Eleanor the Artist

One of my favorite things about Eleanor is that she loves to paint.

We started with her first painting experience here at about 13 months old.  I was definitely the driver in that experience.  Now though Eleanor knows exactly where her paint set, brush and paper are and will go get them out by herself.  I just have to supply the cup of water and then she takes off painting.  It is the best activity in my book because it keeps her happy and entertained and creative.  I occasionally sit down and paint with her but not always.

Since Eleanor's been painting pretty much daily once she turned 2 years old, we've developed quite the stack of her artwork.  I've been meaning to write a post about it for so long.  While there are so many ways to track a child's development I think how they paint and color is an especially fun one.  So here Eleanor's art journey (it's a lengthy post full of more children's art than the average person wants to see, just warning :)).

At two years old, Eleanor's paintings were looking like this...

She was using lots of water in her watercolors and doing lots of long, random strokes.

I love when she started experimenting, using the bottom of the paintbrush to make lines.

Then around 2 and a half years old, Eleanor became much more deliberate.  She started choosing her paint colors carefully and would do more shapes.  Sometimes she would have a specific idea in mind for what she was painting and would tell me all about it: "Mommy, this is a tree and this is Daddy and this is Mommy and this is a biiiiig mountain."

^^"Done! It's peeeerfect, Mommy!"

She also went through a major rainbow phase for a while (and still occasionally does them).  I usually start with the first few half circles and then she finishes the rest. 

Then her coloring started looking more deliberate too.  She'd pick up a crayon, do a little scribble in one section and then another little scribble in another section.  And repeat that with several colors until the whole paper was full.  I love these drawings, they look like bursts of happiness to me.

Out of the blue one day she asked if we could mail a letter to her cousin Wheezy and ever since then we've been sticking her paintings in the mail for various family members.

I think we've convinced her that her paintings can cure all sickness and sadness because if she ever hears anyone isn't feeling well then she said, "Oh I need to color for them!"  She also loves to send them as birthday cards like the one below...

We will go to doctors appointments and while we are waiting in the waiting room Eleanor will start coloring a picture for the "wadies" (ladies, aka receptionists).

And she loves painting with her friends whenever they come over.

^^This was when Aaron and Annie were in town

Then in August, I walked by the chalkboard and found this little guy on the board.

I asked Eleanor if she did that and she said, "Yes, it's Daddy!"  I was shocked because I had never seen her draw a whole person before.  She pointed out which lines were his arms and which were his legs, etc. etc.

And just this past month, Eleanor has started painting people too.  She painted all these people in just one sitting!  I was amazed.  They are all various family members and she even remembers days later which one is which.

Her other recent kick is working on her E's.  She's become very into looking for E's everywhere we go ("Look Mommy! It's an E for Eleanor!!).

^^She gets going on her horizontal lines and just can't stop :)

Her art is slowly taking over the house.  The paintings of family members were up in our dining room and then other paintings are hanging in our kitchen and her room.

Documenting it all on here is actually giving me a lot of relief because I so desparately want to remember all of this but don't want to keep every.single.painting.  The stacks of paintings build up so quickly if I don't keep them in check! I'm hoping to keep photographing her work and then just save the very best of her artwork up on the walls and in her file.

I love this girl and the way her mind works.  She's creative, kind and silly.

My Favorite Toys for a 2 Year Old

As I watched Eleanor play yesterday, I started thinking about all the toys that she has that have made my life better. If you are around kids then you probably know that kids' toys fall into one of two categories: they either add clutter and chaos to your life or they have the magical power to make your life (and your child's life) happier and easier.

I decided to turn my mental list of those magical toys into a real list to share, hopefully benefitting someone who is stuck thinking of what to gift their favorite toddler.  I know that it can be tough buying gifts for kids, wondering what developmental stage they are at or what kinds of toys they will actually play with.  So here are the things that Eleanor loves and that I love for her.  They are almost all under $30, with the one exception being the toy kitchen.

18 Gift Ideas for a 2 Year Old (with links below):

1. Musical Instruments: Perfect for the impromptu music making session.  Especially great when you have lots of kids over and you want to have a semi-controlled activity (insert "music time").  Try to get a music set that comes with a bag.  I love when things have their own container.

2. Backpack: Eleanor has this hedgehog backpack and asks for it all the time.  She plays "school" with it at home and uses it to bring her toys with her to church or to a friends house.  We love the SkipHop ones, so cute! Well made and just her size.

3. Matching Game: Eleanor never gets tired of a simple matching game and nothing is cuter then her saying, "Oh! A match!"  I couldn't find the set that we have online but this is a pretty cute one too.

4. Saltwater Sandals: Not a toy but seriously THE BEST thing you could buy a toddler.  They are the greatest all around sandal.  She wears them to the park and to church.  They last forever and never wear out (I've had my adult version for 8 years and they look new!).  Ford will be able to wear Eleanor's eventually which is awesome.  And now at 2 years old and 8 months old, Eleanor can buckle them on all by herself, which is the greatest thing in the world.

5. Puzzles:  We have a couple of these Melissa and Doug puzzles and love them.  Eleanor does them once a day.  Any kind of toy with "pieces" can have the tendency to get lost or scattered rendering the toy useless and annoying.  However, these puzzles are used so frequently in our house that the pieces all stay together.  It's wonderful.

6. IKEA Table and 2 Chairs: Everyone needs this!! It's a steal for $25 and the low cost means that I don't stress if Eleanor happens to write on the table.  I leave paper and crayons out on it at all times.  Several times during the day I find her at her table coloring all by herself, which is pure gold in my book.

7. Block Set: Eleanor's grandparents gave her this for her first birthday and it has been one of my favorite toys of all time.  Blocks manage to grow with children and I love to see how she is constantly figuring out new ways to build.  She is always on pursuit of "the tallest tower in the world!!" And every time we have kids over they all gravitate to the blocks.  I'm actually thinking of buying another set just so we have more to go around.

8. Tutu: Eleanor has hit the age where she loves to dress up and where she loves to dance.  The tutu marries those activities perfectly.  Plus, it's so much cuteness for such a low price.

9. Music: We listen to the Toddler Pandora station a lot and Eleanor's favorite songs always happen to be from the 52 Sing-A-Long Silly Songs CD.  It's your classic "Five Little Monkeys," "Old MacDonald," "You Are My Sunshine," "Alphabet Song," etc. Yes, they can get old and kind of annoying for the parents but I've learned to deal with it.  I love that she knows all these songs now and I constantly overhear her singing them to herself. And really any kind of music would be great, it doesn't have to be this CD.

10. Doctor Kit: Eleanor is into everything doctor related.  She loves giving shots and checking your heart.  I think this kit has actually helped her be excited to go to the doctor, which makes my life a lot easier.

11. Sticker Book: She is all about stickers these days.  This is a random sticker book of animals (you can never go wrong with animals...) but any sticker book will do.  I love it when she has to match stickers to an image in an activity book.

12. Baby Doll: Eleanor plays with her baby dolls all.day.long.  She swaddles them, puts them down for naps, sings to them and even holds them over the toilet saying, "Baby has to go potty."  She has a couple different baby dolls but the one I linked to here is my favorite.

13. Stroller: This gets pushed around the house all day long and is a favorite amongst all of Eleanor's friends.  We have the stroller I linked to here and I think the quality is good enough to last without being exorbitantly expensive.

14. Books: You can never go wrong with books.  Two year olds can handle paper books without ripping so you no longer just need board books (although she still loves all her board books).  Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes is a fun one and I've overheard Eleanor read it to herself several times now.

15. Chalkboard Easel: We use this everyday.  I love that it's basic with neutral colors so I don't mind it just hanging out in our living room.  We've used it to practice Eleanor's letters and shapes and I'll randomly find new drawings on it.  So far we have only used the chalkboard side.  I'm still a little scared to let her loose in the house with dry erase markers :)

16. Toy Kitchen: I like the look of this IKEA version but I can't vouch for it's quality because we don't have it.  Our neighbors brought over their old Sesame Street kitchen they had grown out of, which was really sweet of them.  It's a plastic monstrosity but I don't even mind because Eleanor loves it so much.  She plays "restaurant" all the time these days, making me sit down for "dinner" and everything.  I always thought that toy kitchens would be great in the beginning and then kind of neglected after that initial excitement but I was wrong.  We have had ours for 8 months now and she uses it now more than ever.  Knowing that may help justify the higher price because toy kitchens are surprisingly expensive!  I definitely don't think you need an elaborate one though.

17. Toy Food Set: You need food to go along with your kitchen.  We don't have this set but I like the look of it.  Can't go wrong with Melissa and Doug wood toys.

18. Watercolors: Eleanor loves to paint everyday so this watercolor set gets a ton of use.  She's been painting for the past year and it never gets old.  Plus, I love all the artwork she makes.  I can't recommend gifting paints enough!  Just make sure that whatever kind of paint you give is non-toxic and washable.  We have this jumbo palette set that I've linked to.  It used to be just $10 on Amazon, but now it's $45 which is insane.  Don't buy it for that much!! I'm still linking to it in hopes that the price will go back to normal.  I love the vibrant colors and think the palette look is fun (although it is huge).  Crayola watercolors are a classic too and have great Amazon reviews.

And if anyone out there has more to add to this list I am all ears!

Labor Day

We had a pretty low key Labor Day but we loved soaking up that extra day with Aaron around.

We went on a drive look at dream homes and then ended up trying out the Meat Market for lunch.  So good!

^^Eleanor devoured her beans and rice

While Eleanor and Ford napped, I ran to Home Depot for potting soil but then got side tracked by tile samples.  

I had just read this blog post about redoing a kitchen backsplash and I was feeling inspired.  I'm not ready to jump into kitchen projects yet but I would totally love to redo our backsplash down the line. 

(Also, I totally nodded my head in agreement when I read Mandi's explanation for why she put off kitchen projects for so long: "I didn't really do anything cause it was just too sad not to do everything."  I feel ya, Mandi.  I'd love to change so much about our kitchen but that's just not reasonable or necessary so for now we just wait. But someday we should take the plunge and at least do something :))  

Anyways, back to Labor Day activities because they really were awesome...

After naps, we headed to the park for some KFC with the Winters.  Eleanor sat on the play structure with London chatting away about their bedrooms and things.  It was darling to witness from afar.  And then they ran around wild and free while we adults talked.  It was a great afternoon.

Then we put the kids to bed and watched Bridge of Spies.  I've been wanting to see it forever and I really liked it.  I'm starting to notice though that every time I watch a movie just before bed I end up having a crazy dream that night where I'm living out the movie in some way.  Interesting stuff...

All in all, it was a wonderful day and I wish we could have Mondays as holidays every day!  Wouldn't that be dreamy?  Saturday you get chores done, Sunday you focus on spirituality and Monday you play!  Now that's a recipe for happiness right there :)

Scenes from January

Here's a random snapshot of what January looked like for us...

 Everything is always more exciting in the teepee...

Eleanor putting her table to good use.  If you don't own this IKEA kids table then you should go out and buy it now.  I love that I can leave crayons on it and Eleanor will wander to it all day and start coloring.

Playing dress up.  She found the bow drawer and put on the necklace and headband all by herself. 

Eleanor was playing with the baby bassinet for a while and then came to me in another room and said, "Mommy...picture of me!"  She pulled my finger into the baby's room and posed like so...

My heart melted so I took several more.  She made sure the baby got her own picture...

Another Eleanor request: she gathered these photos and drawings, asked me to put tape on them and then put them on the wall herself.

Watching the "Cougies" play basketball

This girl loves to brush her teeth.  And baby is never far away.

Planning things for the baby's room with an 8 month pregnant belly.

 Banner making for the baby's gallery wall.

Friday afternoon jump session in the backyard.  This has been the month of jumping.  Ever since we introduced the song "3 Little Monkeys Jumping in the Bed" song all she wants to do is jump.

Typical morning cuddle session: us trying to snuggle Eleanor while she grabs our phones and asks to see "pictures of Eleanor." 

Look what I found when I was putting together the baby's room gallery wall!  Aaron as a little toddler.  Is Eleanor an exact replica of her daddy or what?!

 We found a reading chair! I was craving some alone time before the baby came so Aaron and Eleanor stayed at home and I went to some Clovis antique shops.  I came home with a picture of this chair and Aaron was sold.  We went back to get it that afternoon and now it lives in our bedroom. 

Other pictures from my antique shopping afternoon...

  I think these old theater chairs are pretty awesome but I couldn't convince Aaron, even after showing him pictures like this and this. 

And I really liked this chest of drawers but ended up passing.  I later came across this listing for the same dresser but at a much higher price.  I was super tempted to go back for it but ultimately decided to still pass for now.  

And here is where I give an ode to the world's greatest friend.  

Jessica came over on a random Thursday night, brought homemade swig cookies and the fixings for a shirley temple drink. She then plopped down to give me a pedicure.  And this was no ordinary pedicure...she massaged my pregnant feet for a good 20 minutes.  You know how when you get a really good massage and you still feel like your being massaged even after they stop?  Ya, it was that good.  Oh and we watched the live action Cinderella through it all.  This girl is magical.

Our "little mommy" hard at work.  This is a very common scene to find at any given moment in our house.  Notice the three blankets laid out for baby to lay on, the array of wipes (afterall, one wipe is only good for one swipe and baby needs at least twenty swipes ;)), the newborn diapers (how'd she find those?), the 2 baby bottles AND the baby book.  This girl takes her mothering seriously.

And more bassinet playing.  I'm sure I will regret ever letting Eleanor play in the bassinet once that baby boy comes and actually needs it.  I just don't have the heart right now to take it away from her though.

A week straight of rain and our backyard looked like this.  Yikes!  We have drainage projects in our future...

 Impromptu family photo.

We started giving Eleanor a pillow to sleep with when she turned 2 and now she is the most peaceful sleeper.  She used to thrash around and go in the craziest positions, but now we find her in the same exact spot we left her in. 

 Snuggling with the bible, ha.

Strollering like it's a full time job.

I love finding her playing by herself.  And I love her crazy mess of curls.

We've been painting a lot these days (thanks for the watercolors MiMi!) and we have stacks and stacks of artwork now.  This scene makes my heart happy.

Starting to put the hospital bag together.  I wrote a letter to myself right after having Eleanor with a list of everything I should bring to the hospital for baby #2.  It was fun to find the letter and put the advice to use. 

Living room planning.  We are thinking of getting a love seat so I put our two chairs together and draped a blanket over them to see how I liked it.  Eleanor made herself right at home on the "love seat" while I pulled out some painters tape to start planning out where we'd hang some art.  Big, blank walls are tough.  Also of note...we got a new couch and love it!

 And here's a close up of that cutie...

A magical moment where we got all seven kiddos to sit quietly in a row for a movie.  We were very impressed with ourselves.

 Eleanor displaying her new beloved Daniel Tiger puppets.  My sister-in-law Chelsea made these as a birthday gift for Eleanor and they could not be more perfect.  Look at that detail!

Grandma came to visit for the baby shower!  Eleanor snapped this photo of her.  We all love it when Grandma comes to town.