Eleanor 3.11

The other day Nora had ice cream all over her face and I remarked upon it. She smiled and said, "just call me Daniel mom!" To her credit, she is correct that he is also a messy eater!

The other day in the car she said, "Mom I'm so excited to grow up and be a good mom to my kids, just like you!" It made my heart melt!

She asked me to make her baby doll, Nyla, a knitted hat. I did and when she saw the finished product, she gasped and said, "Its a puffy hat! Now she can go to the mountains! But now she needs a jacket! You can make one. Go do it now mom!"

She LOVES to play dress up and does it several times each day. She always wants me to play with her too. Her favorite thing to do is to grab her magic wand, then she asks me what I want to be. She casts her spell by proclaiming, "magic, magic, boo!" and waving her wand over me, turning me into whichever princess I told her I wanted to be that day. Then we dance together, with her completely decked out in her princess finery.  I think she is longing for some other little girls to play with and will be happy to make some new friends when preschool starts in the fall. Sometimes I am sad for her that she will never have a sister. But I'm sure she will survive :) One thing is for sure, she will get to skip the fights over clothes and the constant emotional battles in her teens, that she would inevitably experience with a sister. So maybe its for the best anyway!

The other night she came downstairs after she was supposed to be in bed asleep. She was shirtless. I asked her where her shirt was and she told me that it was hiding in her curtains! That girl does anything she can think of to delay bedtime! Her other favorite line is, 'but mom, my body/brain tells me that I'm hungry!' And she gets to have a little snack and delay bedtime for 10 more minutes.

Shes had some cute little words lately. She pronounces dessert 'buh-ssert' and zucchini, 'bakini.' I tried to tell her the other day that its 'ZOO-kini' with the word 'zoo' in it. So now she calls it, 'zoo-bakini.' Haha! She does something similar with berries. She learned the word 'blueberry' first, so now every berry has the blueberry in it. Blackberries are 'black-blueberries' and strawberries are 'straw-blueberries.' She is so funny!

The other day we were at the wading pool and she was swimming around on her belly in the shallow water. I was talking to a friend when she called my attention to her. I look over to see her crouching and pulling the crotch of her swim suit to the side. She said confidently, "mom, I am NOT peeing." She was absolutely peeing! It was so funny to see her attempts at subterfuge.

Shes been having some big feelings lately whenever she doesn't get her way. Her favorite thing to say when told she can't do something is along the lines of, "then I will never play with/do that thing again!" She usually says this while throwing herself on the ground and hitting the floor with both fists and screaming a little. I think its the most worked up I've ever seen her. I suppose its good shes finally finding her voice after all this time!

We've been having a pretty good summer so far. Shes been enjoying our visits to the wading pools and the lake. She loves to run around on the slip n slide in our back yard as well and would run around naked all day if she could. I've planted a ton of fruit and kid-friendly veggie plants in the yard and both kids love to wander around and snack on fruits and vegetables (strawberries, blueberries, currants, peas, carrots, lettuce, in between all of their summer fun. I hope these memories stay with them throughout their lives!