Eleanor 4.4

As mentioned last month preschool is generally going well, but we are still struggling with social anxiety and some days are better than others (shes still going one day a week). To help combat that and to help her feel a bit more comfortable with the kids there, we have been inviting some of the girls over for play dates here and there. It really seemed to help her and it gives her another little girl to play with, so that I get to get out of playing 'babies' again! She wants to play these girly games that Will is not interested in, so she asks me. I get tired of playing them pretty quickly, so having other little girls over is the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone in that regard!

One cute thing that has come from preschool in the past few weeks, is that Nora has learned some new songs and has started singing them all the time. This is the first time shes really, legitimately sung (Will does it constantly so its about time she started to). I think the music teacher is gearing the kids up for their winter concert, so she has been singing You Are My Sunshine, and Yellow Submarine in particular. Shes learned all the words perfectly too! The funny thing is, that while she knows the words, none of the rest of us do, and she wants us to sing along with her. I don't think shes developed to the point where she realizes that her knowledge is different from everyone else's knowledge (thats probably why she hasn't started lying yet either), so she just assumes that if she knows it, everyone else should as well. There have been some funny moments where she gets frustrated at us for messing up the words to her favorite songs!

With Will at school in the mornings, it has given her and I a chance to have more one-on-one time, and I think we are both enjoying that. It has also given Daniel and Nora a chance to develop a unique relationship of their own, and thats been really nice to see. Daniel just LOVES Nora, and thinks she is so funny. And Nora loves making him laugh. I love to hear the peals of laughter from both of them laughing, and Nora shouting, "Mom, I'm making my brother laugh!" She has also started to become more concerned about his welfare, and will either help him if he needs help, or will come and get me and tell me, "mom, my brover needs help!" Its nice to see her get a little more involved and care for him!

This month we put up all of our Christmas decorations and of course there are several little nativity sets around the house. Nora is fascinated with them and especially loves the baby Jesus (in keeping with her baby obsession). The funny thing is though, she keeps calling the angels in the nativity sets, "fairies" and it cracks me up. I keep hearing her say, "mom, Daniel is moving the fairy again!"

I have to remind her that its an angel, not a fairy. She is also having lots of fun playing with the nativity sets (much as I did as a kid), and her favorite game is to line up all of the figures in a long, Disneyland-like line, to see the baby Jesus. Sometimes other figures join the queue, such as her Elsa doll, and her Hello Kitty figurine! Kids are funny.

She is a good little pretend mommy, and lately is very concerned that her baby dolls weren't adequately attired for the cold weather. So she started begging me to knit her doll a sweater. I complied as doll things are cute and easy to make, and the whole project goes pretty fast. No sooner was the sweater on the doll, that she asked for pants as well. Then it was a hat, and finally slippers. I drew the line at mittens though, now thats just ridiculous! Ha!