All About Eleanor

I really haven't kept up with this the last few months, so this is going to try to span all that time rather than just the past month.

Eleanor is so much more a little girl than a toddler now.

• About two months ago, Eleanor started giving us choices. We often let her choose between two options so she has a sense of control. If I asked her to get me a diaper, she would bring two and say, “You get to choose. This one or this one” (holding each up successively). Then, before I could answer, she would say, “This one?” holding one out to me. I've always just accepted the one she chooses for me, not wanting to know what would happen if I was to disagree.


• When we started looking at houses and considering selling ours, we would ask Eleanor if she thought we should find a new house and move away from our house. Her response has always been the same: "Yeah, this house is borken. We need a new one."


• Whenever we are in West Salem, close to our old neighborhood, she protests, "No. I don't wanna go home!" (Apparently, she wasn't as attached to the place as Grant and I were. Or maybe she just loves living at Grandma's.)


• She loves to write letters. She can't actually create recognizable letters (on purpose), but she likes Grant or me to write out words for her while spelling them, such as Mommy, Daddy, Eleanor. One day, she was sitting, writing, and she spelled out, "E-L-E-A. . .O" I asked her, "Are you writing Eleanor?" She looked up and said, "No. I'm writing Mommy." Oh well.


• After writing a bit on the program in church last Sunday, she showed it to her daddy and said, "Look. It's all letterded."


• She loves to help Grandma and Grandpa feed the animals.


• She loves to wash her hands by herself. She's finally figured out how to push down the pump on liquid soap, so she feels so big, getting her own soap.


• She's been practicing using the pedals on the trike we borrowed from a friend, and she's getting pretty good.


• She's excited for baby sister to come.


• She still thinks she has a baby sister in her tummy. Things got even more confusing for her at one of our appointments this past month. We used the Doppler to listen to baby sister's heart in Mommy's tummy, and then Daddy had the doctor let us listen to Eleanor's. Of course, the Doppler was put on her chest, and we did hear a heartbeat. Eleanor triumphantly exclaimed, "We both have baby sisters, and they are hiding!" She was also pretty excited to have goop on her like Mommy gets goop on her tummy when they do the Doppler.


• More recently, at a doctor's appointment, the doctor asked Eleanor where her baby sister was, surely expecting her to say she was in Mommy's tummy. Eleanor was happy to pull up her shirt and point to her own tummy, saying, "Right there."


• We have talked about when baby sister comes, now that the time is getting closer. We were having a conversation before I put her to bed the other night, and I told her that when baby sister comes, she could hold her. She said, "And I will change her diaper? And I will be the mommy?" I told her that actually, I would be the mommy. She would be the big sister. She said, "I will be the big mommy sister?" I told her it was a deal. Why not, right?


• She's getting more affectionate with my tummy every day, giving baby sister pat-pats, loves, and kisses.


• The other day, as we were driving onto the Chemeketa campus where the road is lined with big, mature trees all along the way, I heard her talking in the backseat. As I listened a little closer, I heard her saying, "Tree. . .tree. . .tree. . .tree," and when we reached the end of the lane, she let out a happy shout, "TREE!!" I guess you had to be there, but it was really funny. The next day, leaving the doctor's office, she did a similar narration, but this time it was, "Tree. . .tree. . .tree. . .tree. . .light. . . tree. . .tree. . .tree. . . light. . .tree."

Her favorite book:

She can practically recite this book word for word while flipping through the pages. I've wanted to get a video of her reading it. Grant or I will start reading it to her, and she'll join in, saying all the words as we say them. Then, she'll say, "Let me read it," and take the book and completely take over "reading" it.

Her favorite movies:

I'm ashamed to admit how many times she has seen these two movies since her mommy has been tired and pregnant. It's been even more common since we've been living here at Mother's because I'm nervous about Eleanor finding ways of entertaining herself that aren't acceptable while I catch a little more rest. So, unfortunately, the DVD player has been doing some early morning babysitting for me.

She really is funny about what she picks up from the movies, though. She started out with Ratatouille. She'd find any sort of container (a bowl, a small box, etc.) and put some sort of small toy in it, and it instantly became Ratatouille (which, of course, is what she thinks the rat, Remy is named). I think she's mimicking the scene where he's trapped in a jar. Then, she talks to that toy, saying things like, "Don't look at me like that," or, "Stop paying with the pices!" Then, she walks away and says, "I'm not crazy! (sigh)"

She likes to describe some of the things that happen. She often tells me how the health inspector says, "Stop that Ratatouille!" which is actually reversed. Ratatouille yells to stop the health inspector. She used to get really anxious when Ratatouille gets separated from his dad. She would whine to me, "He wants his daddy." Then, you wouldn't believe the celebration she would have when he is reunited with his daddy.

Curious George has many similar quotes and points of interest for her. She calls the man in the yellow hat Curious George's daddy. She likes to pretend to catch bugs (fireflies) and shove them in our mouths so we can show each other our green tongues.

• The Day the Babies Crawled Away isn't the only book she "reads." She has an amazing memory. She can open a book we have read to her only once or twice and ad lib the text from most of the pages just by looking at the pictures. If you tell her you are done reading a book to her, she'll usually take the book from you and say, "I will read it." She'll go through the pages and basically re-tell the story. If she has a hard time remembering a part, she'll turn to me and say, "Say it with me," to get me to read the page to her.
• The magic number 10: I am loving counting to 10 lately. You know those times when you're in a hurry or trying to do something else and your child finds something they want to do that completely interests them that will completely sidetrack what you had in mind? Some examples of this: When Eleanor sees the quarter operated school bus on the way into Wal-mart and wants to ride instead of entering the store for a quick trip shopping. When we're trying to get her to bed and she decides she wants to rock herself on the rocking chair instead of letting me sit down in it to put her to bed. When these type of things happen, I know if I just say no and don't let her do it at all, I'll end up with a major tantrum that possibly lasts longer than her request would have held her attention. So, one time, I gave it a shot and told her she could do it until I counted to 10. I counted somewhat slowly, and when I was done, I braced myself for a tantrum when I told her time was up. No tantrum came. She pleasantly quit and we continued with our original goals. It has worked every time! Sometimes I count slowly, and sometimes I count rather quickly, but every time I finish, I'm met with cooperation and a satisfied little girl. It's amazing!
• Setting a timer also works well in situations where she is more attached to what is going on. Examples: When she's playing with friends and having a hard time getting ready to leave and say goodbye or when she's playing with Grandma's bunnies and doesn't want to come in for dinner. I set an alarm on my phone (usually for 5 minutes) and tell her she has to be all done when the timer beeps. She is usually cooperative when the alarm goes off.
• Not so magic number 3: There have been times when Eleanor has not been so quick to obey her parents, so a few months ago, we started giving her to the count of 3 before she was faced with consequences. In the beginning, all it took was a 1. . . maybe 2. . . and she'd get moving quite quickly to fill our request. For some reason, it's losing it's effect. We often find ourselves stuck on 2 and continuing to threaten, not actually wanting to have to deal with the drama of reaching 3. Not that our threats are empty, but it's a pain to have to make good on a threat when we just want her to listen to us.
• Which brings me to this point: Eleanor is discovering insubordination. She used to be so eager to be obedient and do what her parents asked. Now, she's discovering that sometimes it's just easier to say no. A few times, I have told her not to do something, and she has watched me carefully as she slowly disobeyed. When we were at the "new house" for the inspection, she was tired and cranky. I told her not to go into the garage. She stood by the doorway that enters into the garage, and while watching my face, slowly put one foot inside of the garage.
• She's still quite good for an almost 3-year-old. She is a very repentant little thing. If she does something wrong and is corrected, she often isn't satisfied until she is allowed to go back and try again to do it the way she is supposed to.
• We have been trying to be more consistent about having Family Home Evening every Monday night. To do this, we usually have the computer nearby so we can reference The Friend or use the interactive music player to sing songs together. Tonight, Grant was sitting on the couch using the computer. Eleanor was playing on the other half of the couch, and I scooted her over so I could sit down with her between Grant and me. She looked around and asked, "We are having Family Home Evening?"