It's fun to have more than one story in your house.

hair in water

Matt's taking a night off of studying, folks. Here come some pictures...

Yogurt!

Playdough, sun.

Pony Ride II

Eleanor was much more comfortable on the ponies this year.
Last year:

 

This year:

 

Because It Was So Fun Last Year

 

Eleanor was an octopus again this year:)

 

(And the costume still fit.)

Two Years Ago

Our friends Becca and Luke sent Eleanor this cute little Chinese outfit. I took pictures of her when she first got it, then again yesterday. She's finally (almost) big enough to wear it. The pants are still a little long, but it's pretty cute. She was NOT in a picture taking mood when Matt was trying to get her picture yesterday. I'll try to get better ones later.

 

 

 

Hiding

Some folks may recognize this image from a picture in a prior post about visiting friends in San Francisco.  Eleanor helped by adding texture to the wall with the brush and diluted ink, and also by not coloring all over the face with a purple marker (which she very nearly did).

Adam and ???

We love our church. It's an amazing group of loving people. Eleanor has a wonderful Sunday School class taught by our friend Abby. I have never had reason to question Abby's teaching until this Sunday. During lunch I was asking Eleanor about Sunday School:

Me: What did you learn about in Abby's class today?
E: Animals.
Me: Really? What about animals?
E: God made animals. And he made plants.
Me: Wow. What else did he make?
E: People!
Me: Really?? He made people? What were their names?
E: Um, Steve and Adam.
Me: You mean Eve?
E: No, Steve. Adam didn't have anyone to talk to so God made Steve so he would have someone to talk to.


So, maybe our church is a bit more progressive than we thought:). Later Eleanor told me that Steve is a woman. I think that she's just unfamiliar with the name Eve, so she assumed it was Steve.

Of Interest (to some)

I woke up at around 4:30 this morning realizing there was a third person in our bed. Matt awoke and asked Eleanor, "Why are you in our bed?" She promptly answered, "I guess I'll go back to my bed." She hopped down and went right back to her bed and back to sleep.

If you ask Eleanor who should be president, she will often answer, "Barack Obama AND John McCain." Really, why choose?

On a recent Sunday as we were driving home from church we were asking Eleanor what she learned about in Sunday School. They had been talking about how God created light and made days. Eleanor was chattering away about it. Then she paused and said, "But Jesus makes the light in the bathroom." (We have a Jesus nightlight in the bathroom.)

Eleanor saw our neighbor's garden gnome and got all excited: "Look! Look! It's JESUS!" I think it was the beard.

Eleanor is learning all kinds of new words. Some of my favorites are "moderation," "mysterious," and "impossible." Example of usage:
Me: Eleanor, why did you pee on the floor?
E: I don't know. It's mysterious.

Zuma Beach

Eleanor loves everything about the beach--the sand, the water, the birds. We went last week when it was really hot. The beach was great.

 

 

 

 

Nails

One day when it was time to cut Eleanor's fingernails, she didn't want the real Matt to cut them, but the toy that she's designated as the pretend daddy (there's a mommy and an Eleanor, too). Matt skillfully cut her nails while keeping the pretense that it was the Little People person doing it.

 

Friends

 

Our dear friends Ben and Brandy stopped by for 27 hours this weekend. Ben and Eleanor enjoyed playing in the fountain.

More Fun

Eleanor has been having so much fun with the Build-A-Bear box. Today she was carting it around saying that it was her "ta-lur." I tried to figure out what she meant by that for several minutes, then gave up. Later it all became clear when she explained, "It's my ta-lur box, like at Max's birthday." Max just had a pirate birthday party with treasure boxes. I love those moments of relevation. Here's Eleanor making her sad face.

 

This morning, I told Eleanor that we were going to clean. After hearing strange noises, I went to check on her. I found her "cleaning." Later I cleaned up the mess she made cleaning. Sigh.

 

Life and Fun

Sometimes Eleanor wins, sometimes the yogurt wins.

 

Eleanor finally has enough hair for shampooing fun.

 

We bake and cook together quite a bit. Eleanor's favorite part is making a huge mess...I think that might be my favorite part too.

 

Today Eleanor filled up her sticker chart (she got stickers for obeying, putting away toys, etc). Her prize was a trip to Build-A-Bear. I chose this because I had a coupon ($5 off), after I had told Eleanor what the prize would be, I realized that the coupon was expired. Oops. We went this morning. She thought it was okay. The lady helping her was hurried, so the experience wasn't great. Eleanor choose (with help) a light brown bear (the $10 one). She didn't mind that we didn't buy clothes for it. The bear's name is Bearybaum. He went to the library with Eleanor and Matt tonight. But, as cliche as it is, I think Eleanor's favorite part was the box.

 

Plans

Conversation from first thing this morning:

E: After I eat breakfast, can we go to the library?
Me: No, the library is closed today.
E: Then can we go to the bank?
M: The bank is closed today too.
E: Then can we go to the doctor?
M: No, the doctor's office is closed today too.
E: Then what will we do if I get sick?
M: If you get really, really sick, we would take you to the hospital.
E: Like Madeline. Her stomach was sick and she drove that car to the hospital. Then they cut her open and took out the bad part. Now she has a scar.
M: That's right, except Madeline didn't drive the ambulance.
E: Why?
M: Because she's just a little girl and she was very sick. She rode in the ambulance because she had to get to the hospital very fast. The ambulance can drive extra fast because it has a light and siren that tells cars to get out of its way.
E: Yeah, it goes woooouoooowooouooo.

and so on.

A Song

Eleanor loves to sing. Most of her songs are variations of familair tunes. She also likes to get inbetween the back of the couch and the cushion. She says it's her "cradle."

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

If you need help understanding what she's singing, here's my best interpretation:
"Jesus loves the little children all the little children from the psych, from the psych, and the psych.
Thermometer, hey Moniter, I'm reading. Hey a moniter go go. A ma ne a na na. (and so on...)
What's this about, Mommy?"

Hats

Eleanor does not like when the wind blows her hair. She will yell at it, "No, Wind! Stop getting me!" The other day she came out of her room wearing two hats. When I asked her why, she said it was so the wind wouldn't get her hair.

 

Perceptions

Eleanor saw this image on the front of a magazine and exclaimed, "Look! It's a moose phone!"

Because It Made Me Laugh

The following is all the comments from a post in 2006. It was a post about carseats.


At January 15, 2006 8:42 PM, alice said...
I would be interested in another post when you pick out a carseat...good luck.


At January 16, 2006 8:31 AM, Viator said...
dear melody and matt
to pick a conveyance that's fit for a queen / or should I say princess, yes princess I mean.
takes true dedication but not for the law / scene: Mel exits Target red of tooth and claw
But won't El' look spiffy and won't El' look sweet / arrayed 'tween GPS and fax in her seat.

Love Ya,
Ben and Brandy


At January 16, 2006 9:35 AM, joel said...
i've got no advice on carseats (in fact, i'd like some myself) but i'd like to take this time to point out that eleanor has not only had a carrot and a banana, but also had a Hershey's bar on Christmas. I know because I saw the picture and the internet never lies...


At January 16, 2006 4:20 PM, M. Lumpkin said...
Well, remember Joel, you also saw Karl Rove in a pink onesie, not to mention other things from the internet like this.


At January 17, 2006 7:38 AM, Viator said...
Methinks a caption contest is in order. Opening salvo:

"If post-partum depression has you feeling like THIS, maybe you should talk to your doctor about Ladeedah(TM)"


At January 17, 2006 4:29 PM, Anonymous said...
dr. teeth.

-moby


At January 18, 2006 2:53 PM, joel said...
caption #2 (for ben's amusement...):

Mix breed puppies for sale. Like new. Only nice people need apply.


At January 18, 2006 3:26 PM, Amy & Brandon said...
Dearest Melody,

Brandon doesn't know if he has anything to say about car seats... He does however know that if you leave a child in a bouncy seat on the kitchen table long enough... well, bad things can happen. (His little brother... he's okay now, he was standing on stage at the wedding!)
We miss you, and we miss Eleanor. I say you go for the Eddie Bauer one if it can fit in your car because then she can use it forever and you will avoid this dilemma in the future.
Hmmm... that's all. We're going to go have something to drink now!
Oh and we miss Matt too!


At January 18, 2006 4:10 PM, M. Lumpkin said...
I'm very pleased. This the the largest comment response for any one post since our announcement of Melody's pregnancy. In a way that's appropriate...

Any other ideas?


At January 18, 2006 5:20 PM, Viator said...
>>Any ideas?

Another pregnancy would probably get our collective attention.


At January 18, 2006 8:17 PM, alice said...
Or if you bought a dinosaur...


At January 19, 2006 7:50 AM, joel said...
maybe not one of those namby-pamby herbivorous dinosaurs... let's try one of those calvin & hobbes-esque voraciously hungry carnivores.


At January 19, 2006 7:18 PM, M. Lumpkin said...
I don't think something like that would get along very well with the man-puppies.


At January 19, 2006 8:19 PM, alice said...
Why? Do man puppies eat people too? Are there not enough for them to share?


At January 19, 2006 8:24 PM, joel said...
not people, . . . children.


At January 20, 2006 3:52 PM, Viator said...
Do man-puppies tremble
(As man-puppies ought)
When Joel up an' rambles
'Bout dinos? Mien Gott!


At January 24, 2006 12:28 PM, Anonymous said...
mr. lumpkin,

i'll need your digits if i'm to call on you and the missus this saturday.

xxsecretcodexj.p.martinka@gmail.comxedoctercesxx

-moby