Hide your eats.

Oh, is that pizza? Yes, I have heard of this.

Let me help you put it...just...

There.

BBFFs

Look how big I am, Jess.

Look how big I am, Eleanor.

Now let's hold hands LITERALLY all the way home.

Like, seriously, the entire way. When we are not holding hands, let us hold our hands OUT to indicate that we would like to hold hands and please drive our strollers closer together.

Mind the wheels, though.

She is a clothes horse.

The other day, I had gotten Eleanor all tarted up for the outdoors and as we're headed down the stairs I see the bus pass by out the window. So we haul back upstairs and I take off her hat and coat and we settle in to wait 20 minutes only Eleanor thinks that if she can get her hat and coat back on, we can GO.

I know this, this is a hat.

It goes here?

And the coat, that is for arms.

But how do you get the arms IN?

And then later that day, I was organizing all her old baby clothes (I AM NOT PREGNANT NOR ATTEMPTING TO BECOME PREGNANT AT THIS TIME, ALRIGHT? I just...I had brought all her baby clothes home from BC because we had the car with us, and I wanted them to be in tidy bins rather than several ripping bags. Stop making assumptions) except when I say 'organizing' I mean 'watching this happen':

She kept sorting everything into piles, and then re-sorting, so I let her do it and I read a book.

And so went the afternoon.

Calgary, you so wacky.

Two days ago, it was 15 degrees out. Eleanor wore a hat superfluously.

Yesterday it was minus 3 and snowing.

JUST KEEPING  ME ON MY TOES.

BC is for noms.

One of the best things about going home is the eats. Vancouver is a great place for foodstuffs, AND there's someone to leave the baby with so we can eat our meat and bread in peace, without grabby fingers grabbing.

The other best thing about going home, however, is feeding Eleanor new and exciting things. We went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries and ordered an extra patty on the side, which Eleanor APPRECIATED WITH HER MOUTH.

She's so teethy these days. And she's had burger patty before, but near the end of the meal she was like, There is something in that bag that you guys aren't sharing with me.

So we gave her her first ever French fry, and at first she was like

but then she was like

She also had her first steak, her first farmer sausage, and her first homemade perogy.

Homemade perogies are the reason we go home.

Oh, and hey Eleanor, this cheddar is older than you are.

You don't say?

But we also left her with the grandparents. Like, a lot. WE WENT ON SO MANY DATES. We went to a Canucks game and stopped in Burnaby for sushi - Joel gets the sashimi and I get the teriyaki (and then Joel goes back for sushi three or four more times that week but I am not so dedicated).

And then one day we were working on a project and needed a lunch break and popped over to this homemade noodle house I used to walk by all the time but never went to, and Joel ordered the large spicy beef and the guy is like, No, really, it's really large, and Joel's like, Ok, because servers say stuff like that all the time, but this was really large.

That is not an optical illusion or a funny camera angle. That is a large bowl of soup. I got the shaved pork with sour mustard greens.

It was fantastic AND it was lunch the next day.

And then we always go to Meat and Bread, which, if you are ever in Vancouver, you should visit. And you should each get the porchetta, and then you should get another porchetta to split afterwards, and then you should lovingly discuss its facets all the way to your movie and for days afterwards.

It is the only perfect sandwich.

Eleanor gets most of her socialization in short, concentrated doses.

One of the nice things about going home is the time Eleanor gets to spend with her baby-friends. She got lots of playtime with her cuzzie Hazel.

Like, a lot.

Like, an excellent lot

and has been pointing at a picture of Hazel on the shelf and going, 'Heez!'

And her boyfriend Felix came over and was all, Look how much walking I can do! And Eleanor was like, Look how much talking I can do! And then they swatted each other in the face and Kelly and I both felt better about our lives because, however diversely their other skill sets grow, 14-month-olds seem to be prime swatters.

And then my Very Pregnant Friend Robyn came over with her daughter Meredith, who is the first female toddler Eleanor has seen up close, and her tiny mind was blown.

Eleanor thought Meredith was just the fanciest thing, like she was some giant lovely doll, and she followed her around adoringly and kept looking over at us like, Are you seeing this? Why has it taken you so long to bring me one of these?

She loved Meredith's nose

and her dress covered in birdies

and kept giving her spontaneous hugs AND NOT ALSO BITING HER.

(I tend to discourage Eleanor hugging her friends because her hugs are affectionately bitey, but she didn't bite Meredith even once.)

And these are the best things about going home but they are also the hardest things, because if we lived in BC Eleanor would have SO MANY BESTIES (and a boyfriend). But spring is coming eventually, and then the doors will open and all the little people will emerge and we will all go to the park.

What big teeth you have.

She has this new face that she picked up while we were in BC, she makes it when she is SO PLEASED WITH HER JOKE.

Today Joel was supervising her pear-eating and she kept putting her foot on his foot and being all, LOOK HOW CLEVER I AM BEING.

So clever, little duck.

She is the happiest sick baby.

We had a glorious dinner planned with friends for our last night in BC. There were hot tubs in the offing. The pack-n-play and the portable high chair and Eleanor's dinner and EVERYTHING was ready to go, and then Eleanor violently barfed up everything she's ever eaten, and we had to turn the car around (after pulling over and cleaning off as much barf as a half-empty pack of wipes can clean off).

On the way home she barfed up everything she's ever THOUGHT about eating.

Then Gigi gave her a long and splash-happy bath and she got to eat her dry toast on the couch while watching figure skating with Papa.

She will be sick any old time if she gets such treats afterward.

And all were well pleased.

And lo, did Uncle Damir read unto Eleanor.

And Tante Leah did read unto her also.

And so did Tante Gillian read unto her.



And so did Papa read unto her.


And so did Unky Matt play unto her the guitar.

Secondsies.

We went skiing. It was my second time ever. I was the fellow on the left.

Bunny hill times, snow plow queen.

We took Eleanor to Cookie's Grill for the second time. She was jazzed about the buttered toast.

I wouldn't let her greedy hands near the rest of my Big and Bold.

I am blogging from my phone because I am a very busy and importantperson.

I have cousins to supervise,


Sushi to eat,

And hockey to watch.

Please leave any messages with my secretary.

Maybe her hands felt insecure? *I* don't know.

So yesterday we're killing time before bed and Eleanor brings me a pair of socks and then holds out her hands, like, You know what to do.

And then for THE REST OF THE EVENING she is like, playing with the walker with some sock hands...

...making animal sounds with some sock hands...

...giving Snuggles a shake with some sock hands...

...popping up the animals with some sock hands...

...contemplating books with some sock hands...

Tiny human, I don't even know.