Good Friends

We have had a few busy days this week and visited with several good friends. It is always nice to see people you enjoy and we were lucky enough to see several friends that live close by as well as a few who we see less frequently because they live farther away.

Eleanor has been talking non-stop about Baby Anna so it was nice to see her this week:



We also saw Grace and Nancy, but I didn't take any pictures while they were here so this is an old picture from a different visit:



In addition, our dear friends Linda and Alec came by to meet Henry and have dinner with us. I met Linda in an amazing and crazy way -- the parking lot of Zeno's motel in Rolla, Missouri -- and eventually I worked for her and then she introduced me to Vince. We have an interesting and important history! Eleanor really enjoyed playing with Linda while they were here and Henry didn't fuss too much, which means he must have enjoyed their visit as well:



And Leah, who I've been friends with forever, arrived yesterday for a short weekend visit. It was great to see her, her mom, and Maddie their dog. I didn't take any pictures yesterday but will take some today. In the meantime, here is an old one from about a year ago:

Mine and Yours and Other Subtleties of Language

Eleanor is communicating so well these days. We are so happy to be able to have small conversations with her. When she produced her first sign (bird) around one year old, we were astounded to know just what she was thinking about. Now as her language progresses, we are still astounded and impressed at the way her little mind is growing and working.

These days, she seems to have a lot on her mind. She is sorting out the idea of possession. She will attach the possessive "s" to our names - Mama's, Henry's, Dada's - and also to things such as numbers - three's, four's. I think she may be figuring out that the s doesn't necessarily go with the numbers though. She also is attempting to communicate that things are hers by using the word "yours". I figure that she hears me telling her "Those are your noodles" or "Those are yours". It took me a couple of times to figure out what she was saying, she would say "yours" and pat her chest with her hands. I finally realized when she was talking about one of her toys that she meant "mine".

In addition, she is constructing many simple sentences and phrases. Her current favorite train of thought is "closed eyes sleeping", which she uses for anyone or anything with closed eyes -- Henry, characters in books, stuffed animals, etc. She has also been thinking about our neighbors Sarah and Karl's daughter, Baby Anna, who came over yesterday for a bit. Baby Anna's parents have a dog named Hailey so all morning she has been talking about "Baby Anna, Dog Hailey, kiss" and then gives her hand a kiss. Apparently she remembers when we were over at their house and Hailey licked her hand. Another thing that is often on her mind are some of the things that "scare" her. She seems fascinated with and also terrified by trains, trucks, and anything especially large and motorized.

Henry is still communicating with howls, shrieks, screams and the occasional smile. I can't wait to hear what he has to say when he is ready to tell us all about what is on his mind.

On many occasions I have thought about language development but it still amazes me to think what kids are able to do in the first few years of life. When I was in Panama learning to speak the Kuna language, I would get so frustrated and physically exhausted from trying to soak it all in. It is no wonder that kids need so much sleep, not only are they building vocabulary and learning to put sentences together, but they are also learning to use the muscles in their mouths to produce the necessary sounds and growing at incredible rate. It is sometimes hard not to get irritated with a toddler or baby when they throw tantrums, but I always try to think that they must be frustrated as well, trying to make themselves understood and trying to make sense of everything at the same time.

The Pacifier - Love it or hate it, it's working for us!

I know that pacifiers are a controversial topic but, in my opinion, they are great. Here are our experiences with the paci:

Eleanor was so fussy when she was small. We tried everything to calm her down the first few months, including several different types of pacifiers, which she vehemently rejected. At about four months, for whatever reason, we offered the paci to her again and she decided she LOVED it. The Mam paci to be specific. From that moment on, she used it for bedtime and nap time and for rare occasions during the day such as sickness or long car/airplane trips. It has soothed her (along with Giraffe and Blanket) on many occasions and I am thankful for it. I know we are getting to the phase where she really should give it up, but I find myself wanting to hold on for just a little longer because it comforts her.



Henry is at least as fussy as Eleanor, if not more so. I don't know why we thought that baby number two would be easier -- maybe because we had done it before or maybe because we have seen friends with babies who are calm and happy from early on. Not the case though. We love our little howler (yes, he as graduated from squeaker to an official howler) but I was hoping that he would take to the paci a bit more quickly than Eleanor did in order to give him, and us, some relief from the constant colic-y wail.



We tried the Mam pacis with him but he did not seem to think they were that great. And, I had some reservations about getting him hooked on them. When Eleanor was little, she managed to get it stuck sideways in her mouth a couple of times and I lost a lot of sleep worrying that she was going to choke. Also, they have several parts, which I always worried might come apart and, again, pose a choking hazard. More recently, I have been reading about Bisphenol-A (BPA) a chemical used to make plastics for products including baby bottles, sippy cups and pacifier shields, which also sort of freaks me out. (There seems to be much dispute over this issue but here are some examples of the resources I've been reading: blogs - click here and here, news media - click here and here.) I was a worried first time momma with Eleanor and now I am just as much of a worry wart with Henry. So, I decided to try another kind of paci, the Soothie, for him. It is large and round (eliminating worry #1), all one part (eliminating worry #2) and made of silicone (eliminating worry #3 - as far as I can tell). I am sure I'll come up with something else to worry about, but for now I feel rather at peace. He seems to really like it so far. I am hoping this will lead us to more peaceful days and nights. Maybe it will.

Library Books - week of September 3, 2007

We got some new library books on Saturday. We picked up a couple of books that I thought would fit especially well with her Granddaddy's visit this week. Eleanor already has a clear favorite of the bunch -- could be because it inspired Vince to bake cookies the other night!
Here are a few of the books from this weeks library line up:

1. Mr. Cookie Baker by Monica Wellington. This is the favorite. Eleanor likes the simple story of a man baking cookies to sell at his shop. She is drawn to the bright colors in the illustrations, which feature baking supplies, cooking utensils, and cookies of various shapes decorated with lots of sprinkles. In addition to the story, there are also four cookie recipes at the end of the book. Vince and Eleanor tried out the oatmeal cookies the other night right before bedtime and we had a hard time getting her into the bath after that!

2. Jazz Baby by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Laura Freeman. Vince has read this book to Eleanor many times already and he has just the perfect voice and rhythm to read it. I think Eleanor likes it because it talks about dancing, playing drums and other musical instruments -- things which she is very fond of. It is the perfect length for her too, enough words and rhymes to keep her interested but not too much on each page.

3. Nicky & Grandpa by Cathryn Falwell. This book we picked out specifically because of Granddaddy's visit. It is a very small picture book with heavy pages and few words, almost like a board book. The text consists of short questions, such as "Where's Grandpa?" and short answers, "Here he is!" Eleanor likes this book as well, especially now that we have read it a few times and she knows the answers to the questions, which she exclaims in her own language!

I find that each week when we go into the library, she wants to stay longer and pull more books off the shelves to have a look at them. I think it is wonderful that she is discovering the magic of books and the library.

Learning to Hook

I am hooking my first big rug. I don't have any sort of pattern, which may be a mistake in my first large scale attempt, but I am enjoying the soothing rhythm of hooking. The nice thing is, I just have it all in a big laundry basket and at moments when things are calm or the babies are asleep, I can just pick up and start. I began the project with a black border and then spent a couple of months staring at the blank space on the rug warp trying to envision what might fill the outer boundary. In the end, I decided to go for something simple, circles of different colors at random spacing. My Aunt Glee sent the warp and some lovely colors of wool that she dyed, which I am using in along with some wool I have here. All of the wool is recycled, or probably more accurately put, reused from old clothing and secondhand store finds.
Here is a picture of all the different items I used to make the circles:



Seems that Eleanor is interested in learning to hook too. I am probably not the one to teach her since I am so inexperienced myself, but hopefully she will be able to work with Nana and Aunt Glee the next time we are together, so that they can impart their vast knowledge of the art on her. I think it is so nice that she has an interest in the rug. I believe that if she is exposed to the wool, the process of cutting and using ones hands to create, she will learn naturally and enjoy creating as well. Even if she doesn't want to hook rugs, I think that being in a creative environment will help her imagination and that is something that I feel responsible to help foster.
Here are some pictures of Eleanor -- checking out the wool, practicing her hooking, and getting bored with the rug warp and starting in on the couch: