Random stuff

These are just a few of the little things my children have been doing lately, and I wanted to write them down before I forget!

• Yesterday for the first time ever I had to ask Eleanor to stop running and to slow down and wait for me.  It was a proud moment.
• Eleanor has a pair of flip flops with a strap that go around the back to keep them on her feet.  Pro: she can take them off AND PUT THEM ON by herself!  Con: the strap sometimes falls off the back while she's walking.  When it does, she says, "My shoe has a flat tire!"  Not sure how she came up with that, but it's funny!
• Arthur has just started saying "da da da da" all the time.  Hunter loves this, of course!  ;)  We still don't think there's any meaning to it, but he has done it a couple of times right when Hunter either left or entered the room.  Of course, that's probably just a coincidence.  Now if only I could get him to say the "ma" sound...
• I went to MOPS last week (Mothers of Preschoolers) and I had Arthur in with me instead of in the nursery for a little bit.  A friend of mine held him while I stepped out for a minute, and when I came back she was sitting at her table with about 5 other moms and every single one of them was looking at him and laughing.  He loves being the center of attention!
• Eleanor is completely obsessed with storytelling.  ALL DAY LONG she says things like, "Mama, please tell a story about a fox feeding a little tiny kitten and put 'once upon a time' to it."  (That means start the story with "Once upon a time", if you didn't figure that out.)  If I tell her a story, no matter how long and elaborate it is, the second I say "The end" she requests another one.  She just wants to hear stories all. day. long.  It's very cute and fun, but also incredibly exhausting.  Sometimes she tells the stories though, and that's always pretty fun.
• Speaking of Eleanor's stories, she has several favorite characters.  Most of them are from books she has read - Pooh, Tigger, the Big Bad Wolf, etc. - but there are a few that we don't know where they came from.  Like Misery Mouse.  "Mama, can you please tell a story about Misery Mouse?"  Where do you even begin with that one??
• Lately her favorite thing to do when you ask her to do something is to say, "No!  No, no, not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!"  It's hard not to laugh even though she's telling you no.