Call Day #38, 1/31/11

Proud next to her notebook of Sunday school handouts. They've been piling up and are finally organized so we can make better use of them.

Happy girl. (Lip was hurt by running again on snowy/icy ground this weekend.)

A morning spent with Lila.

Ring around the rosies.

When things are too quiet... Claire had pulled out every pipe cleaner and was eating tissue paper.

Eleanor is very excited about bubble baths, sometimes asking for them twice a day. Claire was so fascinated with the bubbles! She liked touching them and laughed when she got several on her hands. She spent probably 20 minutes standing and playing like this.

Call Day #37, 1/27/11

Still getting the hang of a cup. She likes to put it in her mouth but has to learn to tip it up.

Claire is great at pulling herself up to standing, having just taken off in doing this in the past week.

Another snow day, a great excuse for staying home. Maybe 12 inches? Eleanor helped shovel. She thought it was funny that her little green shovel could hide in the snow (since it was much deeper than the shovel is tall).

Salting the shoveled sidewalk.

Afternoon playdoh fun. And a bath towel costume since she was being Cinderella/Sleeping Beauty/etc.

Call Day #36, 1/23/11

At church. Eleanor and her friend Colin (who she calls "Colum").

Claire in nursery. Her new trick (which you can only sort of see here) is getting her feet on the ground, up on all fours.


Enjoying a graham cracker snack.

Lots of the kids enjoy a story. Since I had nursery duty and Erik was at work, Eleanor got to hang out in the nursery too.

One of Claire's favorite nursery toys, a maraca. I once picked her up from nursery and got all the way upstairs to rejoin the service before I discovered she still had it in her hand.

Eleanor visits Daddy at the Brigham. Our first trip to this one of "Daddy's hosptials."

Post-dinner hug, about to head home. On the walk to the parking garage, Eleanor declared "I am the coldest little girl in the whole world!" It was indeed a very cold night but nice to go for a quick visit with Daddy.

Call Day #35, 1/19/11

Side-by-side in the cart at Costco. They're cute like this but it can be trouble too. Claire was pulling off both booties and socks all day. This picture is right after she banged Eleanor with her shoe and had it taken away as a result. At least we made it home without losing anything!

Eleanor has been eager to go to Costco for days now. This is why. She calls it "Ants in Pants" after Erik once told her that's what she had. Now it just means that she wants to run.

Trains

Claire has developed a strong preference for finger foods over purees this past week. She has long been picking every speck of dust off the floor and trying to eat it so we might as well put that inclination and those fine motor skills to good use, right? This is the look I usually see as she spies something on the floor...

The latest game: playing grocery store. She shops from our cabinets, puts things in the cart, brings it to the checkout, pays, and bags it. I told her it all had to be put away before bed tonight and when I went to check later, it was indeed neatly where it belonged.

Call Day #34, 1/15/11

Eleanor starts out the morning by finding stickers left by Daddy at her place at the table.

Happy.

Playing in a "tunnel"

Making Confetti Muffins (muffins with crushed up Fruit Loops--they are pretty!). She does all the crushing by herself with a rolling pin.

She also spills things as she measures. Sugar ended up all over the counter so why not just go ahead and play with it before you clean it up? :) Oh, and then she started eating a good bit of it while my back was turned...

Claire crawls around. She is still a bottom scooter but sometimes lifts up a bit on her knees once she's gotten to where she's going.

First time to really eat cheese = a success

Grace, friend from St. Louis and fellow MST with Erik at WashU, leaves (with confetti muffins) after staying with us this week while interviewing for residency.

Returning home after a visit to see a friend's new baby (another Eleanor!). Check out our fence.

I think our fence's main purpose is to hold all the snow we shovel off of the sidewalk and the cars. It is good for that.

(After a few months of rotations without regularly being on call, we're back to it. Expect to see some regular posts again!)