Eleanor Christine

I've started several posts about our Ella over the last couple of months, but they haven't quite gotten finished... and now I hardly know where to begin. Eleanor continues to grow in stature as well as vocabulary daily. She is a healthy, happy, spunky girl who gets girly-er and girly-er all the time. These days she is very into nursery rhymes, singing, being a ballerina, swimming, playing with dolls and Sesame Street. She often plays pretend and loves to "be" a baby, puppy, monster or mommy. Her imagination is WILD! She always keeps us smiling.

This evening, after dinner, Ella was running around the house and finally settled herself in the kitchen. She started pushing a toy on the refrigerator that plays the ABC Song and each time it played, she would turn around and around in circles - making herself dizzy. Finally she sat down on a small stool and we giggled about her facial expression. Next thing we knew she said, "Our house is turning... around... and around!"

Many days, Eleanor picks her own unique outfits. Leotards and tu-tus are a favorite. The above pictures are from a few days ago when it was quite warm outside, but had recently been raining, so the backyard was kind of muddy. She chose that outfit completely on her own. The rain boots are out a lot right now because it is fairly "warm" (by our standards) but it has been snowing a lot over the last week. Snow and thaw, snow and thaw...

Here are a few quotes I saved. Unfortunately, I haven't been very good about writing down her incredible little comments. Hopefully these will make you smile, though:

"When we get sad, some rain drops coming from our cheeks. Yeah, we cry and rain drops come from our eyes."

Typical prayer over a meal:

"Our Jesus, thank you for our food. Thank you for our family. Thank you for God. Thank you for making us healthy and grow strong... AMEN!"

Looking at a map of Sheridan: "Dis is South America, here Africa, dis Adeline's house and Lucas' house. Dis way to VA, dis to Daddy hunts. Dis way Iowa. Mommy, we go South America now?"

Ella sings and sings all the time... Most songs now end with, "I know my abc's next time won't you sing with me." This inevitably leads to singing the ABC song.