Love notes, a honey bear and a chatterbox

Ariana has discovered the joys of writing. She can spell her name and the names of her siblings, so she has been writing love notes to all of us several times a day. It is so sweet! I am also excited to see her get into reading and writing. Philosophically, I lean towards unschooling, anyway, but the control-freak in me gets nervous when things don't happen according to my expectations and timetable.

While we were shopping yesterday, Joel fell in love with the little bear-shaped bottle of honey I bought. He has carried it with him ever since, including taking it to the bathroom, holding it while he slept, and pretending to add it to our food this morning. It isn't cuddly, but he is so delighted with it. He has never done this with a stuffed animal. He has not yet figured out that honey can't come out until we remove the cover under the cap. I have absolutely no intentions of helping him to learn this, either!

Elena is quite the chatterbox. She loves to talk. She'll make noises back and forth to us for as long as we are willing to engage her. It is so cute to hear her little voice and intonations. I'm betting that she is going to be a great communicator. She is remarkably eloquent for 3 months!