Big Girl Dance Class

So Eleanora's "Mommy and Me" dance class for 2-3 yr olds was cancelled b/c one girl dropped out making it only Nora and one other girl. So Ms. Andrea, her teacher, recommended Eleanora for the 3-5 yr old dance class that immediately follows the Mommy and Me class. In her old class, Bryce and I danced with her, and had to direct her to pay attention a lot, so we were not sure what to think of joining the big girl class. We figured we'd try it, since she loves dance class so much. It is going to great! She stands out there on her "star" and listens, follows directions, does all the moves and is just adorable. Here is a crappy video of Saturday's tap dance. She's the tiny one in the pink furthest from the video (closest to the window - the smallest girl). It's not a good video, and you'll want to click the button in the corner to make it "full screen" in order to see, but it's worth it :)

It's beginning to look slightly like Christmas

First off, wanted to again thank everyone that donated to the Walk to End Hunger. It was a great turn out and it was a great way to start off our Thanksgiving Day.

There was an entertainment stage along the walk, so we had to stop to let Eleanora get her groove on to Bennie and the Jets...

Earlier this week, I took Eleanora to her first movie in the theatre. We saw Tangled - well, we saw most of Tangled. About an hour into it, she had to go potty, so we went, and then once we were back in the theatre the game of "I gotta go potty" then walk out of the theatre doors and "NO! I not go potty, I watch Princess movie" began. She was just wanting to get up and walk around out of her seat and explore the whole movie theatre, but not actually leave the movie. It got too distracting for the other movie goers in my opinion, so we left. I wish we could have stayed, it was a really cute movie and I wanted to see the whole thing! Overall I was surprised how well she did for her first movie. If you ask her, she thinks she saw the whole movie and has no recollection of having to leave because she wouldn't stay in her seat.

Before we left I wanted a picture, she insisted that we bring her Tangled book, "I bring my book to show princess"

Eyeing my "coke-coke-coke",

What a big girl!

After we left, we went to pick up daddy from work, and eat at Subway,



Friday was Eleanora's first ECFE class. The first 50 mins or so we just got to play and explore her classroom and meet her new friends, then cicle time (which included a parachute, I thought Nora was going to pass out she was laughing so hard at being under the parachute with her classmates while the parents shook it over them), then a snack, during which the parents said our goodbyes to go have a parent class. Nora gave me a worried look when I said I'd be leaving to go down the hall, but I told her I'd be back soon and that she was going to get to stay and play. She did great! She was so happy to see me after our class. She went potty twice on the school potty. She wanted to stay and play (it is a pretty sweet classroom), so I'm hoping next week goes as smoothly!

I will say, during the playtime at the beginning, her only childness was really showing! Other kids would come up and take things out of her hand and she would just stand there completely shocked looking at them like "Why on earth would you do that to me?" Everything at home is HERS, she never has to share or fight over a toy. It totally takes her by surprise.

I honestly couldn't decide which one of these first day of ECFE class was the cutest, so you get all four that I took!



 Later in the day, she was pretending to go to drive to school. Got her raincoat on, hat on, backpack on, shoes on, but apparently she thinks pants are optional at school.

You'll see in the background that it's beginning to look slightly like Christmas at our house.

We moved half of our kitchen cabients out to make it an eat-in kitchen last weekend, making the old "dining area" a play area. It gave me the jump start I needed to finally hang up some things around the apartment,

 Entryway,

Living room, Eleanora's silhouettes from 14 months and 26 months,

Nora's room,

And finally, Eleanora loves the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph figurines from our advent wreath. She snatches them from the table and plays with them all the time. A few nights ago she ran off from the table to go potty, and when I sat down she had set up Mary and Joseph like this around her Mac and Cheese,

"Mary and Yoseph"

(not sure why there's a container of orange paint on the table with us...)

Potty training has gone surprisingly well...averaging one accident every other day I would say. Almost never an accident when we are out, though. If we're at a restaurant, shopping, etc, she ALWAYS tells us. I'm kind of shocked! Yesterday we were leaving Target - all buckled into the car and everything and she said "I gotta go potty!" and so I pulled the car to the front of the lot and dropped Nora and Bryce off to run inside. Sure enough, she was still dry and really really had to go potty. She came running out of Target proudly yelling to me that she went potty at Target. Such a big girl!



tiny Jack, haircuts and Halloween

It's been soooo long let's just jump in...

We've seen lots of new baby Jack! Eleanora could not be more in love. She talks about him all the time, and if he's here she just wants to hold him, touch him, help me change his diaper, etc. So here he is a week old taking his first bottle!

Handsome, tiny guy.

We hit up the pumpkin patch the last weekend before Halloween. Nora loved it, her favorite part she still talks about was the hayride.

She got an apple shaped sippy cup, she loves it!

More Jack...2 weeks oldish

Jamming with Grandpa in her jammies,

Shouting and tapping her sticks "ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!"

And this child finally got her first haircut! I didn't know what her reaction would be, but she thought it was the coolest thing ever. We watched daddy get his haircut first, so she was eager for it to be her turn "It Nora's turn now? Nora go ahead?"

Before pics!

Here we go...

Yay! "Mush better" as Nora would say.

 Halloween...the Pooh crew...

Decorating cookies,

And again more Jack! He's getting huge!

Oh how Eleanora loves this baby! She's so gentle.

She said "Oh, Jack wants to play bunnies." and came back with her Calico Critters. "Here you go, Jack"

She's so sweet.

HA!  

Snoozing,

Eleanora got some gifts from Grandma Anne from Hawaii!

Hula dancing,

And this morning watching Blue's Clue's...if you are familiar with the show, she has to watch it with a "handy dandy notebook" of her own to play along.

Notice the big girl Dora underwear!!! Woot woot!

(Yes, she has a black eye, she fell off the table when she was climbing on it while I was making dinner in the kitchen, she hit the side of her face on the corner of the table going down. It was awful)

In case you haven't had enough of being bombarded by me via email and facebook, donate to the Walk to End Hunger if you haven't already! We're walking Thanksgiving morning - we want to show Eleanora from a young age that for all the blessings we have, we must do what we can to give thanks for them not just by being grateful, but by doing what we can to help bless other's lives. Please donate to help this great cause, and those that don't know where their next meal is coming from.

Click here to donate.