TWO!!

Eleanor Marie is TWO. The girl cracks us up with her sweet smile and contagious laugh. She LOVES everything baby-doll--- feeding, rocking, strolling. We got her a doll bed from Ikea and now puts her babies to bed. Ellsie loves music - dancing and playing instruments. Going to her "school" makes her happy- she practically runs down the hall to the classroom.

Eleanor still only has a couple of words and has been doing some speech to try to improve that. Her therapist comes to our house for an hour a week and has been amazing. A big part of it has been introducing more sign language to communicate. So instead of her standing by the fridge and me opening it, getting what she wants (usually milk/water) now she will sign "more milk please." She signs "help" instead of just bringing me her boots and me just putting them on. You get the idea- it's been a fun process so far. At Christmas she said "hi baby" and "bye-bye" so that was very exciting.

Eleanor has really discovered a love for books. I can't sit down without her throwing a book at me to read (now I make her sign "book" before I just start reading it.) My favorite though is when I find Kathryn and Eleanor reading together- snuggled close, pointing things out to each other, retelling the actual story or making up their own. So stinkin' sweet.

She definitely looks up to her big sister, but she also dotes on her little sister. Bringing Madeline her pacifier, toys, blankets. She likes to give her kisses and hugs (she inherited my polka dancing neck grip.) Lately our little girl who would eat anything has been randomly picky- but funny picky-- like fruit. So I think it's a testing boundaries phase and we're not worried about it.

What else-- Eleanor still loves coloring and art and for the most part is drinking out of a cup (looking forward to the day when no sippy cups are in my cupboards) She loves to snuggle. She hasn't seen much TV (Sesame Street a couple of times when she was sick) but we did introduce her to Wiggles Christmas. I think she liked it. She's very easy going- but starting to be shyer in new situations and sticking close to us until she's comfortable.

Happy Birthday Eleanor! We hope you have a wonderful year- we're excited to watch you learn and grow and play-- TWO!

The night before Eleanor's birthday we had Pizza Factory in Fridley, on her birthday we went to the Science Museum with the Ds and Travis, and in the evening we had quesadillas and cupcakes just us at home.