Quote of the Day

Eleanor (after a few minutes of being in her room for her "nap"):
"I seem to not be sleeping."

True enough.

She is Three!

My big girl is three years old. I remember the first moments she was home with us so vividly -- the sweet little tiny thing in our arms, the dusting of snow on the ground, the joy of holiday warmth around us. It was a wonderful time. Now I see a preschooler, full of imagination, words bubbling out of her mouth, jumping and playing, growing up strong. As she moves into her fourth year on this earth, here are a few answers to questions [with a couple of follow up notes by me].

1. What is your favorite color?
Blue!

2. What are your favorite toys?
Yellow. Yellow toys. Like blocks. [I think she was kind of stuck in the favorite color question. And also, she is mimicking Henry quite a bit these days -- so a one word answer like yellow is common. Other things she loves to play with, from my observations, are her Giraffe and Blankie, little cars, trucks, animals and things she can set up little scenarios with, and books.]



3. Where do you like to go when we go outside?
The musesum [museum]. The one about trains I like. [She still loves trains. The B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore is a huge favorite. And also, the transportation exhibit at the National Museum of American History, which has many trains. As for outside activities, she is fond of the playground and generally mucking about in the backyard.]

4. What are your favorite trains?
The one in Baltimore. The William Mason. [One of the trains in the collection at the B&O Museum. The William Mason did a passby during Steam Days so we got to see it in action.]

4. What is your favorite book?
A train book. [We have lots of favorite train books, see the list here. She has also been reading lots of library books, many of which she has already memorized!]



5. What things do you like to do or play with?
I like to play. I like to play with the blocks. [She also loves to read to Giraffe. She will sit him up on her lap and go through a pile of books. She has done this for more than an hour at a time on several occasions.]

6. Who are your friends?
Arthur, Caitlin, the two Gracies (one named Grace and one named Gracie), Henry, Nona, Mathurin, and Sammy too, Mama. [Also, Anna, Riley and Spencer, and many other classmates from school that she mentions on a regular basis.]



6. What is your favorite food?
Macaroni, sandwiches. [These are funny to me. I wouldn't have thought she would answer this way. From my experience she loves pizza, turkey chili, and, of course, chocolate and ice cream.]

7. What else do you like?
Trains!

Thanksgiving

So my Halloween post was two weeks late, why not make the Thanksgiving post nearly a month late? Things have been so busy around here. Henry has had terrible ears, cough and nose for such a long time I can't even remember when it began. The tubes have only minimally helped, though we had a hopeful appointment today where his ENT said that the right tube is, in fact, still in the ear and starting to function properly. I feared that we would have to go through the whole process again since our pediatrician though the right tube had fallen out. Anyway, I was going to post about Thanksgiving...

We had an early Thanksgiving meal at Sarah, Karl and Anna's house with a bunch of other friends. It was so much fun and the food was amazing. I still need to track down Cate's sweet potato/marshmallow goodness recipe. The kids all had a great time running around and tearing up the house.



Mu and Tada came for the week of Thanksgiving and we had lots of adventures. We had another lovely meal, though the kids were on the verge of sickness so they were a bit restless. The only picture I got of the food was the pie. I just can't help myself with pie.



We also visited the newly re-opened National Museum of American History, which has a fantastic transportation exhibit called American on the Move (trains, trains, trains).





While on the mall, we stopped into Natural History for a meal and a quick trip through their new Sant Ocean Hall.



We also got a Christmas tree and decorated it. Since the kids were feeling so crappy, we just picked one up at a nearby nursery instead of going out to cut our own. I think they still had fun putting the "decorates" up.

Quote of the Day

Eleanor: I don't want to see that growley thing that growls.

We learned the hard way that the Abominable Snow Monster from the classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer TV special is still too scary for a three year old. After some fast forwarding (thank you DVR box) and much reassurance that he was just growley because he had a toothache, which Hermy the Elf rectified by pulling his teeth, she seemed somewhat satisfied that he was not in fact so scary. However, she is still talking about how they don't have stores where the Abominable Snow Monster lives that sell big toothbrushes.

And, I should mention that I have more posts to come, I am way behind on account of the big birthday, the holidays and sick kids.