Fun with language

It's been so much fun watching Eleanor's language skills develop. A few recent stories:

Last night I was changing her and she wanted to play with the Stain Stick I keep on the dresser, so I gave it to her and she got some on her hands. She asked me to wipe it off, and I said, "Yes, it's slimy, isn't it?" She repeated "Slimy." Then she wanted to hold on to it for a while while we got ready for bed, so I let her. When I took it away to put her down, she started to cry "WANT SLIMY! MY SLIMY!" I couldn't help cracking up.

Even cuter are the mangled pronunciations. The other day on a long car ride, Eleanor was fascinated with the motorcycles she could see passing us, but when she tried to say "motorcycle" it comes out "mamasickle." And last week I bought a mini Magnadoodle to keep in the car for trips and to keep her busy in stores. She calls it her "Nananoonoo" or just "noo-noo." It just kills me, it's so cute. Except when she's wailing MY NANANOONOO MIIIIIIINE because it's time to put it away.

There is one other language story I won't repeat here, but you can find it in Andy's blog. Suffice it to say we are going to be the parents who get phone calls from the teacher about what Eleanor's teaching her classmates. Oops.

Eleanor in our new backyard

We moved into what we hope is our "forever house" last month. The previous owner planted these beautiful white azaleas out back - it looks like a snowbank. Here's Eleanor in the yard.



She insists on making this cheesy grin in almost all her photos lately:

Welcome!

I thought it would be nice to have a central place where all my kid-related musings, funny stories, and pictures could go so that our friends and family could get updates whenever they wanted.

For anyone who doesn't know us already...

I'm Tricia, a 31-year-old working mom to Eleanor, aged 21 months. I live with my husband of 5.5 years, Andy, in a suburb of Washington, DC, and I work as a writer and editor for a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC). I love my job and my work-life balance.

Our first child, Joseph, died at birth on May 26, 2005 due to a complication of labor. Fourteen months later, Eleanor came into our lives and has been the greatest blessing either of us could imagine. Our third child, and second daughter, will be arriving via C-section on July 8, 2008.