Backyard

Eleanor loves to go walking in the backyard. Usually pretty quick after we get home she will go to the back door and bang on it demanding to be let out.

If you are holding her she will point you in the direction she wants to go, to look at sunflowers, the baby pool, or our Maple tree. After a bit she will want to be set free so she can explore on her own.

Nora likes to grab the plants and take leaves off to give to Mookie. He is happy to grab them and run around the yard which makes her giggle with delight.
It's a fun experience to wander around the yard with her seeing what she sees. Holding dad's hand we have done many laps around the yard and she always seems to find something new to enjoy.

The Ohio Sate Fair

Here are some pictures from the Ohio Sate Fair from a couple weeks ago. We went to petting zoo and saw some pretty unique animals. We were able to buy carrots to feed the critters. Eleanor enjoyed watching but wasn't too sure about participating.


Then we saw the "world famous" butter cow. Nora seemed impressed.
No trip to the butter cow is complete without some fresh made ice cream.

Rock and Roll

A few weeks ago Wendy, Eleanor, and I turned into Justin Roberts groupies. Justin Roberts writes/sings children songs that are catchy, funny, and intelligent. Wendy's coworker gave Nora a CD of his for his birthday and mentioned he was coming to town. So Friday we met up with said coworker and her kids at the North Worthington Library to check him out.

Because of the threat of rain the show was moved inside and it was packed with kiddos of all ages running around, dancing, and singing. It took Nora a good 30 minutes to relax her grip on us, but then she seemed to enjoy the show.

The next day Justin was playing outside at church in Grandview and we met up with the Lynaugh clan to check out another free show. The second time seeing the band in 15 hours.
Nora enjoyed herself for the most part, but the show started right about her normal nap time. I could tell she was fading fast, but was surprised she was able to doze off with the music, kids, yelling, and heat, but when ya gotta nap you gotta nap.

Fun With Water

Whether it is with cousin Lindsey or at home in the pool or Elmo's sprinkler (Thanks Betty & Bob!), Eleanor loves the water. Her teachers frequently tell us that she climbs into the water sensory table, so we thought we'd show you how much fun this summer has been with water! You know, if Nora Kate did not like water, we would have to wonder. Her Daddy played water polo and swam on his high school teams, her Aunt Pam swam all her life, and now her cousins swim competitively. Mom prefers water sports like rowing and boating, but always loved playing in water growing up. There are many pictures with Wendy and Uncle Anthony donning water wings in the Pacific Ocean, playing gas station in the front yard (anyone know what this is??) and splashing in their Grandparents pool. So, it is only natural that we have a water baby....
Look at the swimsuit you sent me Gramma! (I refuse to wear the cute matching hat when playing)

A hot enough day even got Mama in the baby pool! Daddy and Mookie finally jumped in too--it's been HOT here in Ohio.

ba ba ba . . .BA!

Eleanor has a definite favorite word. Ba! On occasion she will say mama or dada most of her talking the last week or so has been ba. It is not rare for her to carry on with a string of 20+ bas at a time punctuated with the occasional BA! She is trying to communicate with us and her string of bas sound like sentences or at least lyrics from a Bob Dylan song. Nora has learned that if she points at something ans says ba (or BA!) Dad will carry her in the direction she is pointing and explain the flower/tree/fence/dog toy we end up examining. Here are some cute pictures for the first day of August.
Eleanor loves music and if she hears it or hears us singing she will clap her hands. It is bad to reinforce dad's penchant for singing along with commercials with this cute behavior.

Her is Nora talking on her "phone" which you folks might call a boat. She loves watching us talk on the phone and plays with our phones when we let her. If we don;t have a real phone handy she creates her own. Usually she tells the person on the other end "bababa" and then hands the phone to us saying "BA!".

Although she is an early riser sometimes she'll fall back to sleep in our bed so we can grab some extra zs. Wendy caught me and Eleanor sleeping one morning before work.

Nora also likes to climb in or on anything she can. Here she is in Mookie's toy bin. His toys are much more interesting and she loves to get them out and hold them up to him. As you can see from the picture she hardly has any toys of her own.

Her she is playing in her ducky at bath time.