Eleanor 4.6

She is in a super adorable age right now. Shes generally agreeable, she listens well, she tries to learn as much as she can and is extremely easy going. She walks around singing these cute little songs and loves to dance. One of my favorite things she says right now, is whenever I ask her to do something, she chirps brightly, "ok mama! I will!" And then eagerly runs off and does whatever it is.



She has just recently started singing all the time, and is apparently very good at learning and memorizing the words to songs. She has surprised me several times by singing along with the cds I play in the car, getting most of the words correct. Her singing skill has improved tremendously in the past few months as well. When she very first started singing last summer, she was as tone deaf as they come, but now she can carry a tune and has a sweet little girl voice. Shes a stinker though and will often tell me to stop singing. I remind her that I let her sing, but she insists I stop. I ignore such demands though!

Shes been in a ballet class for the last month and seems to be enjoying herself. I know she loves wearing the outfit (tights, leotard, cute ballet skirt and ballet slippers), and goes around the house singing the songs from class. Shes even tried to show Will a few of the moves she is learning. Her teacher is pretty old school and strict, and doesn't seem to have had too much experience with kids, but she is nice enough and so far its going relatively well.

She revels in potty talk and joins Will in creating all manner of silly words and phrases containing potty language, as many as she can think of. She even loves to draw pictures with bathroom humor. Currently her walls are decorated with pictures of the following: a poop with stink lines, a person pooping, and a bunny sitting on a pile of poop. Of I need her to smile for the camera, the best joke to use is, "Knock, knock. Whose there? Poop!" And I get smiles and laughs for days. I am enjoying the simplicity of her humor these days!

We talk about death a LOT in this house. I never bring it up, the kids do! They are interested in the subject and we end up discussing different aspects of it, at least 1-2 times a week. It still constantly surprises me. Today, at her request, I took Nora to visit a cemetery. We talked about the difference between an urn and a gravestone and then she told me: “When I die, tell them I don’t want to be cremated. I want to be buried because I’m scared of the oven!” We ended up being there for an hour, and she didn't want to leave (I was cold and it was raining)! As we were heading back to the car, I asked her what her favorite part of the cemetery was, and she said it was when I read the names on the grave stones to her. Shes a funny little thing! I definitely believe in giving kids all of the information they want (presented in a kid appropriate format of course), so no topic of conversation is off limits at our house. And its totally understandable that kids would be curious about death . . . I am just surprised at the depth of my kids curiosity on the subject. But I will continue to answer any and all questions as I am able!

 Eleanor is at the cutest age right now. She is just generally cheerful and happy go lucky. She likes to walk to school with me to pick up Will, and skips merrily the whole way. She sings happy little songs and dances happy little dances. She loves baby dolls, unicorns and the color purple. She loves sparkly, frilly dresses and loves to have fancy hair styles. She wants to do everything that I do, including helping with chores like cleaning and especially cooking. She is really enjoying both ballet and swim class as well as preschool these days. She is just a mellow, laid back, happy little joy to be around!