~Knock, Knock~

For about a month, Eleanor has really been occupied by doors. She'll come into a room with you and push the door closed behind her. Sometimes, she'll almost close the door and then pull it open again. Yes, we've had some close calls with some fingers, but it only takes Eleanor a minor bump to learn where to be careful. So, we haven't had any major door injuries.

After the stage where she closed the door with a parent in the room, she moved on to going into her room on her own and closing the door behind her. She isn't tall enough to completely reach the door knob; she can only grasp at it without getting her hand around it. So, she would go into her room, close the door, and a few seconds later, I would hear soft knocking. She has never panicked at all. She just stands there and knocks. I usually go to the door and knock back before I open it just to see what she'll do. Then, I turn the knob and push the door just slightly so as not to smash her feet. As soon as she sees it is partly open, she grabs the edge of the door and pulls it open the rest of the way. This picture is her making her exit after just such an event. (I have to add here that the huge mess behind her is due to the fact that she hasn't had a closet since January. Our "home improvement" project did the opposite for her situation, although my kitchen sure isn't complaining.)Well, during her practice closing doors, she has started trying to turn the knob even though she can hardly reach it. She sees us turn the door knobs to exit the room, and she wants to do it, too. She hasn't been able to turn the knob yet, but she can turn one thing-- the lock! She did it on the back door to the house the other night, and I told Grant, "Great, now she'll start locking herself in her room." I didn't completely believe it because it was the first time she had turned a lock, and I figured it was mostly a fluke because it's pretty difficult.

Then, it happened. She went into her room and knocked. I came a second later to release her, knocked back, put my hand on the knob, and turned (I mean tried to turn) the knob. It didn't turn. She had locked herself in her room! I tried not to panic. Luckily, the previous owners of our house had had a roommate and had keys made to all the doors and dutifully turned over all those keys when we bought the house. . . it was just a matter of finding them. So, I grabbed the phone to call Grant to tell him we might have a problem while I searched through one of our junk drawers for keys. I was standing at the door with a handful of keys, trying each one and narrating to Grant on the phone each time one didn't work, listening for distress behind the door and trying not to picture her turning up her heat and not being able to turn it down or climbing something (I don't know what, but she'd find something) and falling and hurting herself. Then, after 3 or 4 keys that didn't work, the knob turned. She had let me in. She was perfectly calm and unaware of any reason I should have been worried. Though the door was open, I continued trying keys until I found the ones to her door. They are now easily accessible just in case of a repeat. Whew!

Sunday at Grandma's

We visited Eleanor's other grandma on Sunday ("Grandma bock bock" as some of the other grandkids call her-- because she has chickens.)
All ready to walk the dog. If you haven't met him, this is our dog, Lane. (There are better views of him.)

"Bo Boyee." She gives him plenty of praise and tells him, "good boy," often.

She also scolds him forcefully whenever I do. She knows who's boss, and she tells Lane all about it. Whenever she hears noise outside, she says, "Hush!" I had to tell her the other day that we don't tell the birds to hush because we like their pretty music. She must think it sounds like a dog whining.

She thinks she has complete control.

Wow! I magically appeared in a picture!

Grandpa and Grandma and their dogs, Katie and Ice.

Eleanor just had to have a leash in her hand. Ice wasn't too sure about her new fearless (not to mention small) leader. She'd occasionally stop and turn back in fear of what toddled along with her.

The end of a pleasant walk.
Eleanor's favorite thing: mooching dessert.

Saturday at Grandma's

We went to Grant's parents' Saturday evening, and since it was warm(ish) out, the kids played outside in the sandbox. This was actually Eleanor's first real sandbox experience because last summer, she wasn't so mobile and still put everything in her mouth. This time, she got to really explore the sandbox. It took a little self-control on my part to not freak out about how dirty she got, but I am getting better.

SHE wasn't so sure about getting dirty at first.

She's wondering if it's her turn with the lappy yet.

Grant must have been trying to get an artsy picture with this one.

Carter is explaining to her the concept of scoop and dump.

I think she got it.

And she really likes it. She scooped up sand and watched it dump out of the shovel over and over.

Mesmerizing.

Have I mentioned Eleanor likes helping?
After dinner, Eleanor volunteered to help Grandma with the dishes. By this point, she had already handed all the silverware to Grandma one-by-one.
How do you like the new kitchen walls? I think the green is much better than that old wallpaper.

--Finished Project #2--

I made these booties for Carolyn, for her new baby girl. I'm really happy with how they turned out. Now, if I could just finish the blanket I set out to make her months ago!

Carolyn's baby, Adelynn, was born on Friday. We went to see them in the hospital on Saturday. I was so busy holding Adelynn and talking to her that I forgot to get any pictures until the last minute. I only snapped one photo right before we were about to leave. I don't think she was happy to see us go. . .

She really is precious. Her parents have pictures of her when she's more content. If I get any more, I'll be sure to post them.

Fun at Daddy's Work

Last week was Grant's finals week in school and registration week at work. It was busy. Wednesday was registration night, so he had to work really late. We went to visit him, and while things were calm, we went outside to let Eleanor play. Now that springtime has come, she loves being outside and exploring.

After playing outside for a while, we went and picked up some dinner for the three of us. Eleanor and I ate in Grant's office, and he was in and out between helping people to grab a bite. We do this almost every term.

Eleanor had fun making friends with the students and their children. She likes to walk up to people and say, "Hi," and then she comes back a few seconds later and says it again. This can go on for as long as the person will humor her and give some sort of response. Sometimes it lasts longer than that. She won't do this in just any public place, though. She knows Grant's work (and basically owns the place), so she feels comfortable there. Church seems to be another one of these places. Take her to the store, though, and even if I ask her to say hi, she will only give a wave or bury her head in my shoulder. I like it that way, though. I wouldn't want her to warm up to just anyone.

She did some running.

I introduced her to the joy of sticks.

Tap-tapping a tree.

Life just doesn't get better than a stick in one hand and a good rock in the other.

Post #15

So, I've been looking at blogs by different friends of mine, and it has occurred to me that I never did a Post #1. I never said, "hey, I'm starting a blog, this will be post #1 of many!" I'm sure it's not required, but it's been bugging me that I never did.

So. . . in case you haven't figured it out yet, I decided to join the ranks of bloggers. This won't be so much a journal as it will be a scrapbook, so be prepared for ENDLESS pictures of Eleanor. I'll keep the day to day and personal stuff in my own journal. Typing is fun and all, but there's just something rewarding and comforting about putting pen to paper (call me old fashioned). So, sit back, relax, and look at all our goings-on in picture form. Comment if you like, and please come back to visit often as I hope to update things often (we'll see). Thanks for stopping by!

Ahh! I feel better already.

Smile for the Camera. . .

Sunday was Joel David's blessing and a family celebration of birthdays for Ben and Stuart. Since this was the first time all the grandkids were together, we just had to take some family pictures. Here's how they turned out on my camera. (There were a lot of cameras in the mix.)

The grandkids.

The chaos.

My sweet little girl, most likely looking for a good rock to hold.

I LOVE that potbelly!

Dirty feet.

The sons.

The guys with parents.

Now, let's play a game called stand as a group and take turns NOT looking at the camera. I did the best I could, but I couldn't find one picture with everyone looking. Here are a couple of the best ones I had. . .

The whole family.
Left to right, back row: Stuart, Lucero, David, Michael, Ben, Grant,
middle row: Carolyn, Cindy, Jocelyn,
on laps: (new baby girl), Eleanor,
front row: Carter, Isaac, Caleb, and Daniel.

The grandkids with Great Grandma Mills (minus Caleb).
They were all pretty sick of pictures at this point. Eleanor is crying her eyes out because she wants to hold the dog leash, but if I gave her the dog leash, she would just scream louder. She was hungry for dinner and a bit irrational.
And. . . We're done!
The kids were really good sports while it lasted.