pick

ella is still "picking" things out of books or from far away. it is so precious, because she'll keep her little fingers pinched for a long time and remember what it is she "picked" if you ask her "what are you holding?" even minutes later. in one instance, we read "jamberry" and she "picked" a blueberry off the page. then pages later i saw her put her fingers up to her mouth and i asked her "what did you just eat?" and she said "blueberry!" and in another instance she picked something with one hand, then something else with another hand, and then she went to pick something again and exclaimed "too many things!" because her hands were already "full." so she took her fingers and "put back" one of the things. last night she was picking a piece of cake out of the little bear book and feeding it to me. mmm.

we were out playing in the yard yesterday and saw a bumble bee. i asked her "ella, what do honeybees make?" and she said "honey." and i said "how do you know that?!" and she said "mam-aw told you that."

weekend update

This weekend has turned out rather busy, but fun. S. and K. and I went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant on Friday night to celebrate S.'s birthday and then we girls walked around Salem and found a bookstore where all the books were half the cover price. And if you bought 4 books you got one free. So I got 5 books for 17 dollars! It made me so happy. This bookstore was literally just stacks of books from floor to ceiling with little aisles to walk in between the stacks. As I walked in, a voice from behind a wall of books called out "everything is half off." I found myself spinning in circles looking everywhere for the owner of the voice, but all I saw was books.

I got Moby Dick, A Very Long Engagement, Mansfield Park, and a book titled The Tin Drum that I'd never heard of before but that K. and 2 of the bookstore voices all said is one of the great works of literature. And I got "Olivia" for Ella.

Saturday we went out to breakfast. Then I went and got a haircut. Probably the most stylish haircut I've had in the past few years. It's much more angled than usual, so the front is still chin-length, but the back goes up pretty high. I feel very chic. I was worried if I could make it look good at home without all of my hair stylist's special foams and brushes and hot irons, but today I just washed it and let it dry and then went through high humidity and wind and sweat, etc., and j. and I both agree it still looks good. So I'm very happy with it.

Elenora had a very random episode of playing during her entire nap yesterday (she always sleeps from 1-3). She finally fell asleep around 2:45 pm and we woke her up at 4 pm because we had been invited to one of J.'s high school friends' houses for a pool party and barbeque. S. and Aurora were there, too. Ella was so cute in the car on our way; she had a clover flower in her hand and she said "give the clover flower to Rora." Then when we got there she did indeed take it upon herself to give Aurora the flower. It was so sweet to see her take the initiative of doing that. J. took her swimming in the pool, and even though it was fairly cold she really enjoyed it. Then she was so much fun entertaining everyone with all of her talking.

Today we had planned on going to a first birthday party for Nathan, but the party was scheduled for 1-4 in NH, and it was too difficult since we were still catching Ella up on her sleep from yesterday. So instead we went to the Art in the Park festival downtown before her nap and went to the beach later. I found some gorgeous birthday presents for her at the park. I bought a child's quilt from the woman who had made it, and some doll clothes that were made by a local woman.

We've stopped the house hunting. We still get an email every day with what is on the market, but nothing has come on the market in our range lately, so we're just enjoying things.

This week I got a ton of stuff from the CSA! Broccoli, huge green peas in the pods that Ella liked to eat straight from the shell, arugula, salad greens, a head of lettuce, dill, parsley, potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, and swiss chard. Momby is gone to camp meeting so I have to use all of both of our shares for last week and this (we usually split the produce). So I made goulash with a lot of the veggies and sauteed the zucchini and summer squash with some onion and parsley as a side dish (thanks mom for making that for me all during my childhood...yummy!). I have a great zucchini/potato pancake recipe that I'd planned on using, but then I used the potatoes and zucchini in other ways. I also have plans for a zucchini bread, but I have to get my mom's recipe for that (hint, hint, mom).

this morning during breakfast ella noticed an easter egg sticker that we'd stuck on her cheerios box and i asked her "ella, what did Jesus do on easter?" I was hoping that maybe she'd remember that we'd drilled her to say "he arose" back during easter time, but without missing a beat she said "died on a cross." i was really honestly shocked that she would answer like that (please don't judge her religious education by my shock!) and so i asked her "what else did Jesus do on easter?" and she said "rose up from the dead."

this girl is a genius. really. i don't know how she knows all the stuff she knows. it's like she was born knowing things. there are times when she asks for books by title, and i think "when do i ever read her the actual title of the book???" and i wonder if she somehow can read already.

her favorite books right now are "best friends for frances" and a book by my aunt titled "where do little girls grow?"

okay. that's enough catching up for now.

almost 2

Elenora is in this phase where she will say "no" to things. And if it's something like "do you want mommy to help hold that?" and she says "no!" I try to respect that and just remind her "say 'no thank you'". But if it's something where I really need her to comply, I'll remind her to say "no thank you" and then I explain that I really mean that she has to go along with me. It's working pretty good.

She's really good about delayed gratification. Like, if I put her down and she starts to fuss and says "mommy pick you up" and I say "I'm going to do such-and-such and then I will pick you up." She's cool with that. We were outside yesterday and she wanted her trike, so I took her toys out of her hands so I could carry her upstairs with me to get the trike. She started fussing that I had taken the toys so I said "Ella, listen to me. We're going to leave these outside and go get your trike, and then we'll come back outside and you can play with them again." She calmed right down. It's nice that she can understand sequence of events and that I can kind of reason with her.

I finished the Hardy book. It was really good. Now I'm reading "Cancer Ward" by Soltzinitzin. My mom suggested it since I like thick Russian literature. I'm not very far into it. So far so good.

catching up again, from an email to c.

today we went out to breakfast and then to the farmer's market for some local honey (i ran out making those breakfast bars). Then my parents surprised us with a quick visit (they were driving from ME to NY today) before Ella's naptime. Then I met up with K. at a strip of stores that included a used book store, a used clothing store, and a used children's store. So I ended up finding tons of clothes and books for Ella's birthday. Lots of long-sleeve stuff and long pants that were on really good sale. When I got home, S. called to see if I wanted to get the girls together. So she and Aurora came over and we walked all over town with the girls and had a picnic together outside of the green grocer's.

It's been so hot the past few days. So muggy. I really don't like the heat that much. I just get sweaty and don't want to move much or be outside much. I like cool days where you can walk at a brisk pace and not sweat :) Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70s, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Our time with J.'s friends from PA was really nice. We went to the sox game on friday night (s0x won), went out to breakfast with them saturday morning, took them to the beach after Ella's nap, and went to dinner with them on Saturday night at windward grille. Lots of good talks. I really get along well with L. Easy conversation, which is so nice for me since I'm an introvert. But I really found that we always had things to talk about. Often the boys would be talking and L. and I would be lost in our own conversation.

Monday of this week I traveled to ME to spend the night with my folks at my grampa's cabin. My parents spent a week in VT going to their support churches, then went to ME to give talks at their support churches there. So I took Ella up to see them. It was a really nice visit, even if it wasn't warm enough to swim. At least I remembered to bring bubba this time!

imagination

today was sunny, cool and breezy. it felt like fall, but it smelled like summer. elenora and i went to appleton farm to see the cows. she was so much fun to be with. i can hold non-stop, interesting conversation with her about the things we see and the things we're thinking about. we saw what i thought was a brown toad, but then realized it was a baby mouse. ella wanted so badly to hold it, but we followed the little mouse off the path and into the tall grasses, and we decided that it was going home to its mommy. then we continued past the bee hives and over the hill to where we could see the farmers and the tractors. and then there were the cows all huddled under the shade of a large tree, and elenora wanted to walk over to them, but i told her there was a fence and she said "far away...mommy pick one?" so i pretended to "pick" a cow for her (reached out and pinched my fingers together and then "handed" the cow to her own fingers). we saw a crick and flowers and then a horse and rider, and then elenora and i got into races. i'd run forward about 15 paces and then she'd run towards me with a huge smile and her arms outstretched.

on our way back to the car she said "blue sky up there. mommy pick it." so i pretended to swipe my hand across the sky to grab "big fistfuls of sky" and then i handed them to her. you should have seen her delighted face. then i asked her what she was going to do with her fistful of sky, and she said "eat it?" and put her fist to her mouth quizzically, and i said "if you do, then you will turn blue." and she seemed to think that was kind of cool and pretended to eat the sky. so i said "oh ella! your eyes have turned blue!" and i pretended to eat some sky myself and then asked her if my eyes were blue. she was so happy with it all and then she rubbed her eyes and said "something in my eyes" and i said "what?" and she said "sky" and smiled.

tonight we read her new favorite book, "a bargain for frances," again before bed. i can't believe she loves that book so much. it's kind of complicated and long winded. j. tried reading it to her a few days ago and suddenly cried out "this is way too long! here's page 41!" but ella really loves it.

she is playing pretend a lot. she'll take out her school bus and put all the people in it and pretend to buckle them in (naming them all as she does so), and then she'll say "come on everybody, we're going to russell orchard!"

or she'll "feed" a stuffed animal, or comfort a doll that has fallen onto the floor.

when we read books she seems to need to ascertain everyone's emotions on every page. "happy now?" she'll say. "no, not happy now. scared." or "angry now." if someone gets upset in a story she always seems very eager for them to resolve their problem and get "happy now" again--asking on each page "happy now?"

she also likes to "pick" things from pages of books. or things that are far away, like clouds or planes. she just takes her thumb and forefinger and "picks" something and then holds her fingers like that. sometimes she'll ask me to "pick" something for her, and she'll pinch the thing out of my fingers and hold her fingers together like i really gave her something. if i then pick another thing for her, she takes it from me with her other hand. i like that she's so happy picking things that are far away or that can't really be held. such a sweet tempered little girl.

we've been eating almost all dinners together for weeks now. i've been doing a lot of cooking--prepping things like veggies and side dishes during ella's nap so that i can throw it all together at dinner time. elenora does really well with us at the table. she pretty much eats what we eat, and i've seen her try new things like radishes just because j. and i are eating them. (oh, and she ate hot sauce at breakfast last saturday and loved it!)

tonight i baked s.'s recipe for what she calls "breakfast bars." here's the recipe, because these things taste amazing.

1/2 cup veg. oil (i used olive oil)

1/2 cup honey

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups oats

3/4 cup wheat flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sliced almonds or ground nuts (i used chopped pecans)

1/2 cup toasted wheat germ or almond meal

1/2 cup raisins or chopped dates, apricots, or other dried fruit

3/4 tsp. salt

preheat oven to 350. line 13x9 pan with wax paper or foil. mix wet ingredients; mix dry ingredients. combine and press into pan. bake 30 minutes. cool 1 hour absolutely. then cut. stores for up to 2 weeks.

here's an ella monologue from her afternoon playtime. she was babying bubba.

bubba woke up.

go to sleep bubba.

have an egg bubba.

need a diaper.

(i tell her there's a diaper in a bag, and she gets it and brings it over)

diaper change, bubba.

(puts diaper on bubba; sits on her step stool)

teddy bear on it.

picture of a teddy bear.

hold a teddy bear.

(pretends to "pick" the teddy bear off the step stool)

diaper change bubba.

bubba woke up.

it's okay bubba.

need a potato sack, bubba.

(sits back down)

ella's seat.

what's that?

that's your crayon.

bubba color with you.

(plays with crayons, taking each one out of the box and putting it back in carefully)

birthday video

this is from j.'s birthday.

rain, rain, go away.

this past month has been incredible in that we have had rain on almost every day of june. the days that were fair numbered about 4. the number of days that had rain were at least 18. i'm so tired of grey skies and drizzle. we went to the beach more in april than in june. i think we went to the beach just one day in june.

the forecast for this week is rain every day until saturday.

anyhow, i have the next two days off from work. i have plans to clean and cook, and to take elenora to the town parade on friday. i'm still deciding whether to try to bring her to the fireworks on saturday night. they're so late, but she'd like them so much...but perhaps she's still too young.

our trip to vt was great. j. and i had such a nice ride up 89. the mountains of vt are so lovely. i always forget how flat it is here until i go up north and see the beautiful, green hills at every bend of the road. we stayed at a bed and breakfast just two doors down from the church where a. was married, so the whole event seemed very low-key and relaxing. the bride was beautiful, and i really enjoyed my time visiting with her. sunday we arrived home in good time to relax and enjoy each other (ella was sleeping over at her mam-aw's).

when i first saw elenora on monday after not seeing her for two days, she looked so grown up to me. it's really becoming clear that she is not a baby anymore.

she is full of questions lately. she asks "what's that?" or "what's going on?" or "where are we going?" to keep herself informed. and her sense of humor continues to develop. lately she'll say things like "twinkle-twinkle little [fan]", exchanging the last word for random funny things such as "uncle jay" or "light" etc. she also likes to suddenly say things like "old mother hubbard went to the...beach!" and then she laughs very heartily at her own jokes.

two nights ago after her tubby she very clearly sang "old macdonald had a farm. E-I-E-I-O."

i've started "far from the madding crowd". elenora's favorite books nowadays are still the little bear book series with a little jan brett thrown in.

we're still talking over the condo. we have a meeting with a mortgage banker tomorrow night, and i think that will really help us decide on whether to put in an offer or not.