Ellie Bellie

Elinor had a really hard day today. She has been clingy lately and won't eat unless she is feeding herself so I wonder if she goes hungry a lot. She also sort of has an erratic nap schedule because she is a third child. I try to be home when she needs to sleep, and it helps that a lot of the time Caleb and I can be out at the playground while she sleeps inside, but I can tell she's tired a lot. She is also at the transition from two naps to one and it is taking a toll on her. Anyway, today she was lying on the floor crying so I changed her diaper. I took it into the bathroom and left the bowl of scrambled eggs I was about to feed her and Caleb on the floor. When I came back she had my fork and was gleefully shoveling forkfuls of egg into her mouth. I gave her a kid fork and she had an easier time, but I was very impressed by her dexterity. She is probably the youngest of my kids to get the hang of eating with utensils.

Every time she succeeded in spearing an egg chunk she would squeal with delight.
She probably ate two of the three eggs I scrambled. The girl has a good appetite.

Later on in the evening we went outside for a neighborhood party celebrating three baby birthdays - Elinor's, Sam's, and Charlotte's. It has been so much fun to have a baby around the same time as two of my friends and to be able to watch our kids grow together.

We set the three babies down with a cupcake each and let them have at it. A lot of the older kids gathered around to sing.

Elinor was exhausted and a little confused. I was standing behind her and then moved to the other side of the circle to take pictures. It took her a while to figure out where I had disappeared to.

The three birthday babies (plus Peter).

My poor sad and tired baby. She didn't touch the cupcake.
She's never been a huge fan of sweets, but we'll try it again tomorrow.

We were happy to have so many people show up. The crowd of kids played happily on the playground until long after the light was gone.

Caleb has been battling this tree all day. Lots of rock throwing, stick beating, and pretend gun shooting. I'm just glad it's aimed at a tree and not another kid!

I'm not sure whose wagon this is, but I couldn't resist pulling out the camera for this shot.
It's blurry, but they were gone before I could take another!

Thanks to Reianna for coming up with this and putting it together! We love a good neighborhood party!