Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Love
Henry has said, "I love you" before but it was after one of us said it and he was probably just copying but the last 2 days Henry has been saying it on his own!
This morning I was putting dishes away and Henry came over to me and wrapped his arms around my leg, squeezed, and said, "Love you mom".
!!!
This morning I was putting dishes away and Henry came over to me and wrapped his arms around my leg, squeezed, and said, "Love you mom".
!!!
Love
Henry has said, "I love you" before but it was after one of us said it and he was probably just copying but the last 2 days Henry has been saying it on his own!
This morning I was putting dishes away and Henry came over to me and wrapped his arms around my leg, squeezed, and said, "Love you mom".
!!!
This morning I was putting dishes away and Henry came over to me and wrapped his arms around my leg, squeezed, and said, "Love you mom".
!!!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Popsicle Machine
Henry eats popsicles very, very quickly. He devours them. He'll start rubbing his head after a few enormous chomps when it starts to hurt a bit, but he never slows down until it's gone. As you can see, most of the other kids barely get started when he's all done looking for more. Uncle Karl should be proud.
Popsicle Machine
Henry eats popsicles very, very quickly. He devours them. He'll start rubbing his head after a few enormous chomps when it starts to hurt a bit, but he never slows down until it's gone. As you can see, most of the other kids barely get started when he's all done looking for more. Uncle Karl should be proud.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
26 Months
Oops--forgot to give a monthly update!
There's been a lot of changes in all of our lives this past month. We traveled to IL to see Justin's family and then when we came back I started my new job. I have not worked in 2 years so I felt some anxiety about returning, but luckily Henry is already used to going to school during those hours so he really won't notice much of a change. He's getting dropped off about a half hour later and picked up a half hour later, so still only there 6 hours, at the most, 3 days a week. The change for him however is he is in a different room with 2 different teachers. He really panicked when I tried to leave yesterday. It was all of his same friends so that helped, and the new room he's in is so much better with more age appropriate toys (the other room was more for the 18mo-2yr old set). Now there's a Leggo table, a train table, etc. His teachers are just temporary until he get's his permanent teacher in the Fall. I don't like that but this place fancies themselves as a real school and not a daycare so they have assigned school-year teachers they will be getting at the end of Aug.
My job is really exciting. I have a beautiful, large office with an enormous window facing a field of trees and the Triangle off in the distance. I have a very nice boss who has a supervisory license in Marriage and Family Therapy, so I do not have to pay an outside source $300 a month to supervise me! This is a rare perk amongst LPC's/LMFT's. You can throw a rock and hit 5 social workers in this town so they typically get their supervision in-house, but MFT's/LPC's are few and far between--so we have to pay. I can basically make my hours, somewhere between 11-5 or 12-6, MWF, it will just depend on my caseload. I will probably have 10-12 clients. I started seeing clients my second day of work. That's the great thing about my field. I was trained in graduate school how to do the job and so all I need to know when I go to an agency is how to fill out their time sheets and where to turn in case-notes, etc. It's a little more than that but basically you're trained by the second week on the job. I had to pull out my trusty DSM-IV to look up diagnostic codes, but other then that, it's still fairly fresh in my mind. I have to say, I've really cherished being home these two years, but it's not awful to work again and be thinking about other people's problems:-)
Henry goes to bed at 7:00 and wakes between 6:30 and 7:15. He has not been hungry for the last week so pickier than usual about food. This is a pattern we've seen since he's been eating solids. He'll have a week of constant eating and then a week where he barely eats. I think we're pretty good about not pushing him to eat. I've read from multiple sources that if you "make" them eat when they are not hungry, they lose their ability to know when they're full and we are supposed to follow his lead how much/how little he wants to eat. I have to admit, it's tempting to want to prepare something different for him if he won't eat much of what we're eating. But I try to remember he's not eating b/c he's not that hungry and if I hand him something less nutritious but I know he will devour, that really is sending the wrong message. I'd say this is my most challenging parent-issue right now, b/c the thought of him being hungry is obviously upsetting. But I just tell myself that he will let me know, he always does, if he is hungry.
The temperature is so hot in Austin this summer, the swimming pools bring little relief. The water is warm! It feels disgusting to dip into a warm pool when it's 105 degrees outside. The solution is going to Deep Eddy, which is a natural spring fed pool, or Barton Springs (a natural spring) but the water is FREEZING. Henry really doesn't like it. Now he thinks all swimming pools are going to be freezing. We went swimming last week at Mosey's house with all of Henry's friends (Mae, Leo, Lowell, HW, Noah) and he FREAKED out about going into the pool. I have never seen him so upset about something. I was already in the water and reaching my hands out to him, and he was standing barefoot on the hot deck. His little feat were probably on fire and yet that was better than coming in the water with me. He started screaming and taking swings at me and pinching me when I tried to pick him up. It was like I was a monster trying to eat him--that's how scared he was. I suspect the problem was beyond his fear of the water being cold and perhaps something to do with Collete and Noah almost drowning next to us. The pool is 6 feet deep in the center and Collete didn't know that and so she walked off the ledge with Noah in her arms and sunk to the bottom while trying to keep Noah above the water. I felt a commotion behind me and saw Noah's head peeking out of the water and I grabbed him and then Colette swam to the top, coughing and gagging. It was AWFUL. And all this time, Henry was screaming his head off on the boiling hot deck.
In other news, Henry is now so into cars and monster trucks, he really doesn't want to play with much else. Justin even built him a ramp to drive his cars and trucks up and down.
Henry seems to also become more and more affectionate with each passing month. Several times a day he looks up at me and says, "Cuddle, mama?" and that means he wants me to lie down with him and snuggle up or sit in my lap and wedge his way into my neck/arms. He has been doing this with stuffed animals and certain toys too. He will even pick up a cherished car and try to hold it "like a baby" (his words). He will pat it and ask it if it "feels better?". If I am angry at him for some transgression he immediately apologizes and wants everything to okay. He can not handle any anger from me or his dad. He starts to cry and will beg to be picked up. It means we can handle being angry with his behavior for all of 3 seconds. Sometimes he confuses my hysterical laughing with crying (b/c I get teary when I laugh) and he will want to immediately snuggle and caress my face and he will pat my cheeks and say, "Feel better mama?"
He's still a silly dancer and we have a daily dance party. He's still very "easy", follows directions on first prompting (that's so his dad and not me and I have no idea how much longer he'll do this before figuring things out)tantrums last seconds, and I am doomed to have a devil second child.
There's been a lot of changes in all of our lives this past month. We traveled to IL to see Justin's family and then when we came back I started my new job. I have not worked in 2 years so I felt some anxiety about returning, but luckily Henry is already used to going to school during those hours so he really won't notice much of a change. He's getting dropped off about a half hour later and picked up a half hour later, so still only there 6 hours, at the most, 3 days a week. The change for him however is he is in a different room with 2 different teachers. He really panicked when I tried to leave yesterday. It was all of his same friends so that helped, and the new room he's in is so much better with more age appropriate toys (the other room was more for the 18mo-2yr old set). Now there's a Leggo table, a train table, etc. His teachers are just temporary until he get's his permanent teacher in the Fall. I don't like that but this place fancies themselves as a real school and not a daycare so they have assigned school-year teachers they will be getting at the end of Aug.
My job is really exciting. I have a beautiful, large office with an enormous window facing a field of trees and the Triangle off in the distance. I have a very nice boss who has a supervisory license in Marriage and Family Therapy, so I do not have to pay an outside source $300 a month to supervise me! This is a rare perk amongst LPC's/LMFT's. You can throw a rock and hit 5 social workers in this town so they typically get their supervision in-house, but MFT's/LPC's are few and far between--so we have to pay. I can basically make my hours, somewhere between 11-5 or 12-6, MWF, it will just depend on my caseload. I will probably have 10-12 clients. I started seeing clients my second day of work. That's the great thing about my field. I was trained in graduate school how to do the job and so all I need to know when I go to an agency is how to fill out their time sheets and where to turn in case-notes, etc. It's a little more than that but basically you're trained by the second week on the job. I had to pull out my trusty DSM-IV to look up diagnostic codes, but other then that, it's still fairly fresh in my mind. I have to say, I've really cherished being home these two years, but it's not awful to work again and be thinking about other people's problems:-)
Henry goes to bed at 7:00 and wakes between 6:30 and 7:15. He has not been hungry for the last week so pickier than usual about food. This is a pattern we've seen since he's been eating solids. He'll have a week of constant eating and then a week where he barely eats. I think we're pretty good about not pushing him to eat. I've read from multiple sources that if you "make" them eat when they are not hungry, they lose their ability to know when they're full and we are supposed to follow his lead how much/how little he wants to eat. I have to admit, it's tempting to want to prepare something different for him if he won't eat much of what we're eating. But I try to remember he's not eating b/c he's not that hungry and if I hand him something less nutritious but I know he will devour, that really is sending the wrong message. I'd say this is my most challenging parent-issue right now, b/c the thought of him being hungry is obviously upsetting. But I just tell myself that he will let me know, he always does, if he is hungry.
The temperature is so hot in Austin this summer, the swimming pools bring little relief. The water is warm! It feels disgusting to dip into a warm pool when it's 105 degrees outside. The solution is going to Deep Eddy, which is a natural spring fed pool, or Barton Springs (a natural spring) but the water is FREEZING. Henry really doesn't like it. Now he thinks all swimming pools are going to be freezing. We went swimming last week at Mosey's house with all of Henry's friends (Mae, Leo, Lowell, HW, Noah) and he FREAKED out about going into the pool. I have never seen him so upset about something. I was already in the water and reaching my hands out to him, and he was standing barefoot on the hot deck. His little feat were probably on fire and yet that was better than coming in the water with me. He started screaming and taking swings at me and pinching me when I tried to pick him up. It was like I was a monster trying to eat him--that's how scared he was. I suspect the problem was beyond his fear of the water being cold and perhaps something to do with Collete and Noah almost drowning next to us. The pool is 6 feet deep in the center and Collete didn't know that and so she walked off the ledge with Noah in her arms and sunk to the bottom while trying to keep Noah above the water. I felt a commotion behind me and saw Noah's head peeking out of the water and I grabbed him and then Colette swam to the top, coughing and gagging. It was AWFUL. And all this time, Henry was screaming his head off on the boiling hot deck.
In other news, Henry is now so into cars and monster trucks, he really doesn't want to play with much else. Justin even built him a ramp to drive his cars and trucks up and down.
Henry seems to also become more and more affectionate with each passing month. Several times a day he looks up at me and says, "Cuddle, mama?" and that means he wants me to lie down with him and snuggle up or sit in my lap and wedge his way into my neck/arms. He has been doing this with stuffed animals and certain toys too. He will even pick up a cherished car and try to hold it "like a baby" (his words). He will pat it and ask it if it "feels better?". If I am angry at him for some transgression he immediately apologizes and wants everything to okay. He can not handle any anger from me or his dad. He starts to cry and will beg to be picked up. It means we can handle being angry with his behavior for all of 3 seconds. Sometimes he confuses my hysterical laughing with crying (b/c I get teary when I laugh) and he will want to immediately snuggle and caress my face and he will pat my cheeks and say, "Feel better mama?"
He's still a silly dancer and we have a daily dance party. He's still very "easy", follows directions on first prompting (that's so his dad and not me and I have no idea how much longer he'll do this before figuring things out)tantrums last seconds, and I am doomed to have a devil second child.
26 Months
Oops--forgot to give a monthly update!
There's been a lot of changes in all of our lives this past month. We traveled to IL to see Justin's family and then when we came back I started my new job. I have not worked in 2 years so I felt some anxiety about returning, but luckily Henry is already used to going to school during those hours so he really won't notice much of a change. He's getting dropped off about a half hour later and picked up a half hour later, so still only there 6 hours, at the most, 3 days a week. The change for him however is he is in a different room with 2 different teachers. He really panicked when I tried to leave yesterday. It was all of his same friends so that helped, and the new room he's in is so much better with more age appropriate toys (the other room was more for the 18mo-2yr old set). Now there's a Leggo table, a train table, etc. His teachers are just temporary until he get's his permanent teacher in the Fall. I don't like that but this place fancies themselves as a real school and not a daycare so they have assigned school-year teachers they will be getting at the end of Aug.
My job is really exciting. I have a beautiful, large office with an enormous window facing a field of trees and the Triangle off in the distance. I have a very nice boss who has a supervisory license in Marriage and Family Therapy, so I do not have to pay an outside source $300 a month to supervise me! This is a rare perk amongst LPC's/LMFT's. You can throw a rock and hit 5 social workers in this town so they typically get their supervision in-house, but MFT's/LPC's are few and far between--so we have to pay. I can basically make my hours, somewhere between 11-5 or 12-6, MWF, it will just depend on my caseload. I will probably have 10-12 clients. I started seeing clients my second day of work. That's the great thing about my field. I was trained in graduate school how to do the job and so all I need to know when I go to an agency is how to fill out their time sheets and where to turn in case-notes, etc. It's a little more than that but basically you're trained by the second week on the job. I had to pull out my trusty DSM-IV to look up diagnostic codes, but other then that, it's still fairly fresh in my mind. I have to say, I've really cherished being home these two years, but it's not awful to work again and be thinking about other people's problems:-)
Henry goes to bed at 7:00 and wakes between 6:30 and 7:15. He has not been hungry for the last week so pickier than usual about food. This is a pattern we've seen since he's been eating solids. He'll have a week of constant eating and then a week where he barely eats. I think we're pretty good about not pushing him to eat. I've read from multiple sources that if you "make" them eat when they are not hungry, they lose their ability to know when they're full and we are supposed to follow his lead how much/how little he wants to eat. I have to admit, it's tempting to want to prepare something different for him if he won't eat much of what we're eating. But I try to remember he's not eating b/c he's not that hungry and if I hand him something less nutritious but I know he will devour, that really is sending the wrong message. I'd say this is my most challenging parent-issue right now, b/c the thought of him being hungry is obviously upsetting. But I just tell myself that he will let me know, he always does, if he is hungry.
The temperature is so hot in Austin this summer, the swimming pools bring little relief. The water is warm! It feels disgusting to dip into a warm pool when it's 105 degrees outside. The solution is going to Deep Eddy, which is a natural spring fed pool, or Barton Springs (a natural spring) but the water is FREEZING. Henry really doesn't like it. Now he thinks all swimming pools are going to be freezing. We went swimming last week at Mosey's house with all of Henry's friends (Mae, Leo, Lowell, HW, Noah) and he FREAKED out about going into the pool. I have never seen him so upset about something. I was already in the water and reaching my hands out to him, and he was standing barefoot on the hot deck. His little feat were probably on fire and yet that was better than coming in the water with me. He started screaming and taking swings at me and pinching me when I tried to pick him up. It was like I was a monster trying to eat him--that's how scared he was. I suspect the problem was beyond his fear of the water being cold and perhaps something to do with Collete and Noah almost drowning next to us. The pool is 6 feet deep in the center and Collete didn't know that and so she walked off the ledge with Noah in her arms and sunk to the bottom while trying to keep Noah above the water. I felt a commotion behind me and saw Noah's head peeking out of the water and I grabbed him and then Colette swam to the top, coughing and gagging. It was AWFUL. And all this time, Henry was screaming his head off on the boiling hot deck.
In other news, Henry is now so into cars and monster trucks, he really doesn't want to play with much else. Justin even built him a ramp to drive his cars and trucks up and down.
Henry seems to also become more and more affectionate with each passing month. Several times a day he looks up at me and says, "Cuddle, mama?" and that means he wants me to lie down with him and snuggle up or sit in my lap and wedge his way into my neck/arms. He has been doing this with stuffed animals and certain toys too. He will even pick up a cherished car and try to hold it "like a baby" (his words). He will pat it and ask it if it "feels better?". If I am angry at him for some transgression he immediately apologizes and wants everything to okay. He can not handle any anger from me or his dad. He starts to cry and will beg to be picked up. It means we can handle being angry with his behavior for all of 3 seconds. Sometimes he confuses my hysterical laughing with crying (b/c I get teary when I laugh) and he will want to immediately snuggle and caress my face and he will pat my cheeks and say, "Feel better mama?"
He's still a silly dancer and we have a daily dance party. He's still very "easy", follows directions on first prompting (that's so his dad and not me and I have no idea how much longer he'll do this before figuring things out)tantrums last seconds, and I am doomed to have a devil second child.
There's been a lot of changes in all of our lives this past month. We traveled to IL to see Justin's family and then when we came back I started my new job. I have not worked in 2 years so I felt some anxiety about returning, but luckily Henry is already used to going to school during those hours so he really won't notice much of a change. He's getting dropped off about a half hour later and picked up a half hour later, so still only there 6 hours, at the most, 3 days a week. The change for him however is he is in a different room with 2 different teachers. He really panicked when I tried to leave yesterday. It was all of his same friends so that helped, and the new room he's in is so much better with more age appropriate toys (the other room was more for the 18mo-2yr old set). Now there's a Leggo table, a train table, etc. His teachers are just temporary until he get's his permanent teacher in the Fall. I don't like that but this place fancies themselves as a real school and not a daycare so they have assigned school-year teachers they will be getting at the end of Aug.
My job is really exciting. I have a beautiful, large office with an enormous window facing a field of trees and the Triangle off in the distance. I have a very nice boss who has a supervisory license in Marriage and Family Therapy, so I do not have to pay an outside source $300 a month to supervise me! This is a rare perk amongst LPC's/LMFT's. You can throw a rock and hit 5 social workers in this town so they typically get their supervision in-house, but MFT's/LPC's are few and far between--so we have to pay. I can basically make my hours, somewhere between 11-5 or 12-6, MWF, it will just depend on my caseload. I will probably have 10-12 clients. I started seeing clients my second day of work. That's the great thing about my field. I was trained in graduate school how to do the job and so all I need to know when I go to an agency is how to fill out their time sheets and where to turn in case-notes, etc. It's a little more than that but basically you're trained by the second week on the job. I had to pull out my trusty DSM-IV to look up diagnostic codes, but other then that, it's still fairly fresh in my mind. I have to say, I've really cherished being home these two years, but it's not awful to work again and be thinking about other people's problems:-)
Henry goes to bed at 7:00 and wakes between 6:30 and 7:15. He has not been hungry for the last week so pickier than usual about food. This is a pattern we've seen since he's been eating solids. He'll have a week of constant eating and then a week where he barely eats. I think we're pretty good about not pushing him to eat. I've read from multiple sources that if you "make" them eat when they are not hungry, they lose their ability to know when they're full and we are supposed to follow his lead how much/how little he wants to eat. I have to admit, it's tempting to want to prepare something different for him if he won't eat much of what we're eating. But I try to remember he's not eating b/c he's not that hungry and if I hand him something less nutritious but I know he will devour, that really is sending the wrong message. I'd say this is my most challenging parent-issue right now, b/c the thought of him being hungry is obviously upsetting. But I just tell myself that he will let me know, he always does, if he is hungry.
The temperature is so hot in Austin this summer, the swimming pools bring little relief. The water is warm! It feels disgusting to dip into a warm pool when it's 105 degrees outside. The solution is going to Deep Eddy, which is a natural spring fed pool, or Barton Springs (a natural spring) but the water is FREEZING. Henry really doesn't like it. Now he thinks all swimming pools are going to be freezing. We went swimming last week at Mosey's house with all of Henry's friends (Mae, Leo, Lowell, HW, Noah) and he FREAKED out about going into the pool. I have never seen him so upset about something. I was already in the water and reaching my hands out to him, and he was standing barefoot on the hot deck. His little feat were probably on fire and yet that was better than coming in the water with me. He started screaming and taking swings at me and pinching me when I tried to pick him up. It was like I was a monster trying to eat him--that's how scared he was. I suspect the problem was beyond his fear of the water being cold and perhaps something to do with Collete and Noah almost drowning next to us. The pool is 6 feet deep in the center and Collete didn't know that and so she walked off the ledge with Noah in her arms and sunk to the bottom while trying to keep Noah above the water. I felt a commotion behind me and saw Noah's head peeking out of the water and I grabbed him and then Colette swam to the top, coughing and gagging. It was AWFUL. And all this time, Henry was screaming his head off on the boiling hot deck.
In other news, Henry is now so into cars and monster trucks, he really doesn't want to play with much else. Justin even built him a ramp to drive his cars and trucks up and down.
Henry seems to also become more and more affectionate with each passing month. Several times a day he looks up at me and says, "Cuddle, mama?" and that means he wants me to lie down with him and snuggle up or sit in my lap and wedge his way into my neck/arms. He has been doing this with stuffed animals and certain toys too. He will even pick up a cherished car and try to hold it "like a baby" (his words). He will pat it and ask it if it "feels better?". If I am angry at him for some transgression he immediately apologizes and wants everything to okay. He can not handle any anger from me or his dad. He starts to cry and will beg to be picked up. It means we can handle being angry with his behavior for all of 3 seconds. Sometimes he confuses my hysterical laughing with crying (b/c I get teary when I laugh) and he will want to immediately snuggle and caress my face and he will pat my cheeks and say, "Feel better mama?"
He's still a silly dancer and we have a daily dance party. He's still very "easy", follows directions on first prompting (that's so his dad and not me and I have no idea how much longer he'll do this before figuring things out)tantrums last seconds, and I am doomed to have a devil second child.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
The name Eleanor...
I wanted to take a minute to write about the name we've carefully chosen for our daughter. Several years ago, around 2003, we decided that if we ever had a girl we would name her Leni (b/c we like the name Lenny but it's too masculine for a girl with that spelling). After some years went by and Heidi Klum (wife of Seal) named her daughter Leni and their son Henry, we decided to think beyond that name. That and the famous Nazi filmmaker having that name also bothered us. So eventually, and just like with the name Henry, I don't know where it came from, it just seemed to pop into our minds and it was mutually adored and I can't say when it happened, it just did. We tend to like classic, older names that everyone has heard of but no one has. Henry is proving to be very popular now though..it's moved up to 58 on the list of most common names in 08, so it's probably higher now. I've met no less than 10 Henry's in Austin Texas, under the age of 5, in the time since my Henry was born.
Before writing anymore about the responses I've gotten to the name Eleanor, I want to write down some of the most popular names right now (2009), just to put the name Eleanor in context.
1. Isabella
2. Olive/Olivia
3. Ava/Eva
4. Ruby
5. Alice
6. Lily
7. Sophia/Sophie
8. Stella
9. Iris
10. Rose
11. Josephine
12. Violet
13. Ester
14. Mary
15. Enid
16. Lucy
17. Tess
18. Meredith
19. Sadie
20. Scarlett
Click here to see more. Other names going around (up and coming, if you will) are Astrid, Josie, and Vera.
So the main thing these names have in common is 1. They're not new 2. None of us went to school with girls with these names. Our friends names were Christie, Amy, Michelle, Jennifer, Amanda, etc. Each generation does it's damnedest to give their children a name that does not conjure up a familiar face from their past. I have never known anyone with any of the names listed above (except Mary) and I have never known an Eleanor, which is why I LOVE the name. It's mine...all mine. I'm sorry if anyone older than 60 thinks it sounds like an old lady name...I can TOTALLY understand that you probably knew people your parents age with that name, but we didn't! I understand the sentiment--it's the same reason I'm not naming my daughter Betty, Carol, or Joyce, etc. It sounds like an old lady's name.
To explore any concerns (especially re. name-teasing--which is not my concern but seems to be for baby-boomers), I posted our name choice on my local mom list-serve, to see what people thought. This is a place where mom's in Austin go to ask questions, seek advice, plan play groups, look for support, etc. Here are some of the responses I got:
I don't imagine Eleanor is any more likely than most other names to be made fun of. I think it's a great name.
Congratulations on the exciting news! I love the name Eleanor too.
I love Eleanor. Go for it.
My (35 yo) best friend's name is Eleanor. It's a wonderful name. It was very uncommon among our peer group, and I don't think she was made fun of because of it. Her biggest challenge has been to get people to spell it "correctly" rather than Elinor.
I don't think Eleanor is on the far end of the spectrum at ALL! Don't worry about it.
Diane, I love the name Eleanor. I can't imagine that anyone would make fun of it. It
reminds me of when my cousin named her son Elijah and my aunt and my
mom thought it was super strange and that he'd be made fun of for it.
I told them that it might not have been a name they grew up hearing,
but it wasn't considered unusual anymore.
After Vera was born, a friend from high school was in town visiting
and she made the comment to me and my other friend (whose daughter is
Esther Fay) that "Wow! Well, they'd better be cute when they grow up!"
WTF? She's kinda that way, so I didn't internalize it, but really,
when someone has labored over a name choice and selected one, it's
obviously because they love it and think it's beautiful. Why would
anyone possibly make fun of it? Crazy.
Eleanor is a great name. Don't worry!
I wanted to name my first daughter Eleanor... but I was overruled. :) She's Bethany... (I still think she'd have been a fine Eleanor.)
Eleanor is a beautiful name. I had an old name back when the favorite names were Susan and Becky. and it wasn't shortened either. My name was Frances and not Fran or Frannie or Frankie. I don't remember anyone ever making fun of it. Granted I do remember wanting a short cute hip name (like Susan or Becky or ?) but now, I kind of like my name. Its the name my parents gave me and for that, its just cool w/ me.
I can't for the life of me figure out a way to make fun of the name Eleanor.
Eleanor is totally a noble queen of the universe name!
Kierstin who used to be on this list has a daughter named Eleanor. We all called her Eleanor, no nicknames. It is a beautiful name. But, we also know some Ellies and Ellas. All very beautiful names.
Personally, if a kid wants to tease another kid and can’t use the name they will find something else. And, kids are so creative that even if we as grown ups thought we had the fool proof no teasing name. We would be wrong:)
I think Eleanor is a beautiful name... as someone said I think of strong amazing women when I hear that name...
I love the name Eleanor! My mother was baffled by my love of the name
Rose, which we didn't ultimately go with but not b/c of her
bafflement. There is an Eleanor at my daughter's preschool and
everyone loves the name.
FWIW, "Elinor" is simply an alternate spelling and used by Jane Austen
in Sense and Sensibility. Also lovely.
Eleanor is a LOVELY name! And coming back in popularity too!
Before writing anymore about the responses I've gotten to the name Eleanor, I want to write down some of the most popular names right now (2009), just to put the name Eleanor in context.
1. Isabella
2. Olive/Olivia
3. Ava/Eva
4. Ruby
5. Alice
6. Lily
7. Sophia/Sophie
8. Stella
9. Iris
10. Rose
11. Josephine
12. Violet
13. Ester
14. Mary
15. Enid
16. Lucy
17. Tess
18. Meredith
19. Sadie
20. Scarlett
Click here to see more. Other names going around (up and coming, if you will) are Astrid, Josie, and Vera.
So the main thing these names have in common is 1. They're not new 2. None of us went to school with girls with these names. Our friends names were Christie, Amy, Michelle, Jennifer, Amanda, etc. Each generation does it's damnedest to give their children a name that does not conjure up a familiar face from their past. I have never known anyone with any of the names listed above (except Mary) and I have never known an Eleanor, which is why I LOVE the name. It's mine...all mine. I'm sorry if anyone older than 60 thinks it sounds like an old lady name...I can TOTALLY understand that you probably knew people your parents age with that name, but we didn't! I understand the sentiment--it's the same reason I'm not naming my daughter Betty, Carol, or Joyce, etc. It sounds like an old lady's name.
To explore any concerns (especially re. name-teasing--which is not my concern but seems to be for baby-boomers), I posted our name choice on my local mom list-serve, to see what people thought. This is a place where mom's in Austin go to ask questions, seek advice, plan play groups, look for support, etc. Here are some of the responses I got:
I don't imagine Eleanor is any more likely than most other names to be made fun of. I think it's a great name.
Congratulations on the exciting news! I love the name Eleanor too.
I love Eleanor. Go for it.
My (35 yo) best friend's name is Eleanor. It's a wonderful name. It was very uncommon among our peer group, and I don't think she was made fun of because of it. Her biggest challenge has been to get people to spell it "correctly" rather than Elinor.
I don't think Eleanor is on the far end of the spectrum at ALL! Don't worry about it.
Diane, I love the name Eleanor. I can't imagine that anyone would make fun of it. It
reminds me of when my cousin named her son Elijah and my aunt and my
mom thought it was super strange and that he'd be made fun of for it.
I told them that it might not have been a name they grew up hearing,
but it wasn't considered unusual anymore.
After Vera was born, a friend from high school was in town visiting
and she made the comment to me and my other friend (whose daughter is
Esther Fay) that "Wow! Well, they'd better be cute when they grow up!"
WTF? She's kinda that way, so I didn't internalize it, but really,
when someone has labored over a name choice and selected one, it's
obviously because they love it and think it's beautiful. Why would
anyone possibly make fun of it? Crazy.
Eleanor is a great name. Don't worry!
I wanted to name my first daughter Eleanor... but I was overruled. :) She's Bethany... (I still think she'd have been a fine Eleanor.)
Eleanor is a beautiful name. I had an old name back when the favorite names were Susan and Becky. and it wasn't shortened either. My name was Frances and not Fran or Frannie or Frankie. I don't remember anyone ever making fun of it. Granted I do remember wanting a short cute hip name (like Susan or Becky or ?) but now, I kind of like my name. Its the name my parents gave me and for that, its just cool w/ me.
I can't for the life of me figure out a way to make fun of the name Eleanor.
Eleanor is totally a noble queen of the universe name!
Kierstin who used to be on this list has a daughter named Eleanor. We all called her Eleanor, no nicknames. It is a beautiful name. But, we also know some Ellies and Ellas. All very beautiful names.
Personally, if a kid wants to tease another kid and can’t use the name they will find something else. And, kids are so creative that even if we as grown ups thought we had the fool proof no teasing name. We would be wrong:)
I think Eleanor is a beautiful name... as someone said I think of strong amazing women when I hear that name...
I love the name Eleanor! My mother was baffled by my love of the name
Rose, which we didn't ultimately go with but not b/c of her
bafflement. There is an Eleanor at my daughter's preschool and
everyone loves the name.
FWIW, "Elinor" is simply an alternate spelling and used by Jane Austen
in Sense and Sensibility. Also lovely.
Eleanor is a LOVELY name! And coming back in popularity too!
The name Eleanor...
I wanted to take a minute to write about the name we've carefully chosen for our daughter. Several years ago, around 2003, we decided that if we ever had a girl we would name her Leni (b/c we like the name Lenny but it's too masculine for a girl with that spelling). After some years went by and Heidi Klum (wife of Seal) named her daughter Leni and their son Henry, we decided to think beyond that name. That and the famous Nazi filmmaker having that name also bothered us. So eventually, and just like with the name Henry, I don't know where it came from, it just seemed to pop into our minds and it was mutually adored and I can't say when it happened, it just did. We tend to like classic, older names that everyone has heard of but no one has. Henry is proving to be very popular now though..it's moved up to 58 on the list of most common names in 08, so it's probably higher now. I've met no less than 10 Henry's in Austin Texas, under the age of 5, in the time since my Henry was born.
Before writing anymore about the responses I've gotten to the name Eleanor, I want to write down some of the most popular names right now (2009), just to put the name Eleanor in context.
1. Isabella
2. Olive/Olivia
3. Ava/Eva
4. Ruby
5. Alice
6. Lily
7. Sophia/Sophie
8. Stella
9. Iris
10. Rose
11. Josephine
12. Violet
13. Ester
14. Mary
15. Enid
16. Lucy
17. Tess
18. Meredith
19. Sadie
20. Scarlett
Click here to see more. Other names going around (up and coming, if you will) are Astrid, Josie, and Vera.
So the main thing these names have in common is 1. They're not new 2. None of us went to school with girls with these names. Our friends names were Christie, Amy, Michelle, Jennifer, Amanda, etc. Each generation does it's damnedest to give their children a name that does not conjure up a familiar face from their past. I have never known anyone with any of the names listed above (except Mary) and I have never known an Eleanor, which is why I LOVE the name. It's mine...all mine. I'm sorry if anyone older than 60 thinks it sounds like an old lady name...I can TOTALLY understand that you probably knew people your parents age with that name, but we didn't! I understand the sentiment--it's the same reason I'm not naming my daughter Betty, Carol, or Joyce, etc. It sounds like an old lady's name.
To explore any concerns (especially re. name-teasing--which is not my concern but seems to be for baby-boomers), I posted our name choice on my local mom list-serve, to see what people thought. This is a place where mom's in Austin go to ask questions, seek advice, plan play groups, look for support, etc. Here are some of the responses I got:
I don't imagine Eleanor is any more likely than most other names to be made fun of. I think it's a great name.
Congratulations on the exciting news! I love the name Eleanor too.
I love Eleanor. Go for it.
My (35 yo) best friend's name is Eleanor. It's a wonderful name. It was very uncommon among our peer group, and I don't think she was made fun of because of it. Her biggest challenge has been to get people to spell it "correctly" rather than Elinor.
I don't think Eleanor is on the far end of the spectrum at ALL! Don't worry about it.
Diane, I love the name Eleanor. I can't imagine that anyone would make fun of it. It
reminds me of when my cousin named her son Elijah and my aunt and my
mom thought it was super strange and that he'd be made fun of for it.
I told them that it might not have been a name they grew up hearing,
but it wasn't considered unusual anymore.
After Vera was born, a friend from high school was in town visiting
and she made the comment to me and my other friend (whose daughter is
Esther Fay) that "Wow! Well, they'd better be cute when they grow up!"
WTF? She's kinda that way, so I didn't internalize it, but really,
when someone has labored over a name choice and selected one, it's
obviously because they love it and think it's beautiful. Why would
anyone possibly make fun of it? Crazy.
Eleanor is a great name. Don't worry!
I wanted to name my first daughter Eleanor... but I was overruled. :) She's Bethany... (I still think she'd have been a fine Eleanor.)
Eleanor is a beautiful name. I had an old name back when the favorite names were Susan and Becky. and it wasn't shortened either. My name was Frances and not Fran or Frannie or Frankie. I don't remember anyone ever making fun of it. Granted I do remember wanting a short cute hip name (like Susan or Becky or ?) but now, I kind of like my name. Its the name my parents gave me and for that, its just cool w/ me.
I can't for the life of me figure out a way to make fun of the name Eleanor.
Eleanor is totally a noble queen of the universe name!
Kierstin who used to be on this list has a daughter named Eleanor. We all called her Eleanor, no nicknames. It is a beautiful name. But, we also know some Ellies and Ellas. All very beautiful names.
Personally, if a kid wants to tease another kid and can’t use the name they will find something else. And, kids are so creative that even if we as grown ups thought we had the fool proof no teasing name. We would be wrong:)
I think Eleanor is a beautiful name... as someone said I think of strong amazing women when I hear that name...
I love the name Eleanor! My mother was baffled by my love of the name
Rose, which we didn't ultimately go with but not b/c of her
bafflement. There is an Eleanor at my daughter's preschool and
everyone loves the name.
FWIW, "Elinor" is simply an alternate spelling and used by Jane Austen
in Sense and Sensibility. Also lovely.
Eleanor is a LOVELY name! And coming back in popularity too!
Before writing anymore about the responses I've gotten to the name Eleanor, I want to write down some of the most popular names right now (2009), just to put the name Eleanor in context.
1. Isabella
2. Olive/Olivia
3. Ava/Eva
4. Ruby
5. Alice
6. Lily
7. Sophia/Sophie
8. Stella
9. Iris
10. Rose
11. Josephine
12. Violet
13. Ester
14. Mary
15. Enid
16. Lucy
17. Tess
18. Meredith
19. Sadie
20. Scarlett
Click here to see more. Other names going around (up and coming, if you will) are Astrid, Josie, and Vera.
So the main thing these names have in common is 1. They're not new 2. None of us went to school with girls with these names. Our friends names were Christie, Amy, Michelle, Jennifer, Amanda, etc. Each generation does it's damnedest to give their children a name that does not conjure up a familiar face from their past. I have never known anyone with any of the names listed above (except Mary) and I have never known an Eleanor, which is why I LOVE the name. It's mine...all mine. I'm sorry if anyone older than 60 thinks it sounds like an old lady name...I can TOTALLY understand that you probably knew people your parents age with that name, but we didn't! I understand the sentiment--it's the same reason I'm not naming my daughter Betty, Carol, or Joyce, etc. It sounds like an old lady's name.
To explore any concerns (especially re. name-teasing--which is not my concern but seems to be for baby-boomers), I posted our name choice on my local mom list-serve, to see what people thought. This is a place where mom's in Austin go to ask questions, seek advice, plan play groups, look for support, etc. Here are some of the responses I got:
I don't imagine Eleanor is any more likely than most other names to be made fun of. I think it's a great name.
Congratulations on the exciting news! I love the name Eleanor too.
I love Eleanor. Go for it.
My (35 yo) best friend's name is Eleanor. It's a wonderful name. It was very uncommon among our peer group, and I don't think she was made fun of because of it. Her biggest challenge has been to get people to spell it "correctly" rather than Elinor.
I don't think Eleanor is on the far end of the spectrum at ALL! Don't worry about it.
Diane, I love the name Eleanor. I can't imagine that anyone would make fun of it. It
reminds me of when my cousin named her son Elijah and my aunt and my
mom thought it was super strange and that he'd be made fun of for it.
I told them that it might not have been a name they grew up hearing,
but it wasn't considered unusual anymore.
After Vera was born, a friend from high school was in town visiting
and she made the comment to me and my other friend (whose daughter is
Esther Fay) that "Wow! Well, they'd better be cute when they grow up!"
WTF? She's kinda that way, so I didn't internalize it, but really,
when someone has labored over a name choice and selected one, it's
obviously because they love it and think it's beautiful. Why would
anyone possibly make fun of it? Crazy.
Eleanor is a great name. Don't worry!
I wanted to name my first daughter Eleanor... but I was overruled. :) She's Bethany... (I still think she'd have been a fine Eleanor.)
Eleanor is a beautiful name. I had an old name back when the favorite names were Susan and Becky. and it wasn't shortened either. My name was Frances and not Fran or Frannie or Frankie. I don't remember anyone ever making fun of it. Granted I do remember wanting a short cute hip name (like Susan or Becky or ?) but now, I kind of like my name. Its the name my parents gave me and for that, its just cool w/ me.
I can't for the life of me figure out a way to make fun of the name Eleanor.
Eleanor is totally a noble queen of the universe name!
Kierstin who used to be on this list has a daughter named Eleanor. We all called her Eleanor, no nicknames. It is a beautiful name. But, we also know some Ellies and Ellas. All very beautiful names.
Personally, if a kid wants to tease another kid and can’t use the name they will find something else. And, kids are so creative that even if we as grown ups thought we had the fool proof no teasing name. We would be wrong:)
I think Eleanor is a beautiful name... as someone said I think of strong amazing women when I hear that name...
I love the name Eleanor! My mother was baffled by my love of the name
Rose, which we didn't ultimately go with but not b/c of her
bafflement. There is an Eleanor at my daughter's preschool and
everyone loves the name.
FWIW, "Elinor" is simply an alternate spelling and used by Jane Austen
in Sense and Sensibility. Also lovely.
Eleanor is a LOVELY name! And coming back in popularity too!
Henry's First Coke
I have been watching Henry this week during the afternoons that Diane is working since his school is closed. Today he and I spent some quality time shopping for Hot Wheels Monster Trucks at Target. Everything was going great until we got back out to the car and it wouldn't start. Nothing. The situation was helped by Henry saying, "It's broken...needs a new battery" over and over as I tried to make it work. There was a little corrosion around the battery, so my vast knowledge of auto mechanics told me to use some Coca-Cola to clean it up. That didn't work. But, after pouring some on the battery, I absent-mindedly put it on the ground and went back to fiddling with the car like I was somehow going to magically jiggle the right wire and make it work. I turned around and Henry was downing the Coke. His head was tilted way back and his little hands were wrapped around that sweaty, glistening bottle like it was a gift from the heavens. I instantly think how thankful I am that Diane is nowhere around to witness this momentous occasion. Since it was his first real taste of a cola product, and he'd already jumped the chasm with the first drink, I gave in to his pleas for more of "that one" and let him have a second go. Then I shamefully took the 20 oz Coke Zero bottle from my little toddler's hands and started our long, hot walk home.
So, Henry has now had a Coca-Cola product. Hello cavities!
So, Henry has now had a Coca-Cola product. Hello cavities!
Henry's First Coke
I have been watching Henry this week during the afternoons that Diane is working since his school is closed. Today he and I spent some quality time shopping for Hot Wheels Monster Trucks at Target. Everything was going great until we got back out to the car and it wouldn't start. Nothing. The situation was helped by Henry saying, "It's broken...needs a new battery" over and over as I tried to make it work. There was a little corrosion around the battery, so my vast knowledge of auto mechanics told me to use some Coca-Cola to clean it up. That didn't work. But, after pouring some on the battery, I absent-mindedly put it on the ground and went back to fiddling with the car like I was somehow going to magically jiggle the right wire and make it work. I turned around and Henry was downing the Coke. His head was tilted way back and his little hands were wrapped around that sweaty, glistening bottle like it was a gift from the heavens. I instantly think how thankful I am that Diane is nowhere around to witness this momentous occasion. Since it was his first real taste of a cola product, and he'd already jumped the chasm with the first drink, I gave in to his pleas for more of "that one" and let him have a second go. Then I shamefully took the 20 oz Coke Zero bottle from my little toddler's hands and started our long, hot walk home.
So, Henry has now had a Coca-Cola product. Hello cavities!
So, Henry has now had a Coca-Cola product. Hello cavities!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Scared scared...
Henry needs a lot of intervention to watch a movie. We have to have the remote in hand because if the music gets ominous, we HAVE to fast forward. The only movies we have are Finding Nemo, the Little Mermaid, Cars, Winnie the Poo's ABC's (we have to fast forward the part where the leaves blow in a scary way)and a Wallace and Gromit DVD that is like Poltergeist to Henry.
He tries to sit on the floor to watch and then about 15 seconds into any movie he starts saying, "Scared scared" and runs to our lap (if Kitty isn't in it first).
He tries to sit on the floor to watch and then about 15 seconds into any movie he starts saying, "Scared scared" and runs to our lap (if Kitty isn't in it first).
Scared scared...
Henry needs a lot of intervention to watch a movie. We have to have the remote in hand because if the music gets ominous, we HAVE to fast forward. The only movies we have are Finding Nemo, the Little Mermaid, Cars, Winnie the Poo's ABC's (we have to fast forward the part where the leaves blow in a scary way)and a Wallace and Gromit DVD that is like Poltergeist to Henry.
He tries to sit on the floor to watch and then about 15 seconds into any movie he starts saying, "Scared scared" and runs to our lap (if Kitty isn't in it first).
He tries to sit on the floor to watch and then about 15 seconds into any movie he starts saying, "Scared scared" and runs to our lap (if Kitty isn't in it first).
Monday, July 13, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
A few more from Paxton
We FINALLY got photos of Henry and his Great Aunt Sandra!!!
Here are a few Grandpa Gary took of us clowning around the yard. I used to play here all the time as a kid, so to do so with Henry is really strange...and fun.
Here are a few Grandpa Gary took of us clowning around the yard. I used to play here all the time as a kid, so to do so with Henry is really strange...and fun.
A few more from Paxton
We FINALLY got photos of Henry and his Great Aunt Sandra!!!
Here are a few Grandpa Gary took of us clowning around the yard. I used to play here all the time as a kid, so to do so with Henry is really strange...and fun.
Here are a few Grandpa Gary took of us clowning around the yard. I used to play here all the time as a kid, so to do so with Henry is really strange...and fun.
Henry and Gracie
Next door to Grandpa's house lives a little girl named Grace (Gracie). She is 20 months older than Henry. The two of them became fast friends. We had never really seen Henry play with a child that age before and it turned out to be the best friendship fit possible. It actually makes me a little sad that Henry is going to be a big brother instead of a little brother b/c he plays the lil' bro part very well. He pretty much did whatever Gracie wanted, and happily. Everything she asked of him he responded with, "Okay!" and when she laughed, he laughed. When she ran, he chased her. When she wanted to play cars or soccer or jump in her jumperoo, Henry was happy to go with her.
The really sweet parts of their friendship were when they'd hold hands or hug, and their politeness and sharing. Gracie always asked if she could play with Henry's toys --even if they were sitting down with 20 hot wheels cars in front of them, she would ask first before playing with any of them. When we got in the car to drive somewhere, Gracie stood there whimpering, "I'll wait right here till you get back." When Henry went outside and Gracie wasn't there he would start yelling, "Gracie! Where are you?" He walked over to her door and knocked on it and just repeated her name over and over.
The really sweet parts of their friendship were when they'd hold hands or hug, and their politeness and sharing. Gracie always asked if she could play with Henry's toys --even if they were sitting down with 20 hot wheels cars in front of them, she would ask first before playing with any of them. When we got in the car to drive somewhere, Gracie stood there whimpering, "I'll wait right here till you get back." When Henry went outside and Gracie wasn't there he would start yelling, "Gracie! Where are you?" He walked over to her door and knocked on it and just repeated her name over and over.
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