Just in time for bed ...

Sign us up for yet another busy weekend ! Grandma and Grandpa H. are visiting for the weekend !

They arrived this evening just in time to catch Elaina fresh from the bathtub and ready to "feed" her piggy bank and read books. Elaina wasn't bashful at all upon their arrival. She wasn't quite ready to throw her arms around them immediately, but she was anxious to show them all of her books and melt them with her sweet smiles and laughter.

Grandma and grandpa had barely made it into the house to unpack before Elaina was investigating her gifts from them. Grandpa had refinished a wooden stool for her, which was about a third of her size, yet didn't stop her from carrying it around the kitchen and checking how her bottom fit onto the seat. The more we laughed at her, the more she hammed it up for us. What a goofball !

We made it up to her bedroom, where grandma and grandpa were able to enjoy Elaina's "feeding the piggy ritual." I think I have written of her little routine before, but it has evolved and become even more cute along the way. Every night that she gets a bath (usual every other night) she knows that when I am finished diapering her, lotioning her and getting p.j.'s on - she gets to put money into her piggy bank. She sits on the floor with a giant smile across her face, I pull the piggy down from her shelf and dig out 5 coins. She diligently drops each coin in as we count to five with each thud into the piggy's belly. Lucky for me, she remains content with 5 coins and has yet to ask for more. After we reach the count of "5," she picks up her pig, walks it back to the shelf and says, "night, night." Grandma and grandpa laughed so hard and were impressed with her systematic approach to financial wealth. ( The fact that Grandpa emptied the change from his pockets didn't hurt things either.)