Eleanor

Although I have been running this blog for some time now, not too much of late I have to admit, I haven't spent a lot of time on the kids. I don't mean that I've been neglecting them at home - well not often anyway, but their presence within these literary walls has been somewhat peripheral. On the date of my youngest's third birthday, I felt it was a good time to comment on how she has been developing since our emigration. This was brought into some perspective by the arrival of my mum, who recently landed from the UK to spend three weeks with us and her accompanying friends. When we first came to Canada, Eleanor was 15 months old and now she has turned three has spent more time in Canada than in the country of her birth. This somewhat staggering fact illustrates, to me at any rate, how time flies when you're having fun.

To Eleanor's extreme credit, she has responded to my mum's arrival very positively. Thanks to the wonders of Skype, she had no trouble recognising her grandmother and has been acting as if she sees her every day. Without the Skype experience, Eleanor would not have had a clue as to who this woman picking her up and hugging her into the next century was. Screaming and running away would have ensued, followed by overwhelming feelings of rejection from aforementioned gran. Tomorrow, her other grandmother arrives from the UK, enacting a sort of 'granny tag' as she takes over the baton from my mum. Of course, being absent from growing children as they have, both grandmothers have undoubtedly noticed the changes in Eleanor far more suddenly than Claire and me, but we do see them quite distinctly.

The first thing that gets spotted is the accent. British pronounciations of words such as 'water' and 'want' have now disappeared and replaced with the North American equivalent. Certain words have been substituted for the previous British ones too, like 'garbage' 'candy' and 'cookie'. Claire and I have been using them on and off and Charlotte uses them all the time as a result of her interaction with Canadian kids, so it is inevitable that Eleanor will soon stop sounding British at all. She also has picked up on many facets of Canadian life. She knows all about Tim Hortons, hot tubs, her favourite cable tv shows and, following a recent trip to Jasper (fast becoming one of our favourite places to be), plenty about indigenous wildlife.
We are also currently planning a skiing trip to Silver Star in BC next year and Eleanor is already aware of the skiing to come and has started to pick up the most basic techniques. Needless to say, a child in the Palmer household who fails to appreciate the wondrous sport that is skiing is likely to be very promptly exchanged for one who does.
No pressure Nell, you just take your time. With her sister already zipping around the piste, I cannot help but feel it will not be long before Eleanor gets the hang of it.

Perhaps the most subtle change has been her outlook. Her previous reluctance to communicate has all but disappeared and she is happy to talk to anyone. Even though this could be undesirable in some cases, here I feel it is less of a problem, certainly within the confines of our residential close. She has enamoured her way into the gardens and garages of most of our neighbours and provided she behaves herself, we are happy to let her do it. This openness has a lot to do with her growing maturity that is certain, but I like to think that some of it is due to the close proximity of local Canadians and their open and friendly demeanour. Surely and not so slowly, our youngest daughter is becoming a Canuck and I for one, am very happy that she is.