Tilly and Eleanor Continue to Delight Us All

(Last updated Nov. 12, 2007)

Yes, grandchildren are all that they are cracked up to be—a continuous delight and a source of great joy. At 5, Tilly is growing up to be a beautiful young lady and my guess is that she will become an accomplished artist of one kind or another. Actor, painter, poet, writer of novels.--take your pick. She is bright, talented, witty and loving. And she has a wonderful sense of humor. Can you imagine a three-year-old with computer skills that surpass many adults? When she was still only 3 years old Tilly could navigate herself around the Web and find favorite sites such as The Wiggles and Tele-Tubbies, and she could open MS Word, “write” some gibberish and print it out. Very scary. She also recently made a little booklet of drawings of each member of her extended family. The likenesses were scary also, because everybody looked a bit demented and, well, you get the drift.

Eleanor is her own person—also smart, happy, funny and loving. But she has a distinctly different personality, and as she approaches 3 she has for a long time demonstrated she is no pushover for Big Sister. The evidence is a video of Geoffrey, Sally, Tilly and Eleanor sitting on a sofa shouting louder and louder “Da, Da, Da!” Suddenly Eleanor, then still a baby, grabbed Tilly by the hair and with the other hand gave her a whack just to let her know she’s no wimp. It was a splendid sucker punch that left Tilly sputtering with disbelief before dissolving in tears. But the two girls otherwise are great mates now and just as often as not will give each other affectionate cuddles. As Eleanor (who is increasingly being called “El”) approaches three years she is becoming an absolute hoot, sending us all into gales of laughter with her practical jokes and very funny one-liners.

Following are photos, some taken by me and some by Lisa and Jacob. From time to time I will add new ones and just let the gallery grow as the girls do the same.

For more pictures of the girls, taken when they were much younger, go back to the Home Page and scroll down to the “Archived Links.”

Tilly and her steed romp at Auntie Pat’s house

Since Lisa’s gourmet cooking skills are best at baking, both Eleanor and Tilly have become adept at making cakes, although their icing sometimes comes out somewhat free form

Eleanor and Tilly at Melbourne Federation Square

Tillly with a very large ice cream cone

The girls having a laugh in the bathtub

Eleanor chats with Great-Grandad Wally at party

Eleanor and Tilly (front row) pose with the Patriarch and his abundant progeny

Eleanor and Tilly in Kimonos from our Japan trip

Tilly giving us her famous smile

Tilly at Saturday morning soccer practice

Eleanor lines up tomatoes with precision

Tilly and Eleanor give each other mudbaths

Eleanor and Tilly, two loving sisters (Photo by Lisa)

The girls aren’t camera shy exactly (Photo by Lisa)

Beautiful Tilly and No. 1 Teddy bear, Dudley

Eleanor gives us one of her enigmatic looks

She’s a corker, no mistaking that

Tilly enjoying her tub bath and Eleanor enjoying helping Mom cook dinner. What a delight it is to have these girls close by. Eleanor likes to “trick” Papa by calling me by the names of other people, like Tilly or Chester the cat. And when I rang Lisa the other day, Tilly answered, saying that Mum wasn’t there but Daddy was. As she passed the phone to Jacob I heard her say, “It’s Papa, a very dear man.” My heart melted, of course. (Photos by Lisa)

Tilly and friend dance before Kindy concert (Photos by Lisa and Jacob)

Tilly had stagefright and said she wouldn’t go on stage, but quickly overcame it as you can see

Eleanor with Daddy at swimming lessons (Photos by Lisa)

Tilly said she wanted to “marry” her Mum and got all dressed up for the big ceremony.

Tilly loves reading books and going to the library

The Girls all ready for stories and bedtime

Tilly shows off her stuff at Brunswick swim class. She’s diving (belly-flopping) into the pool now and showing every sign of being a regular Aussie water rat