Squeaks and Squeals

Henry is talking up a storm. Maybe not in words yet but his squeals, squeaks, screams and gurgles are as adorable as they are astounding. He really is trying to tell us something. And, Squeaker has turned out to be the absolute perfect name for him. The pitch is so high that I can't even imitate it back to him, but Eleanor sure can. They have some sort of kidspeak happening that is really amazing to watch. I was talking with Grandaddy about it and we decided that parents have to learn a second (or third, or fourth...) language when their kids are little because what they speak isn't yet English (or Spanish, or Dulegaya...). Parents then act as translators to the rest of the world. I wonder what kinds of linguistic research has been done on this? I'll have to do a bit of investigating -- it is so interesting to think about.



Which leads me to the fact that Grandaddy is in town! We have been having a great time, and of course eating considerably better than usual. Eleanor has already included "Gahdada" into the quotidian routine: Daddy funny, Momma funny, Henny funny, Gahdada funny, Enano funny. (That last one is "Eleanor".)

Couch Full of Cuties

Another Halloween extravaganza (thanks Sarah and Karl!) with a whole load of cute kids in costume.

Feeling Rather Self-Congratulatory

I did it. I sewed something. A Woodland Elf Hat for Eleanor! I have been reading the lovely blog Angry Chicken, which lead me to the blogger Amy Karol's wonderful new book Bend-the-Rules Sewing, which in turn lead me into a crafting frenzy. I can't tell you how excited I get when I look at the cool things that she and all of these other (primarily) crafty women are making. It seems that many of them are also mommas, approximately my age, with kids close in age to Eleanor and Henry -- it feels almost like an electronic connection to some long lost friends.



Anyway, back to the hat that I am ever so proud of. I had a bad time last week when I found that some sort of little worms were eating my sweaters. They even got to the cashmere sweater that Vince gave me for my birthday last year and it made me cry. So when I found that the pattern for the Woodland Elf Hat can be made with a sweater, I decided to turn my sorrow into joy. I got out the old sewing machine -- a hand-me-down from a childhood neighbor named Eleanor as well -- which wasn't working, and with sheer will and determination I read the manual, cleaned the lint, oiled the gears, and got it going.



Now our Eleanor's ears will be toasty with this soft and sweet little hat. I decided that I like sewing with a machine too, it is relatively fast (even for a beginner like me) and it can be quite precise. In fact, I like it so much that Eleanor, Henry and I went out in the pouring rain yesterday to get a few supplies for other projects at the fabric shop. It is probably a good thing I had the two of them demanding most of my attention, otherwise I might have spent a LOT of money!



By the way, I don't have any clue how photographers get child models to do what they want. Trying to get a shot of this darn hat was like trying to brush Eleanor's teeth -- nearly impossible!

Oh Goodyblog, What Have You Done?!

I was reading GoodyBlog today and came across this cool and incredibly addictive game: freerice.com. As you play the game, "For each word you get right, we donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program," according to the FreeRice folks. Pretty cool. And addictive -- Vince and I have been playing all night.

Fall is the Perfect Time for Adventure Walks

Eleanor now gets all excited when we say we are going to go for an adventure walk. What is an adventure walk, you might ask? It could be a walk to the playground, a walk in the woods or simply a walk around the block. Over the weekend we took a couple of adventure walks and Eleanor slept in this morning until 7:15 am! Must be good for her (and for us). Here are some pictures.

Just starting out:


Eleanor finds her pockets useful too:


Definitely posed, but very cute: