach it. Then I tug on it a little and she giggles and giggles and has me repeat this as many times as I can stand. Will has even gotten in on the action a few times.

She suddenly wants to go barefoot everywhere and asks to do so regularly. Some times I let her and other times I have to tell her no. She has gotten splinters a few times but I expect her feet will toughen up by the end of the summer. I remember doing the same thing as a kid. I went around barefoot constantly and enjoyed feeling the dirt and grass between my toes. Nora reminds me of myself in a lot of ways actually. She has a great imagination and spends a lot of time playing and imagining scenarios. Shes very into rocks and has started a robust rock collection,  and she loves to eat sour things like lemon and lime, she likes to listen to audio stories while reading along in the book. Those are all things I really enjoyed as a kid as well.

Eleanor is a vivacious, fun loving, happy little girl. She is interested in all sorts of things and displays curiosity about the world and a surprising ability to comprehend complexities around her - somewhat unusual for a 3 year old! She has strong opinions but is easy going and fairly flexible. She wants to know the reasons behind our actions and as long as she understands why we are doing something, she goes with the flow. She loves her brothers and is a kind and loving girl. She is girly, but with Will's influence, displays more tom-boy characteristics than I think she would naturally incline to (which I think is great - they stretch each other!) and she is forever trying to keep up with him and do all the things he does - something I don't think will change any time soon. I just love her to pieces!