Quote of the Day

Last night Eleanor was having her bath and she grabbed her leg and said, "Here is my fishing pole." She proceeded to tell me how she was going to catch some green and yellow fish (her green and yellow rubber duckies) with the fishing pole. What an imagination!

I didn't remember having taught her the words "fishing pole", which made me start to think about how she might have gotten the idea. Then I realized that she has a magnetic puzzle with a fishing pole, which is where it must have come from. At any rate, it was hilarious to watch her "fish" for duckies with her leg.

Happy Valentines Day

With lots of hugs and kisses we send everyone a message of friendship and love on Valentines Day.

The recent hiatus in writing will hopefully end soon. Mu was here in town for a week and I was back at work for a day so things have been rather busy. That said we have some great pictures to get up and as soon as I get the camera's battery charged I promise to make it happen!

So, instead of a picture of some of the Valentines Eleanor made (not yet downloaded), or the heart shaped pretzels (not yet downloaded), or flowers of some sort, we'll leave you with Eleanor blowing a kiss to everyone in red patent leather shoes, green pants and a purple sweater. No, wait, she's not blowing a kiss, she's pretending to burp and say excuse me -- just like Tiny Tim the frog. Well, you can pretend it's a kiss if you want!

Henry Gives Peas a Chance and Eleanor Helps Out

Henry is well into "solid" foods now. Of course he likes things nice and mushy as babies of his age generally do. So far, the only thing he definitively likes is bananas -- everything else still gets a grimace. I have found though, that a bit of banana mashed into whatever else he is eating helps significantly.



Eleanor has been a huge help in preparing (and taste testing) Henry's food. I do appreciate her assistance in the kitchen.



Henry is also sitting up on his own, though still prone to spontaneous toppling. I think he quite enjoys the seated view of things though. (This picture is from a couple of weeks ago, he's much better at it now -- I'll have to get some better shots.)



And finally, Eleanor has made some hilarious, insightful, and generally marvelous statements lately. I wrote about a few from our trip to the National Gallery of Art here. It is amazing how fast they learn at this age. I have a few pangs of guilt every time we hear "Don Alfredo Baila" on the new Music Together CD -- Eleanor has already mastered all of the Spanish in that song (dedo, mano, brazo, pecho) and it makes me feel as though I need to expose her to more Spanish on a regular basis. Something to work towards!

To the National Gallery of Art

It is so great to live close to Washington, DC. There are so many things to do as a family. We recently made a trip to the National Gallery of Art, not for any particular exhibit, just for the experience of it. The NGA isn't especially easy to navigate with a stroller, and they don't allow you to carry a child (or anything) on your back but once you get inside, it is a wonderful place to expose kids to the world of art. They do however have these fabulous little strollers, in case you bring your kid in on your back (just like we did) and don't have any other way to get them around the immense buildings.



We started, smartly, in the cafe. Eleanor enjoyed the gelato almost as much or maybe more than I did.



We roamed aimlessly through several galleries admiring various works and discussing their content. Eleanor made a couple of interesting observations: a small bronze statue of a frog was "Tiny Tim" and the slightly larger bronze frog at its side was "Giant Jim". Now, for those of you who haven't heard that particular CD, the song goes, "I had a little frog, his name was Tiny Tim..." and the variation on that verse substitutes Tiny Tim for Giant Jim -- along with a deep low voice.

An image of a castle was, according to Eleanor, "Just like Princess Pea." Again, for those of you who aren't up on Super Why, one of the main characters is, needless to say, Princess Pea.

When we saw Winter Harmony, the John Henry Twachtman painting pictured here:















Eleanor declared that it was, "Just like venture walk." (And by venture, she means adventure.)

My favorite observation of the day was about a bronze sculpture of Pluto. Eleanor very clearly said, "He's nudie, his bummie."

Super Tuesday Thoughts

It's a big day. Originally, I thought I probably should keep politics off my blog, since I am in no way, shape or form an expert of any kind, but I look at Eleanor and Henry and realize that so much is at stake. We watched this video this morning:



...and shining through the clever production, celebrity faces and catchy music, are Barack Obama's inspiring words and message of hope. So, anyway, now that you all know who I'm supporting when our primary rolls around, get out there and vote. I'm not saying you have to share my views, but making your own voice heard through your vote is important!

[I don't want to debate politics. Just wanted to share the video and encourage people to vote.]

Weekend Away

We had a lovely weekend away with some friends at the "mountain house", as Eleanor called it. This actually took place over Martin Luther King Day weekend, but alas, I am just finally getting around to writing about it now. The temperatures in the mountains of western Maryland were frigid, but we still had a fantastic time with the pool/air hockey table, hot tub, fantastic food and company of good friends.

Early morning mist over the partially frozen lake:



Eleanor enjoys a good book at the mountain house:



Eleanor tried out the pool table:

Hooray for the Internet!

After multiple complaints, a new router, and a service visit (on Sunday!!), Verizon seems to have our Internet service back up and running. And, better than ever I might add. So, now that I can't use the Internet connection as an excuse, I will see if I can get some of these half finished posts up.