Winter in Potsdam

Fresh air and chilly cheeks

Eleanor as Little Bo Peep

Puzzels at the Library

An impromptu nap in the car

Play time at home

Eleanor looks out the window at all the snow

Mozart in the afternoon

Eleanor plays 'salon'

Good little girl

Friday Morning Calisthenics

Eleanor test drives her new size 4 shoes

Eleanor has been making lots of simple sounds and some of them are beginning to sound like real words. She says 'nighnigh,' and of course 'mama,' 'dada.' This new word is one of my favorites!

Eleanor claps her hands

An early morning Bible study

'Look Ma, I can do the splits!'

Eleanor tests me by touching what she shouldn't

Let's go!

New Eleanor Videos Sans Vomiting Cat

Several people protested the removal of the baby-dancing-cat-vomits video (it was just too gross). In exchange for that one, I'm offering two new videos. These are much tamer, and no cuteness was sacrificed.

Eleanor uses her baby sign (her version of 'water please')

Eleanor dances with Daddy

January Activities

Eleanor. . .

Stands (solo with a support)

Eats (finger foods)

Gives blood (and gets a cute bandaid)

Texts ('heeeey Ramona, is mom annoying you too?')

Shops (she wants it ALL)

Plays ('Mom!- you're killing my creative flow')

And plays and plays and plays. . . and plays. . .

Our Little Quadruped

Eleanor at 10 months

Eleanor visited the Babies R Us portrait studio during our last week in Minnesota. She was a little wary of the photographer, but finally warmed up to her once she realized that mom and Grandma weren't going anywhere.

One-toothed grin

Mom'n Me

Patta-cake

Grandpa calls this her 'guppy pose'

Eleanor's First Christmas

Eleanor at 9 months

Eleanor spent her first Christmas in Minneapolis with her Grandma, Grandpa, mom and dad and Auntie Molly (who came all the way from London). We had record snows on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and so we spent a few cozy days indoors. We finally ventured out to see family and friends later in the week. Despite Minnesota's winter weather, we still managed to get out and about and see all sorts of stimulating things.

Merry Merry Christmas!

Our lovely Christmas dinner at the Conners'

Eleanor with her fabulous Cousins Alex and Holly

She's got the beat! Cousin Dylan

Aunt Molly keeps Eleanor ahead of the fashion trends with her new slacks from London

Surrounded by her new toys, Eleanor is too 'busy' to smile for the camera

Smelling the Poinsettias at the Saint Paul Conservatory with Grandma

Auntie Molly helps Eleanor touch everything in her vicinity

Eleanor demonstrates her new 'squishy face' look for Auntie Molly

Story time with Grandpa

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa is great!

We skipped the 2+ hour line for Santa and just took a family photo at the mall

Eleanor meets sweet little Luke Gerard

My old neighborhood gang, all grown-up!

Our friends Piper and Darren met us at the MOA!

My dear friend Caitlin visited and wrote and preformed a beautiful song for Eleanor

Eleanor's new Alpaca hat from Caitlin

Grandma and her little Lourve at the MIA

Eleanor's critique: "It's pretty, but what does it mean?"

Eleanor's critique: "My head is cuter, and I wouldn't blow it up that big."

Eleanor's critique: "The Teletubies did it better."

And a Happy New Year!