Standing and swimming

Don't get too excited, Eleanor isn't standing for real yet. She did, however, work herself up to a standing position on the couch. Apparently sweaty feet + leather couch + strong willed baby = standing Eleanor.

Look at me, I can stand by myself.

Crap, maybe I'm not so good at this yet.

Looking behind the cushion for couch mix.

I think every time Grandma Thorpe and Grandma Sweeney go shopping, they come home with something new for Eleanor. It's very nice and we appreciate it so much. I'm hoping this continues until she graduates college so we never have to buy her any clothes. My mom did something similar with me when I was younger. Every time she went to the store she bought bread and milk. The generosity flows like the majestic Olentangy River. Here is Grandma Sweeney's latest dress for young Eleanor.

Eleanor likes purple. Just like Mace Windu.

She's pointing at a mess Emily made.

Last Friday we took Eleanor for her first trip to the pool. The temperature was above 90 and the pool was packed. Eleanor wasn't too sure she liked it at first. Here is a picture take shortly after her first time in the pool.

Andy: Isn't this fun?
Eleanor: I'll never forgive you for this.

Clearly not a fan of the big pool. Blue Ash has an award winning (so they say) baby pool featuring a mushroom waterfall, waterslide, squirty things, and gallons of baby pee. We decided to see if Eleanor liked that better.

Andy: Is this better?
Eleanor: Mom was right, you are exhausting.

Is it cool if I pee in here?

Starting to warm up to the baby pool.

I guess this is somewhat tolerable.

Young Eleanor didn't seem to enjoy the baby pool that much so at adult swim we put the camera away and took her in the big pool together. She loved it. She loved it so much that I considered typing that last sentence in caps and putting three exclamation points on the end. She was smiling and kicking her legs and laughing. Good times. We will be taking her back frequently throughout the summer.

There was plenty of other fun stuff from this weekend. Emily and Eleanor went to a baby shower for Gail and Katie Andolina on Saturday. On Saturday night, the Stratman's had all of Emily's friends from high school and their parents over for dinner. One of the guests that evening was young Treyton, who belongs to Bronwen and Jeremy. He and Eleanor had a little playdate on the floor. They shared toys and chatted, mostly about politics. Eleanor doesn't really have any baby friends in town (until August) so it was cute to watch them play together. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring the camera so all we have to record the occasion is this crappy picture taken by my phone.

Eleanor: You have a lot of hair.
Treyton: You have a lot of drool.
Eleanor: I know. It's cute, isn't it?

Perhaps the most exciting part of Saturday evening was seeing Mr. and Mrs. Cicak again. Mike told them about our blog and they have become regular viewers. It's nice to meet people who think I'm funny and not a complete idiot. Here is a picture of them we took that evening.

Mr. and Mrs. Cicak dressed up for the Stratman's barbecue.

Sweaty question of the day - How about this heat?