Friday, February 29, 2008

Peek-a-boo

"Poo-poo...poddy!"

WARNING: If you are not interested in spending the next few minutes of your life letting me subject you to an extreme overuse of the word "poo-poo," you should probably skip this post, and check back for something less gross in a few days.

I would just like to start by saying I do not want to potty train Eleanor right now. I've been told by so many wise mommies that if you attempt potty training too early, you're in for a very long process. I'd rather just wait until she's really ready, and get the job done in a reasonable amount of time. No offense to early potty trainers, of course...I'm just not in that camp.

So, last weekend Eleanor started telling us when she was about to go poo-poo. She even enlightened Robin and her hubbie with this little tidbit when they were over for dinner Saturday night. Nice. Anyway, she would consistently come and find me and say, "Poo-poo. Poo-poo," before she would start going. So, yesterday I decided to buy a little potty. I decided I would try the whole potty thing when she told me "poo-poo," and if it worked out, great. And then came the test...

Last night, after dinner, she ran up to me saying, "Poo-poo. Poo-poo...." to which I half-heartedly replied, "Do you want to go poo-poo on your potty?" Much to my surprise and dismay, she ran into the bathroom, shouting, "Poddy! Poddy!" And then she went. On the potty. Hooray, right? Um...no. G-R-O-S-S!!! Oh, and let me just add...EWWWW!

What in the world was I supposed to do with the little blob of disgustingness lying on the bottom of that little plastic cup?! Good grief. I'm not sure exactly why I find the poo-poo so much more horrifically offensive in the potty than in a diaper. But I do. Anyway, the little poo-poo on the potty episode resulted in me Cloroxing the entire bathroom floor to ceiling and scrubbing Eleanor and myself until our skin was nearly raw. I just couldn't shake the dirty feeling of the whole deal.

Now, I know that she has to be potty-trained at some point. This is not that point. Bye-bye potty...see you in a year or so.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Eleanor is one and a half!

Today is Eleanor's 18 month birthday! (I realize that it's not actually a birthday, but it's a big deal to this Mommy.) We went in today for her check-up (and shots- yuck!) She weighs 23 pounds 9 ounces (40th percentile) and is 31 inches tall (25th percentile). I don't remember the exact measurement of her head, but let's just say she's got plenty of room up there for all those brains!

We went to a new doctor (since the old one is now an hour away), and I loved her! She was really nice and perky and just loved Eleanor. I even felt so comfortable with her that I brought up that whole reading thing. At first, she just grinned and said, "Oh, okay." Then, I volunteered to show her, and she agreed. So, I whipped out the mini-magnadoodle, and Eleanor went to town reading words like "artichoke", "airplane", "shirt", and "chair." The doctor just sat there with her mouth open, and didn't say anything at first. Then, she said something about me needing to get Eleanor on a TV show. She was completely floored by the whole thing, and kept telling me to do more and more. She said she had never seen anything like that before. I felt so relieved to have confirmation from a medical professional that Eleanor has some extraordinary ability, and that I'm not just exaggerating the whole thing because I'm the mom. She said she was going to go discuss this with her colleagues, and when she came back, she brought me the name and phone number of a psychiatrist who works with extraordinary children and their families. We probably won't take her until later (if at all), but it was nice that the doctor took us seriously.

Anyway, here are some things that our little peanut is up to:
  • Reading at least 75 words. (I tried making a list, and 75 is what I got before I stopped.)
  • Learning between five and ten new words a day. She's starting to use phrases like "Mommy eat" and "I DO!"
  • Running. The cutest little stiff-legged run we've ever seen! She's also come a little farther on the jumping- now she lifts one leg up as she says, "Dumt."
  • Playing Ring-around-the-Rosies...sort of. It consists of her turning around in a circle, saying, "Ashes, ashes, DOWN!" and then falling on the floor.
  • Singing all kinds of songs. My favorite is when she makes up her own songs. They almost always contain the sounds "du-pa" and "di" in varying combinations.
  • Counting objects up to ten.
  • Wanting to play outside ALWAYS and throwing a nice big tantrum when we have to come in! Why aren't kids uncomfortable when it's 28 degrees outside??
  • Identifying shapes. She can point to them when I say the words, but can only really say "oval." She just loves the word oval, and points them out all over the place.

We love you, sweet pea!!


Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Brown-eyed girl





Sunday, February 24, 2008

For my peeps

This morning, Eleanor made a video for all of her family back in Texas. We miss you all so much!



And here's a special note from Eleanor to Chloe:

Dearest Chloe- I am trying very hard to learn to say your name, but every time I try, I just say something that sounds like "baby." This may stem from the fact that my lazy mommy still has a newborn picture of you in my little photo album. I do love you dearly, and I always ask Mommy to let me carry your picture from your Christmas card around the house with me. I'll try so hard to learn to say your name, and when I do, Mommy will post a video of it. Love- Eleanor

Friday, February 22, 2008

More cuteness

There is no way I could possibly ever record all of the cuteness that abounds from our daughter these days, but sometimes I catch a little bit of it on video.

I wanted her to show off her vast body part vocabulary (which includes "eyebows, eyeyashes, and elboooooo") but she refuses to back away from the camera long enough to do so. Also, when I ask her how an airplane goes, she usually turns around in a circle with her arms out and says, "Zoon! Zoon!", but all you get on this video is the sound effect.

She's got a few sentences going on these days. My favorite is, "Yay! I DID IT!" It's hysterical and can follow something as simple as closing a drawer by herself. Silly girl!


Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Troublemaker

This picture pretty much sums up the past month with Little Missy. She's on a mission to find out exactly where each of Mommy and Daddy's "lines" are, and make sure she keeps her little chubby finger right on them. In this case, she was told not to bang on the glass door of the bookcase- an offense which earned her a time-out two days ago. So, she presses her little finger on the glass, then turns to see what response this will earn from Daddy.

Another example...Her playroom is right next to the laundry room downstairs. Ever since we moved into this house, we have told her the laundry room (a.k.a. the cats' restroom) is off-limits. So, in the past month, she has put this rule to the test no less than a hundred times by very carefully placing one little toe across the threshold into the laundry room. One time, she even concocted a very elaborate plan to sneak her way in, which involved giving me a pillow, telling me "night-night", and giving me a kiss. Once I put my head down, she took off like a tiny bolt of lightning headed straight for...you guessed it...the laundry room. When I put my head up, she ran over and got a dirty sock and brought it back into the playroom and gave it to me ("Here, Mommy") as if that had been her purpose for going in there all along. At least the girl can think on her toes.

I guess this is all normal toddler stuff. I'm sure she'll get all these rules straight in her head before long. Now, if I could just figure out how to discipline her without chuckling at her little tricks and silly faces.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Sunday school

Here are a couple of pictures of Eleanor all dressed up for "shurch" yesterday in a Christmas present from Nana and Pop. We walk to church, and the whole way there on Daddy's shoulders, Eleanor shouts, "AMEN!"



Sunday, February 17, 2008

Hiking season

Okay, maybe not yet, but it was a warm 48 degrees or so yesterday, so we hit the trails in search of a couple of geocaches. We had an amazing time! Eleanor really enjoyed the experience this time...not like last year when she had us convinced we'd never hike again. (Okay, looking back at that post, it might not have been entirely her fault. She was only six months old, and we did take her out at naptime. What were we thinking?!?) Anyway, she enjoyed being outside and naming everything she could see for us. She also sang several original trail songs...her favorite went, "Dupa-dupa-du....di-di-di." So cute. We even got her to say, "Geeeshash...ah you?" (Geocache, where are you?) We can't wait to take her out again. Unfortunately, it's raining today, but we may go out tomorrow.

Here are some pics from our adventure...

Me (looking extraordinarily granola) and Eleanor


Jared, finding the first geocache.


Wow. Winter is so...brown.

Does anyone see me? Oh, there I am....sort of. The second geochache.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Valentine's Day

So, much to my surprise and pleasure, my hubbie arrived home from work yesterday with flowers, dinner, wine, and cheesecake. The flowers were beautiful, the dinner fully-prepared, the wine delicious, and the cheesecake scrumptious. Happy Valentine's Day to me!! I'm one lucky woman!

And here are a couple of pictures of Eleanor's first homemade Valentine. She colored the hearts for the front...
...stuck the stickers inside, and did the glitter paint all by herself. It's a keeper!!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Laugh out loud

So, in a lot of my posts, I say that Eleanor keeps us laughing all the time. Here's an example of why there is so much laughter in the Hudson house...

I mean, where does she get this stuff??! "Hmmm...let me see if I can raise one eyebrow just like Daddy does all the time."


And here are a million more pictures of our little girl being super sweet and silly in the tub.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Favorite words

Here's a video of a few of my favorite words that Eleanor is saying right now. They're funnier when she uses them in context. Like when she shrugs her shoulders, sighs, and says, "Alll-riiiight" before she starts to do something.

Monday, February 11, 2008

One restful weekend!!!

So, I'm pretty sure in the past 17 months (or so) I haven't slept as much in one weekend as I did this past weekend. Eleanor gave us this amazing gift and slept until 8:00 on Saturday and Sunday. (She goes to bed at 7:30 and is almost always up by 6:45 or 7:00.) On Saturday, she also took a four hour nap. I'm not sure what was going on with the whole sleeping thing, but it was awesome! Well honestly, on Saturday, I started to get a little bored after she had been asleep for three hours (her daddy drifted off too), so I went into her room to take pictures of her while she was asleep. At first, I was just using my point-and-shoot camera because I knew as soon as I clicked the shutter on my big camera...



...this would happen.



Friday, February 8, 2008

Little bear

After dinner is Eleanor's best time of the day. She runs around acting super silly, and doing anything to make us laugh. I seriously want to record her with the video camera for an entire hour every night just so I can remember all the crazy stuff she does. I don't know where she comes up with her antics.

So, a couple of nights ago, she comes out of her closet holding the head of a bear costume that my friend Ashley sent us. I thought I'd put it on her, but I also thought it would last about half a second before she screamed her head off about it. Well, turns out she's really into dressing up like a bear...she was running all over the house doing these hilarious little dances. She played for about an hour with that bear head on. I had to take it off for bath time.




This is an update to this post: I totally forgot I had this video!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

All smiles

Yesterday, it was so warm that we were able to go outside and play without a huge coat, hat, or mittens. Eleanor was so excited to be able to play for more than ten minutes. Her favorite thing to do outside is pick up those prickly balls that fall from our Sweet Gum tree. (She calls them "bee-ba-balls" or just "pritwy" for prickly.) She also loves spotting airplanes. Every time she hears any sound that could possible be one, she points toward the sky and says, "AIR-PANE!" It's a huge bonus when the school bus comes by, too. She waves her little hand off at the bus driver, and giggles if he waves back.

Some pictures of my little grinnin' girl...

(The second one looks exactly like the pictures I've seen of her daddy at this age.)




Saturday, February 2, 2008

Music box

Eleanor got a Valentine's surprise in the mail from her Gigi and Pa, Jared's grandparents. We opened it a little early. (Sorry, Gigi, we couldn't resist.) It was the cutest little music box- just the right size for little hands. Inside, it has Jesus surrounded by angels and plays, "Amazing Grace."

Eleanor just adores it, and spends a lot of time opening and closing it. When she closes it, she says, "Ye-duts...ah you?" (That translates to "Jesus, where are you?") And when she opens it, she says, "Ba-ba-boo!" (Peek-a-boo.) You gotta love being able to play peek-a-boo with Jesus!