Ambition

On the way home from school today, Ellie Kate says, "when I grow up, I'm going to be a princess. And a fairy. A real-life fairy so I can fly around for real. And I'm going to be a mom, and a teacher, and a helper like you when I grow up, mom. And, mom, do you want to be an artist with me when I grow up?"

Me: "Sure, I'll be an artist with you. And wow! You have a lot of choices for what you can be when you grow up! You can be a princess or a fairy or a mom or a teacher or a helper or an artist."

EK: "no, mom, I'm going to be all of them."

I smile. Of course she is.

Me: "Will, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

W: "a football player."

No "ands" from Will.

Insert social commentary here.

This really struck me. Of course, Ellie has a list of things she wants to be and fully thinks she can be them all. She sees it every day. I believe that Will, like most men, will develop and operate in multiple roles. But it is really fascinating to me how this develops. Is it natural for EK to see herself with multiple "jobs"? Will has expressed an interest in being other things when he grows up, but his process involves "ors" not "ands" or are sequential (I'll be a football player, then an author, etc.). I know I'm reading a lot into this small interaction. But I see it in other ways they play. Nature or nurture, I don't know. It is certainly fascinating.

In related news, reading Lean In is on my to-do list. Unfortunately, being a mom, assistant dean, mentor, wife, homeowner, and friend have kept me too busy to do so. Hopefully I can be a reader again soon.

Eleanor-isms

On the eve of her 4th birthday, I thought I'd take a moment to document some of our favorite recent Ellie comments.

E: "Mommy, we played with doggie balls today!"
Me: "you did what?!"
E: "yea, see those balls out there?" (Pointing to the Bocce ball set)
Oohhh, I got it now! Our dog is Botchie. Hence, Bocce ball became doggie ball.


(Playing "the letter game" in the van)
Me: "I'm thinking of a food that starts with B"
W: "banana!"
E: "botato, botato,"

(Yesterday before her birthday party)
J: "no, Elle, Mom's in the shower, let's leave her alone"
E: "no, Daddy, it's my birthday, so I can do whatever I want"

(Deciding on her birthday dinner)
E: "how about pancakes and cheese dip with chips"
Me: "well, honey, those two things really don't go together"
E: "oh, ok, I don't have to put the cheese dip on top"
(Ewwwww! We settled on pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage)

(Yesterday evening after her party. She is dressed in her princess gown and riding her new scooter through the kitchen - see below)
Me: "excuse me, Eleanor"
E: willfully ignoring
Me: "excuse me, Eleanor"
E: "you mean Princess Eleanor?"

Poor baby

We have a poor sick Eleanor. She has hardly left the air mattress this weekend. I think she's slept 12 of the last 14 hours. Headed to the doctor tomorrow. Through all of this misery she is still the most delightful little sick person I've ever known.
"How do you feel, Elle?"
"Good." (And she pukes a few minutes later.)

Snow

I'm home with a "sick" little girl today. So, while she watches Tinkerbell for the 80th time, I thought I'd take this opportunity to update the blog.

We had some hefty snow storms a couple weeks ago. It resulted in 4 snow days for local schools. Will was already scheduled off for conferences on the first two. KU closed both days. Day cares closed 1 day so J & I got some work done from home on the second day.
Then, early the next week we got more snow. Will's school was cancelled 2 days. Day cares and KU closed 1 day. It was a lot of time cooped up in the house and I was definitely ready to get out!

The older kids played for awhile and enjoyed hot cocoa and snow ice cream. But, Will did say he was ready to go to school instead of "another boring home day".

Patrick's 1 year photo shoot

Just in time for Patrick's first birthday, we tried to get some photos of the 3 kids. Patrick was not the smiliest, but we got a few good ones.

Christmas according to Ellie Kate

Singing to herself: "And a partridge in the pantry"

Telling me about what Santa will do after he leaves presents: "He will gather up all his things and then zoom up the chimney and go outside and get in his sleigh or in his mom's car."

Will brought home "reindeer food" - fruit loops, marshmallows, sprinkles, rice - to throw on the lawn on Christmas Eve. Ellie was eating it (except the rice, of course). I didn't know if she had asked her brother's permission before doing this, so I asked, "Ellie, are you eating William's reindeer food?"
EK: "Yes, mom, but don't worry - it doesn't turn me into Rudolph."

Love seeing holidays through the eyes of children!

Late September evening

We enjoyed a relaxing late September weekend with great weather and not much on the schedule - just what we needed!

Ignore the mismatched outfits and overgrown grass. Aren't these 3 awesome? Really loving our little family right now.

Patrick LOVED the swing!

You can almost see all 4 teeth in this one.

Doesn't everyone wear PJ's and a tutu to play outside?

What a big kid!

And these are purely from fancy-pants Ellie Kate. Someday she'll love me for posting these :) This ensemble was all her own: Cinderella gown, multiple bracelets, pink sequin headband and plastic cell phone.

This princess means business!

"No, Mommy, I will not smile."

Busy!

Clearly we've had a lot going on. I haven't blogged and have taken very few photos. Really, there haven't been a lot of big events, just life. Will is enjoying kindergarten. We hear about new friends, different classes and what he does in after-school care. Most recently that involved learning chess from "a third-grader, no wait, maybe a sixth-grader. I don't know his name." But, Will now very much enjoys chess. Go figure. Ellie Kate is doing quite well at pre-school. I'm amazed at how her language skills seem to have boomed since Will went to kindergarten. All of  a sudden she's speaking in fuller sentences, more detail, more thought. Fascinating to watch. She has become enamored with cheerleaders after being at the KU football games. She still loves Tinkerbell and would prefer to wear a dress and accessories every day. Often when we get home from work/school, I go change out of my work clothes into comfies, Will changes out of his uniform into play clothes, and Ellie Kate changes out of her play clothes into a Cinderella gown. Patrick is 7 months old now and so loveable. He's doing a really good job with baby foods now. He has 4 teeth in and about a week or so ago decided he could sleep at night. He's still a very loud sleeper - making noises several times every night - but he's proven he can go back to sleep most of the time. J & I are busy at work, but enjoying it. We're adjusting to life with a school-aged child and the expectations that come along with that. Our color-coded calendar hanging in the kitchen is just a bit overwhelming, but I find it necessary to know who is picking up whom and where we're going at any given moment.

We are still going to the KU football games. So far, the kids have done an amazing job. Fingers crossed that that continues!

3 little Jayhawks ready for the game

Elle & Grampy

Poor Patrick!

He's taken a good nap at every game so far

Watching Big Jay

These two have fun together!

Tumbling

Ellie Kate has been taking her first tumbling class this summer. It's just 5 classes for 1 hour on Saturday mornings at a gym near our house. They get to do really cool things! The work on the bars, balance beam, and I think the favorite activity is the trampoline and then jumping into the foam pit. She loves going. And, it has been a nice Mommy-Ellie Kate outing, especially when followed by a Starbucks date :) That's Elle's new favorite place. Can't say I blame her.

These pictures are really dark, but you get the idea.

At the beginning of class they play fun games and dance around to different songs.

Then they do various obstacles at different stations. She's doing a forward roll here.

On the balance beam

Though we haven't gotten to watch too much, Elle has loved seeing "tumbling" on the Olympics. She thought people would be watching her on TV when she went to class last Saturday.

Who's that kid?

I've thought and said all along that Patrick looks very little like Will & Eleanor did. Now I have the photos to prove it. Here they all are at about the same age, sort of in the same pose...

I know there are similarities, but doesn't he just look so different?! Their chins are similar. I really think P's blue eyes and lighter complexion just really change his looks. It will be so fun to see how they compare as time goes on!

Hair

We tried curlers in Ellie Kate's hair the other night. She showered in the middle of the afternoon after a t-ball game (i.e. playing in the dirt) so I decided we'd leave the curlers in for a couple hours until bed time. The smaller curlers definitely worked better. And, unfortunately, she has my hair. It only held the curl for about 30 minutes. Oh well. Cute while it lasted.

Before

I just think this is a beautiful picture of her.

after

 Then tonight was quite a different story with the hair. Pretend haircuts got a little too real.

It's like Clue: Mr. William with the scissors in the bathroom

The aftermath. I guess I should at least be thankful he did it over a trashcan.

She has an interesting "layer" on the side now, and a nice big chunk missing. Not sure how we're gonna make that look good. Maybe the bob cut will come soon...

Just one snip from his own bangs.

My sentiments exactly.

So, Will was the barber this evening and did much more work on his sister than on himself (he's no fool). Once he realized what a boo boo this was he asked me not to tell anyone. Fat chance - every parent deserves to re-tell stories like this. Ellie Kate was unfazed by all of this. She kept saying, "I'm a princess!" Chunky hair, but a princess nonetheless. Oh what a night.

All about Elle

So, I'm behind on blogging - what's new? In an attempt to catch up a bit, I'm making this post all about Eleanor. She turned 3 last month and has become quite the social, independent, fun, sweet, smart, and antagonizing little lady. About what you'd expect for a 3 year old girl with 2 brothers, right? She has really blossomed at school the last few months. She's writing her name and many other letters quite well. She's singing, drawing, tracing, cutting with scissors - all kinds of fun things. Despite my best efforts, she has fully embraced princesses. She loves Tinkerbell. She prefers to have her nails painted, hair done, "lip glosh" on,  and jewelry with most outfits. While I, too, love to accessorize, she's 3! My challenge now is to fight against the princess mentality. So far, so good. She has a great imagination, is interested in her school work, loves to play outside and can hold her own with her big brother. In fact, she more often than not is the one instigating the trouble. She knows how to push buttons -- and her daddy's seem to be her favorite to push. A lot of her emotional breakdowns and perceived defiance are typical for 3 year olds exerting independence. It just drives her dad (ok, both of us) a little crazy sometimes.

 One of the greatest surprises to come with the addition of Patrick is how close Will & Ellie Kate have become. Much of it is because they are at school together now, but they play together so much more now and have a really good time. Just lately we've had to institute the "you may not touch each other for the rest of the night" rule due to some unsafe wrestling. But for the most part, they do really well together. And Ellie Kate has come to love her baby brother, too. She is the first to let us know if he's crying, wants to see and play with him, and can do spot on imitations of the sounds he makes. It's incredible, really.

a little after-school chat

Ellie Kate's 3rd birthday party was a great time. She loved getting to play with her cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. She asked for "a princess cake". Thank goodness for Aunt Casie! She made this awesome cake and all of the princesses you see around it. Pretty amazing, huh?

And she was spoiled as usual.

Since her party was the weekend before, she got to open her present from us on her actual birthday. She LOVES her new doll house.

And the weather was so nice that we got to eat her birthday dinner (complete with neon-frosted cupcakes) out on the deck. FYI, we headed straight to the bathtub after dinner!

We love love love our little Ellie Kate!