Eleanor 4.2

Eleanor and I were spreading grass seed on the lawn one day and she wanted to help. I said she could and we each were grabbing handfuls of seed and spreading it by hand. Suddenly the bag of seed fell over and a bunch of seed spilled on the ground. I said "shit!" under my breath and then a moment later I heard her quietly murmur, "dammit!" Her head was hung low and the only reason that I heard it at all was that my head was next to hers. Its funny because thats exactly something I would say too! She really does want to be just like me.

She also likes to mimic some of the real mommy jobs I do for Daniel right now, such as feed her babies milk, change their diapers, and take them for walks in the stroller. We have taken a few walks around the neighborhood, me pushing Daniel in the umbrella stroller, and she pushing her baby in her child size umbrella stroller. She always looks so proud to be doing the same thing I am. I just love that kid, she is so adorable! I will be sad to see this phase go and am soaking it up!

She is in a big mommy phase right now and wants to do everything I do and often talks about when she is a grown up mommy like me. One of the things she often says, is that she wants to be a grown up so she can cook dinner every night. So I have been inviting (and she has been regularly asking) her to help me in the kitchen, any time I am preparing food. She is gaining confidence and competence in things like cracking eggs, pouring dry ingredients, stirring, boiling, and cutting food items. I would love her to get to the point where she is willing and able to prepare meals around here. Maybe by the time she is 10 or so she can start making some meals here or there. What a nice thought!

Recently I asked Nora what she wants for Christmas, and apparently she needs a real rainbow, and a real unicorn (don't worry, it can live in the backyard and sleep in the shed!). Santa's gotta step up his game this year! Michael asked her if the unicorn can play games, and she said that he could play Red Light, Green Light. She also said that he could eat wood, and might eat from the compost pile as well. Apparently a unicorn is as good as a goat! Who knew?

The other night she was finishing her dinner and Michael sat down next to her to eat dessert. He was eating some left over apple pie out of a yogurt container (side note: our compost container is also a yogurt container). Nora turns to Michael and asks,"Dad what are you eating?" Michael says, "apple pie!" Nora responded, "Oh! I thought you were eating compost!" Michael just about died laughing and then so did I once he told me the story. She is a funny kid!

One last funny thing from this month happened while we were in church. Nora leaned over and said, “do you want to hear a secret? Once upon a time I used to come to this church and sing every week. And then I died. Then I came back to life and now I live with you!” I tried to ask a few follow up questions but she was done talking about it and now I am wondering where on earth she got that from!

Eleanor is a sweet, mild mannered little girl. She loves all things girly (pink/purple, unicorns, princess, jewelry, dressed, etc), and I love that she does. She loves to cuddle and loves to be read to. Our favorite activity on rainy days is to snuggle under a soft blanket on the couch and read a pile of books while Will is at school and Daniel naps. She is becoming a more involved and sweet big sister every day and is just a joy to have around. I am really enjoying the greater amount of time we have together now that Will is at school during the days!