Eleanor 4.1

Nora is at such a fun age right now. She is talking so well and is so insightful and funny and in touch with her feelings. She is such a different kid from Will in that way. I suppose you might say that they each conform to their gender stereotypes! I'm so glad that I waited to send her to preschool. Last year at this time she wasn't potty trained and wasn't talking clearly at all. She would have struggled a bit. This year she is going to be more than ready.

I signed her up for a two day camp this summer, as a sort of pre-preschool orientation, so she would know her teachers already and not have any qualms about going. She was SO excited and ran right in without a second glance. There was none of the sobbing and leg holding that Will did on his first time there. Of course Nora has had the benefit of seeing Will go there for 3 years, so she knows its safe! Ha! She had a great time at this camp and would come home each day, bursting with information. She would tell me everything, to my great enjoyment. I can barely get two words out of Will about his day, but I know more than I ever want to know with her. Again, typical girl! One funny thing thats come out of her school experience thus far, is that she wants her teachers to call her Eleanor, despite the fact that we call her 'Nora' at home. She has also told her swim coaches the same thing, "call me Eleanor!" I asked her one day if I should call her that too and she said "yes!" But I have a hard time with that as 'Nora' is so ingrained. I'm working on it but at least she
doesn't object when I call her 'Nora' thus far!

Her language skills are really on par with other kids her age now, though she still struggles with a few sounds, particularly the 'R' sound, and with the beginning sounds of some words. She regularly calls dessert, "bassert" and the other night at dinner she exclaimed, "Mom, I LOVE bakini!" It took me a second to realize that she meant 'zucchini' and not the swim suit. The funniest moment however, was when we were riding bikes the other day. She was huffing and puffing and struggling to ride up this steep-ish hill by our house. As she crests the top of the hill, she lets out a dramatic sigh and proclaims, "Ahhhh! I am basausted!" I could not help laughing at that one. Now whenever Michael and I work hard at something, I am sure to tell him how 'basausted' I am!   




Another funny little moment happened when we were watching tv and a commercial for Victoria's Secret angels collection came on. There was this quartet of beautiful, lacy women on the screen, all looking very fabulous. Nora turns to me and says, "mom I love those ladies!" I asked her if she thought they were princesses and she very solemnly nodded 'yes.' She is hysterical! 

When she realizes that her lips are chapped, she proclaims, "Oh! My lips are wrinkly!" And she quickly applies chapstick to the afflicted area. Often she offers to apply it to my lips as well. She hasn't quite got the memo that it stays only on the lips though, and tends to apply it to the entire mouth area. Luckily its clear! Unfortunately for both her and I, Daniel is going through a chapstick eating phase, so we have both had to start hiding our tubes of chapstick, least he find them and have a little snack!

Nora is just the epitome of a little girl. Shes so fancy and loves to dress up. She walks around, singing these cute little songs all the time and loves playing pretend. Shes been really into the movie Peter Pan lately, and watches it constantly. She is really fascinated with the idea of wings and flying. She also loves unicorns and Pegasus for the same reason. She often speculates on all of the different ways that she could fly (wings, pixie dust, broomstick, etc), and if she could, where she would fly to (oft suggested destinations include Never Land and Grandma's house).

I will end with a cute little anecdote from the other day. She always chooses her outfits for the day, and on this day she had chosen some red sparkly tights, and a red velvet, sparkly Santa dress with a satin bow belt with white faux fur trim. That day she had also decided to make some jewelry and had fashioned some bracelets with rainbow colored beads, on each wrist. When it was time to pick Will up from school, she decided to walk instead of ride in the double stroller, and she just had this jaunty, sassy little saunter going. She KNEW she looked good! So good in fact that as we entered the school grounds, one dad remarked, "wow, isn't she fabulous?!" I looked at her and she certainly was! I only wish she could be that carefree and happy every day of her life!