Joey Listens, Elizabeth Reads

Elizabeth wrote and drew a comic and read it to Joey the Monkey.

Uncle Pat!

I guess I was kind of surprised the first time Pat met Elizabeth, when she was maybe eight months old. For some reason I didn't expect Pat to be as comfortable with the baby as he was. And I was a little taken aback by how much she obviously loved him right from the start. She didn't react that way with everyone.

A couple of nights ago when Pat was over we were talking with Elizabeth about best friends and I said, "Whose your best friend? Joey? Lily? Riley?"

"No," she said. "Pat!"

Pat and Suzanne (who isn't yet two months old) seem to be getting along pretty well, too.

 

Meanface at The Old Spaghetti Factory

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The culmination of Grandpa and Aunt Bev's visit was dinner at Ye Olde Spaghetti Factory, which included Grandma. The eponymous meanface wasn't because Elizabeth wasn't having fun. It was because she is practicing her meanface daily, in order to increase its intimidation factor. She was actually in toddler-heaven right there, having nearly completed a bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup.

Elizabeth As Big Sister, Part II

We pulled out of the basement Elizabeth's baby swing for Suzanne's use. The batteries that allow it to swing itself were kaput, but Elizabeth stepped in to help out.

Second Child Syndrome

 

Barb and I realized that poor Suzanne is suffering from the same fate as every other second child: her parents aren't taking any pictures of her. When Elizabeth was born we were just getting used to the amazing freedom of digital photography, the freedom of having thrown off the shackles of expensive film and more expensive processing. The confluence of these two firsts -- first child, first digital camera -- caused a thermonuclear explosion of pictures.

Not so much with Suzanne.

So yesterday I vowed to carry the camera more, and take more pictures of the baby before she's not a baby. We'll see if I stick to it.

Slide Mania

Having spent some time with Lily Joy recently, I took Barb's recommendation to review videos of Elizabeth from six months ago. Six months ago Elizabeth was as old as Lily is now.

It's easy with Elizabeth's friends to compare them directly even though Lily is younger and Riley is older. As Barb pointed out, when a child is that young six months can make a world of difference.

Anyway, in reviewing the videos from June and July I came across this one, which I like.

Vampires!

Elizabeth somehow figured out that Count von Count from Sesame Street is a vampire. This morning she decided to draw vampires.

Her art got way better recently, and the drawing pictured is maybe her finest work.

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There's Always Room on Mother's Lap

 

The title of this post is the title of a children's book we read recently, and Barb proves its truth over and over. In fact, we were thinking of getting a recliner that we saw at Macy's when visiting Santaland, but Barb subsequently judged it too small. She wants a La-Z-Boy-sized recliner like the one in this picture so she can accommodate all of her girls as they grow.

Snow Play in a Snow Suit

 

Elizabeth put her brand new snow suit to good use last week when we went to visit the Francises up on the mountain. There was plenty of snow to play in and Eizabeth was snug as a bug, thanks to Aunt Bev and Uncle Frank, who gave her the suit for Christmas.

We played in the snow and then went sledding down a private drive next to Jen and Joshi's place. I hadn't been sledding in many years, and it was a blast.

Thanks again, Aunt Bev and Uncle Frank!

So Sophisticated!

 

Elizabeth was looking so grown up on Friday in a headband and beads. The headband was an impulse-gift from her good friend Joshi. Elizabeth was thrilled by it. It has Snow White on it, which prompted us to get Snow White from the library. I wasn't very familiar with the story: it's grim! Snow White is killed three times by the evil queen! The evil queen is eventually made to wear red hot iron shoes and dance until she falls dead! Geez Louise!

But Elizabeth loves the story. She's not bothered by the violence. Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose is also pretty violent, with hunters chasing Thidwick and eventually killing all of the creatures who live in his antlers, then stuffing said creatures and mounting them over the mantle of the fireplace in the Harvard Club. Another old-school book has come into Elizabeth's possession recently. Grandma gave her Walt Disney's America, which has western stories (cowboys punching and shooting Indians), Uncle Remus stories (with Brer Bear and Brer Fox plotting to skin, cook, knock the head off, and otherwise do grievous injury to Brer Rabbit), "Old Yeller" (*sob*), and others. Again, Elizabeth is not only not disturbed by this stuff, she likes it (although, to be honest, when reading the tar baby story, I edited out some of the more violent plotting of Brers Fox and Bear).

In the picture above you may be able to see a scratch on Elizabeth's nose. She fell off the step-stool in the kitchen while helping me make oatmeal, and hit her head on the unfinished corner of the cabinet that holds our new dishwasher. It's still just raw, ragged plywood, and it made quite a scratch. It was pretty scary, and must have hurt a lot, but she shrugged it off after a minute or so of crying. Tough kid.