You never can tell.

Sometimes she wakes up all wrong from a nap and I am like, Play with me? And she is like *grouch* and I am like, Play by yourself? And she is like *weeps* and I'm like, Well I don't know.

And today, because she was already mad and wasn't going to get any madder, I was like SOCKS ON YOUR HANDS. What do you think of THAT.

*thinks on it*

*...likes it?*

Let there ALWAYS be socks on the hands!

She can stop whenever she wants.

When she thinks no one is watching...

Let's go in for a closer look.

I think we've been spotted.

'Oh, ha ha. How long have you been there?'

(several minutes later)

I am good at cooking and also at eating.

Potato patties.

Onions, peppers, and garlic.

Bacon.

Cheese. Something not right about that cheese.

Ah. There.

Eggs.

Malibu Sunrise.

Eleanor got broccoli and chicken. She didn't seem to notice she was being ripped off.

It's like, every month, whole new baby.

She has these little habits that come and go, like when she was always making this face



and now she doesn't anymore. I can't remember if I blogged about how she would always gently place her hand on things, like she was blessing them. Mum said it was like having our own tiny Pope. I bless this ear of corn, I bless this pillow, I bless your face.

bless you, baby chicken

Now she's discovered her pincer grasp, and MAN IS SHE GOOD AT PINCHING. Whenever I am feeding her or holding her and walking around, she's always working my skins between her finger and thumb, as though she was checking my thread count.

The park (redux)

Remember that time Eleanor went to the park and was like, Ugh?

Many (many) practice-swings later, and she is finally getting the hang of enjoying it.

Going down the slide she could take or leave (I'm not sure she notices what's going on. I think that for her, the whole WORLD is a slide still), but then yesterday we set her down in a hill of rocks.

ROCKS!

Guys, I cannot talk to you right now, I have to organize these rocks.

In a very un-Eleanor-like fashion, she didn't even really try to eat the rocks (although she DID slip a bunch down the back of her shirt, possibly for secret eating).

A play in three parts.

Oh look, a basket of toys.

I wonder if...

You've seen enough Eleanor to know where this is going.

Enemies on all sides.

Eleanor went swimming today and she was SO GOOD AT IT. Such splashing. Such cheerful noise-making! Such being held by a lifeguard!

But because I was in the pool with her, there are no photos. Alas. So you will have to content yourselves with this photo of her plotty feet.

And this photo of her trying to lick the camera.

And this photo of her playing her spoon-flute.

So sometimes when I'm feeding her, while I'm switching sides her thumb will make it's sneaky way into her mouth, and she'll suck on it for a second accidentally and then pull it out and look at it like, You traitor.

And then today, in her bath, she had just swirled her washcloth through the water and then brought it to her mouth and then took an enormous breath in through her nose and got water ERRRRWHERE up in her sinuses and was SO MAD, and so I gave her her washcloth (wrung out) to hold while I lotioned her up and she gave it the sternest talking-to.

Passing the time.

Joel is at work all day today and well into the evening, so Eleanor and I have been blowing raspberries at each other since dinner.



Pffffffbbbbbbbtttt.

It all evens out anyway.

So we went for a 'hike,' which, I mean, it's Calgary. It's basically a prairie. So we went for a woodsy wander, and imagine our surprise when we came upon a View!

How does that happen. And then we came upon Mosquito Country.

There was nothing we could do except run like loons.

And then on the way home I am like, We are such healthy people, going for hikes. We are totally eating SALADS for dinner. But the radio, that trickster, is like, CHINESE FESTIVAL GOING ON IN CHINATOWN and we are like, Chinatown = foods.

also Hello Kitties in what I can only assume is life-size

But the foods on offer at the festival itself were surprisingly sparse, so we had ourselves a good old-fashioned sit-down. Eleanor was golden, unlike that baby over there.

I won't bore you with the details of what we ate.

She's like a tiny Ancient Mariner.

She does this thing now where you give her a spoon and she turns into Old Man Withers.

Spoon-pipe!

And it wasn't just that one time, either.

Now you kids see here.

Four things! Four!

1. One of things I wanted mum and boo's help with was decorating Eleanor's room. I'd made an alphabet for her, but all that modge-podging done wore me out and I had nothing left for the hanging thereof.

Eleanor supervised us from her chair like a tiny overlord.

Nine of the letters have since fallen down, but that's less than half so I'm counting it a win.

2. We went on our third quest last weekend to find Jelly Modern Donuts (the previous two quests ended in food trucks and festivals).

The peach crisp and maple bacon were edible but not transcendent.

On the other hand, behold: the tiniest cowpoke.

3. Standing, right? It's just a thing she does now. She's pretty smug about it.

4. We're still pretty keen on broccoli.

Best not to turn your back on this one.

What, this thigh? I was just looking at it, I wasn't going to *SHHHHOMP*

Costco will make suckers of us all.

They are gone. I am sad. Eleanor looks around for them when she comes up from her nap, and I cry a little bit. Let us remember happier times, yes?

Ok so remember how Eleanor is a dragon? A refresher:



So we're at Costco, buying me a Dyson (sidebar: *purrrrrrrr*) and we see a rack of Halloween costumes and we are all scornful like, HALLOWEEN COSTUMES? Pffffft. It is August.

But then my sister is like, But how cute is this little ladybug? And then we start combing through the racks and we're like, Look at this little tiger? And a lion, rawwwwr. And then my mum gets to the end of the rack and lo.

She is a dragon indeed.

Still visiting!

Still having a whale of a time, thanks.

Boo and I are working on our belly donuts, Eleanor is working on her poise.

The only thing missing is Pop-Pop-in-real-life.

Pop-Pop-in-a-box, though, so funny, you guys.