The gang's all here

In the past two weeks Eliza has finally named her babies (they've all been called baby up til now). They ride trains, go to school, go to story time, etc. We play babies a lot around here. Allow me to introduce JackieBaby, Emma Gigi, Annie, Chelsea, and One (aka Flower).

Two Old Mice

Eliza's singing repertoire is really expanding. She still sings a combined version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star & the ABC song, but her latest favorite is Two Old Mice. Her grandpa tried to teach her Three Blind Mice one day and somehow this is the version she came up with. She also recently started singing "Thank you Jesus" over and over, something she must have picked up from her Episcopalian preschool, as we've never heard this particular song. She also tries to sing Hello Everybody from her Music Together CD, but she's shortened it to "hello body". In fact she often tells us "c'mon body!" She still loves to sing Ring Around the Rosie. She now has a play guitar, drums, a microphone, tamborine and more! So, if anyone wants to start a toddler band or have a jam session, come on over!

Story Time

One thing I've always wanted to instill in Eliza is a love of reading. We read to her every night, take her to the library a lot, etc. Last week we took her to 3 different story times (we normally don't quite that often) and now she is HOOKED! For the past week she's been arranging all of her chairs and announcing that it's story time. She's even designated a "wiggle box" to put her wiggles in while we're reading, something our neighborhood library storytime does.

Happy Birthday Eliza!

We can't believe it's already been two years! You are an amazing little girl and we love you so much!

Cuidado!

We're not a bilingual household by any means, but we have a few phrases we've sprinkled in the family lexicon.

With the phrase "be careful" we often say the Spanish equivalent "cuidado". Unfortunately, Eliza now yells it out like a battle cry when she's in a precarious spot. She might as well be saying "no fear" or "Geronimo". So it's CUIDADO....followed by a swan dive off the couch! CUIDADO.... I'm running with dangerous household objects! CUIDADO...I'm a maniac on the playground!

Lesson learned. Warnings are open to interpretation and leave the Spanish to the fearless!

Happy Ween!

Happy Ween is what Eliza kept saying yesterday. We couldn't quite get her to say Halloween; she did say trick or treat a few times. We went to a toddler costume party over at Michelle, Jim and Ethan's place and then all went trick or treating together. It was totally adorable and a lot of fun. Then we stopped by Marna's and Cody's and by that point Eliza was completely sticky and really enjoying a sucker from her pumpkin. I had to fight her to brush her teeth before bed. This morning the first thing Eliza did was ask to put her turtle costume back on and then went and found her pumpkin. Unfortunately I forgot to hide most of the candy last night after she passed out. We did let her have a few more pieces.

Sleep Fighter

Eliza is figuring out how things work and is getting better and better at trying to fool her loving parents. Yesterday while trying for an hour to get her to take a nap, she made each of the following pleas:

"Liza no sleepy. No nap."
"I need fooooood!!!"
"Drink, drink, DRINK! Chocolate milk. Please!!!"
"My mouth hurts."
"My check hurts."
"My eye hurts."
"Tummy hurt."
"I need bandaid."
"Change diaper!"
"I need to potty."
"I need snack."
"I need to rock."
"More books. Read!"
"It's hot!"
"I need ice!"

And no, we didn't fall for the majority of these. And yes, we finally got her to sleep. Whew.

It Wasn't Me

Last week S took Eliza to Barnes & Noble. While they were there he took her to the bathroom to wash her hands. When they got close to the bathroom, S noticed a bad smell coming from the men's room. Apparently Eliza noticed it too because she started saying,
"Daddy pooped?" over and over for everyone to hear. I have a feeling that's just the first of many embarrassing public restroom moments with her.

Potty Progress

So we aren't really potty training Eliza yet, as I'm trying to follow her lead. But, this weekend she kept sitting down on all sorts of cups and small bowls and pretending to potty (with her diaper on). So we went to Target and got her a potty chair since she seemed so into it. Of course after the first 10 minutes she lost all interest...

Purple Head

The other day I put up a couple of Halloween decorations in the yard, including a sparkly purple skeleton head that lights up. Eliza is obsessed with "purple head" and brought him back inside yesterday. She's giving him hugs and kisses and also changing his diaper (how you do that with only a head is beyond me). We crack up listening to her conversations with purple head. "Purple Head, Liza change your diaper. You stinky! Now lay down! Okay, all done." I think the girl needs more human friends.

p.s. She's not really potty training yet but she loves to wear her new Elmo panties. The other day she asked us if we wear Elmo panties too.

Convo

Here's a conversation we overheard Eliza having with her self this week:

"Where's Liza's sock? I don't know. I dropped it!"

She uses full sentences all the time now. And she definitely knows how to get her point across. All week she's been saying "I want to rock" and "No nap. Liza not sleepy!" She also said "Liza like pizza."

She also grabs a toy, holds it to her chest and says "Mine!" Then immediately smiles and says "Share. It's mama's turn. Now it's Liza's turn." She does this as more of a show. When it comes time to really share her toys with other kids, she's not so into it.

Bless you

This morning I sneezed and Eliza said "bless you" totally unprompted. She can be so sweet and polite when she wants to be. :) Here's a picture of she and her friend Phin looking adorable. You'd never know that only seconds before she was tackling him and yelling "mine" when he tried to play with her toys...

I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M

Eliza's dad's family has a bit of an icecream obsession. His mom used to spell out the word rather than saying to avoid everyone going wild. I think Eliza has inherited the icecream gene. She learned the word about a month ago and now she asks for icecream all the time. Tuesday night she was "helping" me cook and decided to help herself to a can of coconut milk. She decided this was icecream and I didn't stop her as she dipped her carrots into it. Last weekend she found just the top of a Sonic lid on the cabinet and knew we had eaten icecream after she went to bed. Last night she got out her tea cup and spoon, sat down and proclaimed "Eliza's icecream" out of the blue, then proceeded to eat pretend icecream for half an hour. We got a video of her saying "I want icecream" and I'll try to remember to upload it later. In the meantime, we'll be staging an intervention. And it's probably time for us to curtail our own icecream consumption as well...

Then and now

Here's a shot from one year ago... can't believe how bald and chubby she was!

End of Summer

We had an awesome summer but I'm glad the 100+ degree heat is over. Happy September everybody!

Variations

My current top 10 favorite things to hear Eliza say:

10. Chocolate milk
9. Tickle Tickle Little Star
8. Phin
7. Yellow
6. Meow
5. Hey Mimi
4. Chicken Dance
3. More coffee?
2. beep beep
1. hug

She says each of these in her own special way. And no, we don't really put chocolate in her milk, but she drinks more if we pretend that we are. :) She says chocolate milk with the biggest hick accent! And there's no convincing her it's twinkle twinkle instead of tickle tickle. She says her friend Phin's name like "feen". And yellow is "lellow". She refuses to say cat, just says meow, but her meow sounds like the cat is seriously ill. Her chicken dance is getting more accurate all the time and she often asks us to do it with her. Yesterday she asked us if we'd like some more coffee in the cutest little voice. I gave her a sip and she didn't hate it. Uh oh.

Hey Girl!

Last night when we got to the playground, Eliza ran up to a random girl and said "hey girl!" like they were best friends. It was hilarious. That is all. :)

Quick update

Eliza got to play with her cousin Gryff this week, and they had a lot of fun together. Gryff's mom (Becky) and I decided that they seem to know they are family despite not seeing each other very often. After a day of chasing each other around Chuck E Cheese and a night at the playground, Eliza slept very soundly. Hopefully Gryff slept through his plan ride as well.

Eliza continues to soak up everything we do and say like a sponge. I normally pat her on the back when she coughs and now she wants to pat us on the back if she hears us cough or sneeze. She says "pock pock pock" while she does this, rather than "pat pat pat" though. She's getting more possessive of her things and has said "mine" a few times. I'm sure we have more of that to come. She particularly hates to share her fruit snacks. That stuff must be like toddler crack because she will not part with it and will only hand it over for a second with a "open please" desperate plea. She's also started studying the contents of our fridge with her hands on her hips saying "hrmm... let's see." Nothing like a toddler to make you realize you say the same things over and over... :)

Big girl

Our baby is growing up. Not only did she sleep through the night last night but she woke up and told us she had to go potty and actually went on the toilet! I was shocked! She's 21 months old now and has over 100 words. Now if we can make this sleeping through the night thing a regular occurance!

The performer

Eliza has always loved to dance but now she loves to sing too! We listen to a lot of music around the house, and I showed her how to sing into a "microphone", really just a hair brush. I've also tried showing her the air guitar. :) Luckily no home videos of this exist. Last night we were at a restaurant with live music. Before the band even started, Eliza ran up to the microphone and knew exactly what to do! I was surprised since she's never seen a real microphone before. The musician got a kick out of it and even turned the microphone on for her. She belted out a note, very pleased with herself. Her grandpa plays several instruments and has a whole bag full; Eliza loves to try out the harmonica, piano, etc. I think when she's in elementary school we'll send her to "music camp" for a couple of weeks in the summer, a week at Grandma and Grandpas to learn the violin, and a week at Grammy and Papa's to learn the piano. :) She can also do the movements to the chicken dance and LOVES to play Ring Around the Rosie. Be warned that if you come over, she'll expect you to sing and dance too! Not participating isn't an option. She'll motion you and say "mon" (c'mon) over and over until to succomb to making a full of yourself!

Quirks

Eliza is getting to an age where she wants things done her way... and of course she wants it NOW! We're trying to pick our battles and letting the random, harmless stuff go. Like every day last week she wanted to wear a towel wrapped around her, on top of her clothes. When the huge towel inevitably fell off while she walked around, she was furious! This week she's become obsessed with her 2 baby dolls. She carries them everywhere we go and she sleeps with them. She also nurses them. So cute. She wants to "dip dip" all her food in condiments. Yesterday she ate a whole waffle dipped in both peanut butter and bbq sauce! Her hair looks adorable in pig tails (and she finally has enough hair for pig tails) but 90% of the time she immediately rips them out when I fix her hair. She insists that most everything is yellow, although she can also say brown, blue, green, etc. She counts to herself when she climbs stairs (S taught her that), but she only says "1 2 1 2" over and over, occasionally throwing in a 9. She adds the word "the" in front of everything. Last weekend she looked at the window and yelled "the papa the papa!" when my parents arrived. She's fearless, jumping off the side of the pool, the couch, anything. She'll go down almost any slide, no matter how big. She's also pushed the emergency button in an elevator recently, almost got us kicked out of the library for being too noisy and threw her bouncy ball into a fountain and screamed for 20 minutes saying "ball went bye bye in water!" over and over. This of course was after I specifically told her not to throw it and she grinned at me and did it anyway. Ah, she's not even 2 yet. Luckily for us, she's adorable most of the time, if a bit um, demanding.

Verbose

Everyone told me to expect a language explosion somewhere between 18-24 months and they were right! Eliza turns 20 months old today and I just made a list of words she says consistently- 54! I'm probably forgetting a few, but wow! She's such a little person!!

p.s. I'm still keeping a list and now we're up to 70+! :)

Oklahoma

We spent 4th of July weekend in Oklahoma on "the ranch." Zac, Jules, Ramsi and Molly came too. Eliza pointed out each and every pile of cow poop she found (and there were many). She was a little afraid of the cows and horses but liked them from afar. It was very cute to see her playing on my grandparents' front porch just like we did when we were kids. We all went swimming in Lake Eufala and enjoyed the people watching, particularly a guy wearing overalls rather than a swimsuit. On the way back we went to see a Rangers game, and Eliza got pretty good at doing the wave. She had such a fun time with Molly that after we came home, she kept saying, "Where's Molly? I don't know!" and shrugging. Very cute.

Just rambling

Eliza has been "jumping" for a few months but recently she figured out how to actually get off the ground. Very cute and she's so proud of herself. Yesterday she and I had a Girls' Day and went to a place called Hoppin' Hippo. She pointed to a yellow slide and said "welwo." This morning she touched my necklace and said "heart", but it sounded like she was from Boston. She sings a lot and seems to have made up 2 songs that she sings consistently. One of them is called "let's go let's go." :) The other night we made the mistake of giving her some of our icecream too close to bedtime. She was in a fabulous hyper mood and ran around talking mostly jibberish non-stop for about 2 hours. We go swimming every couple of days and occasionally she accidentally goes under "wah wah" for a second. She doesn't cry, just looks surprised. She's becoming quite the dare devil and will sometimes jump off the side of the pool into the water.

Summertime and the living is easy...

Just a few shots of how we're spending our summer...

Sentences

Eliza's vocabulary is really taking off. This weekend she started saying "up please". At one point in the car she was whining and fiddling with her shoe. I told her to use her words and she immediately said "Shoe! Shoe! There's a rock!" And sure enough, there was a rock in her shoe. Of course, after I removed the rock, she proceeded to pretend there was a rock in her shoe about 10 times. She's really starting to get her points across!

Summer, swimming and Sea World

On Memorial Day we took Eliza to Sea World. S gets a big kick out of this because my family always went to Sea World when I was a kid and I still get excited about it. Eliza enjoyed swimming in the Lazy River with us and playing in the toddler area. She mostly sat dazed during the shows, but she occasionally held up the disposable water proof camera and took a picture. Since she liked swimming so much, we took her to Deep Eddy last weekend. She's quite the little dare devil and did not want to stay in the baby pool. In other news, S took her for her well check this morning and she's 70th percentile for height! (32.5 inches) She's still 70th percentile for weight and head circumference too, but being taller than average is new for her.

Eliza has started saying "I love you" recently. The other night she fell asleep with her arms around my neck. I thought she was already out and I said "I love you" to her quietly. A few seconds later she said "I lala you" back. It was the best.

18 months

Dear Eliza, I can't believe you turned 18 months yesterday! On one hand I can't believe you're already such a toddler and growing up so fast! On the other hand, I can't believe your dad and I have only been parents for a year-and-a-half. I can't remember what we used to do without you around! I'm surprised by how much of your own person you already are, with your own likes and dislikes. You love to eat pickles and feta cheese, and that certainly wasn't our idea! And you already have your own friends. Roberta and Ingrid from next door ask you to come out and play all the time. Yesterday you grabbed your baby and stroller and played hide-and-go seek and chase with them all over the yard. And you're making up your own words. We're really enjoying watching your personality shine through!

Bossy Pants

This morning when we were getting ready to go, Eliza put her hands on her hips and said, "let's go!" She says a few other sentences too, just stuff she's heard us repeat a lot, like "Want a bite?" "Here you go." etc. She uses a lot of gestures too, like patting a spot next to her where she wants us to sit, or motioning us to follow her. She doesn't like us to rest our arms on her carseat. She'll move our hands and say "no no" like she needs her own personal space. It's a good thing she's so cute because she really is getting very bossy. :)

H-town

We spent this weekend in Houston for Jason's graduation and Pam & Wayne's 40th anniversary. Eliza got to meet her Great Aunt Carolyn and got to see Aunt Becky, Uncle Chris and her cousin Gryff too. She and Gryff had a great time together. They kept hugging and patting each other on the back. Very cute. We went to a very fancy restaurant for lunch and afterwards headed to the park so Pam & Wayne could renew their vows. Congrats to them and to Uncle Jason!

Beantown

Eliza flew on a plane for the first time last week. She was very excited and really wanted to greet all her fellow passengers. She didn't understand why so many of them were trying to sleep on such an exciting occasion. :) For a while the ride was pretty bumpy and she kept yelling "wheeee!!!" Overall she was a very good sport.

I'll post more later, but for now, a few highlights:
-The enormous turtle at the aquarium (seriously, it was 5 feet long)
-Eliza raising her sippy cup to say "cheers" at the Cheers bar
-Eliza feeding the ducks and chasing the squirrels in Boston Common
-Checking out the Harvard Natural History museum (Eliza pointing to each gem and saying "rock rock rock")
-Eliza saying "choo choo!" every time we got on the subway
-Eliza posing at the Stata Center (famous architecture) MIT sign
-Riding the carousel in the park


And a few lowlights:
-Me getting lost in the rain trying to meet up with S and Eliza on the Harvard Bridge (turns out the Harvard Bridge doesn't go to Harvard, oops)
-Almost missing our return flight because we had to go through security twice due to a JetBlue error.
-Eliza swallowing an olive pit. I'll spare you the details.
-Eliza figuring out how to unlock our hotel door and trying to make a run for it while we slept.

Tomboy

S said last night "Now I realize why parents kiss boo boos. Because they can't do anything else." So true. Eliza is such a little adventurer now. Watching her explore is both exciting and terrifying. She climbs up and stands on everything she can find. She has little bruises all over her shins. She climbs up her slide backwards. She tries to climb up the neighbor's monkey bars. She stands in the rocking chair and tries to "surf." And every time she accomplishes something new she looks so proud and checks to make sure we see her. She also loves to play in the dirt and in sandboxes.

piano lessons

Happy Friday

A few silly shots of Eliza with her Easter basket and riding her rocking elephant in the living room. What a ham!

Aquarium Pics

Finally remembered to upload a few of these pictures from our trip!

Cousins

I know Zac and Julia really missed Molly last week. Here is a cute shot of Molly hitching a ride to Austin with us after our weekend in DFW. Eliza and Molly had so much fun together!

Last weekend

We have TONS of pictures and videos from our trip to DFW last weekend. I just need to get them off the camera so I can post a few here. We went to visit Uncle Zac and Aunt Julia for a little Spring Break vacay. This time Eliza really hit it off with her dog cousin Mollie! And Eliza now calls Julia "Ju Ju." She managed to say Zac a few times too. Saturday Zac and Jules took us to a cool restaurant called Joe Ts. And Zac volunteered to be the designated driver so we could try their famous margaritas. Sunday we all went to the Dallas World Aquarium. Everyone teased me because I'm a little obsessed with aquariums, but they all liked it too. Eliza got to see plenty of turtles (still her current favorite word) and also tons of birds, monkeys, and of course, fish. She can't say monkey, but she says "ee ee ooh ooh" when she sees them. (She also squeaks when she sees a picture of a mouse). My favorite part was when she saw some HUGE sharks and manatees and just kept saying "ooooh!" and her eyes got huge. I think we blew her mind a bit. Pics to come!

Squirrel

I know these vocab posts sound like I'm bragging (hopefully you're an Eliza fan if you're reading the blog anyway, right?) but I want to remember when she started saying certain words... So, this morning I saw a squirrel on the patio and pointed it out to Eliza. She ran over and waved to the squirrel (who, surprisingly, did not wave back. What's your problem, dude?! ;))and said squirrel several times. Her version sounds like "wur wel". Also, she now says "star." At least 10 times a day she points out a star to me, usually a teeny tiny one she found on some book or toy. ~T

Perfect day

Yesterday Eliza and I had so much fun that I just want to blog about it now so I'll remember it. First we went to storytime at BookPeople, then the playground at Whole Foods. Then we stopped by PetSmart and saw the cutest puppy ever. She loves the fish and the birds there too. (She just started flapping her "wings" when she sees a bird; I have no idea where she learned it but it's adorable.) After naptime we went to the Triangle and played in the fountain while listening to live music. She's much more cautious this year with the water and doesn't get soaked and let it hit her in the face like she used to. She loves watching the big kids there. On the way to the Triangle she and I did a little shopping at Target and got her some new crocs to wear this summer. (This girl LOVES shoes!) When we got home I let her skip a bath (the fountain cleaned her off, right?) and we read lots of bedtimes stories. Then we took turns giving each other belly kisses (S took a break from work to join in on the tickle fun) and I sang her to sleep with the song my Papa used to sing to me when I was little (Carolina Sunshine Girl by Jimmie Rodgers). Ah, I'm a lucky girl. ~T

Turtles & Kisses

Last weekend we took Eliza to the Turtle Pond on campus and she's been saying "turtle" ever since! Today I took her to see some turtles and other animals at Petco and we've been reading books about turtles too. She's been giving kisses on command for a while but recently she's started initiating kisses on her. There's nothing better than a toddler spontaneously planting a big wet one on your cheek! Above is a shot of Eliza at the park after successfully sliding down on her tummy by herself. Doesn't she look proud? Oh, and notice she's got molars now! ~T

Negative

Eliza knows a lot of words now, body parts, animals, all sorts of things. She even says thank you. But last week she learned to say the word no. And she hasn't stopped since. While it comes in handy at times - "Do you want some more drink?" "NO!"- she's now saying it constantly. "It's time to change your diaper!" "NO! (and she takes off running!) It's both hilarious and infuriating. I'd get her on video saying it, but I don't want to encourage her. If you see her soon, I'm sure you'll hear plenty of it.

Zoo Time

As far as zoos go, the rescue zoos are slightly more interesting.  It's amusing to play out each animal's back story.  Here, for example, is the crazy parrot that gave Ellie the giggles.

My daughter the groupie

Seems Eliza is already into the Austin music scene. Check her out with her hipster friends last month.

Feb pics are up!

February highlights are in the Picasa album to the left. Soon we'll post pics of the Kite Festival and our trip to the zoo. Stay tuned.

Ike

All week I've been whining because the 3 of us have a measly cold. In a week we'll be fine. But today my friend Kate sent me an email about a bake sale on campus for Baby Ike... Ike is not fine. He's very sick and has no health insurance because his dad got laid off. Please help Ike if you can. Here is his website. He's absolutely adorable: http://ikeasaurus.com/ ~T

52 pick up

Baby toys come in all shapes and sizes. Some you trip over in the dark. Some you can never find in broad daylight. And still others scatter to every corner of the house every time they're picked up. Here's a shot of one such "toy".

Weekend Update

S and I went on a date night Friday and had a lot of fun at Marshall and Janet's wedding. Thanks to Papa & Grammy for watching Eliza! Unfortunately all 3 of us were sick this weekend and spent most of our time at home. It's so hard to watch Eliza be sick, especially since she's too young to take most cold medicine. So, we spent a lot of time snuggling with her and reading books. On a happier note, many of you have seen how Eliza instantly points to the sky when she hears an airplane overhead. Well, we were playing with her blocks on the floor and all of a sudden she points to the sky. It took S and I a minute to realize she'd found a picture of an airplane on one of her blocks. It was pretty cool to see her make the connection between a picture and the sound! Oh, and on Friday she learned how to climb the ladder up to her slide all by herself! She proudly showed Papa and Grammy her new skills when they arrived. ~T

Go Bulldogs!

I've given up trying to wear nice clothes around the house.  So until I find a moment to shower, I wear a tired old pair of green track pants and whatever tee-shirt is closest to the bed.  (you might have noticed them in countless blog photos)  And thanks to my coaching in-laws we have plenty of Bulldog mascot shirts to choose from.  I've made it such a redundant ensemble, that Eliza now points to my ALL my tee-shirts and says "dog"  At 15 months she's already heckling me about my clothing!

Anti-princess reading list

My friend Sunshine (one our what, 4, faithful blog readers?) sent me this awesome list of books!

~T

http://www.mommytrackd.com/bookshelf/amazon?gclid=CJ6qxrqBxJgCFR2dnAodihZ91Q

At the risk of jinxing myself...

This crunchy sleep training method seems to be working: http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/ap/sleep.asp She happily went 7 hours without eating last night and I got to sleep 5 hours in a row. Woohoo, this is progress, people!! Eliza and I went to the free storytime at Book People this morning and she really liked it and actually sat still. Then we went to the playground at Whole Foods next door. No new pics but the January pictures are posted on Picasa now. Enjoy! ~T

Amigos

Here's a cute shot of Eliza with her friends Piper and Phin. Aren't they adorable?!

I got my mind set on you.

Eliza was up from 2-3:30 am last night. She normally wakes up 3 times a night to eat and I'm trying to night wean her. And yes, after 14 months of not sleeping more than 4 hours in a row, it's amazing I'm even able to form complete sentences. Anyway, I was trying to get her to sleep without nursing her so I started singing. It's amazing what songs come to mind in the middle of the night- a Dixie Chicks lullaby, several Christmas songs, and finally, George Harrison's "I Got My Mind Set On You." This is funny because I used to listen to this song over and over and over in 5th grade. My poor Mom can attest to this. Well, that was the song that finally got Eliza to sleep. Of course now I've got a whole new bad habit to break her of- middle of the night serenades. Wish me luck.

~T

Priceless

bib: $5

shampoo: $7

spoon: worthless

watching your kid chug oatmeal: priceless

Backyard Buddies

Here's some pics of Eliza hanging out with her recess pal. 

And yes...we need to get out more.

Can I get a witness?

I've decided one of my favorite parts of parenthood is not only watching Eliza learn new skills, but S and I making eye contact after she does something new and saying "did you see that?!" It's great to have someone else just as excited about the tiny new development. Last night we were jamming to the Sara Hickman "Toddler" CD (thanks Aunt Marna!) and Eliza sang along! At the appropriate time she interjected with "pop pop pop". So, to the rest of the world, not a big deal. But it was pretty big around here! Oh, and yes, she's wearing a can on her arm in this random picture. And yes, S made sure the edges weren't sharp.

Vocab

I thought of the other words Eliza has learned lately. Last night she said "tickle" several times. And she also says "uh oh" when she drops something. She's climbing everything in sight. We go to a playground almost every day. Yesterday she pulled out her dresser drawers and climbed up. Today we went to the "fun zone" at the mall with Papa, Grammy and Uncle Eli. She rode the train and the carousel and went up and down the escalator with Papa over and over and over. He's a good sport!

~T

Tuesday

So this anecdote is a little far fetched, but S can back me up. A couple of days ago I said to Eliza, "do you know what happens Tuesday?" We laughed as she nodded knowingly. Then I said "Obama becomes our President!" And she says "Bama!" Adorable. She's also learning the difference between open and closed and when she closes things says "cosed!" She likes to read her books to us and uses all sorts of gibberish. She's learned a lot of new words lately but of course most of them are escaping me now. She loves to brush her teeth with her new toothbrush. In fact, it's hard to get her to stop brushing her teeth! And she got some very cute pink tennis shoes that she loves. She tries to put them on herself and then gives up and brings them to us for help.

As if I need another reason to procrastinate...

Here's a list of the top 50 Mom blogs... enjoy!

http://www.momdot.com/topmomblogs/

My daughter loves V8...

I cannot tell you how much I hate V8. S chugs the nasty stuff like it's going out of style and now it appears Eliza will be joining him. Oh well, like father like daughter. I hope she also gets his patience and mechanical abilities! ~T

p.s. How long before she starts using puns?!

p.p.s. Eliza's parents met 12 years ago this weekend. How cool are we?!

Health kick

It occurs to me that now might be a good time for S and I to start eating more healthy foods. This morning as I grabbed a brownie for breakfast on my way out the door, Eliza pointed to the brownie and said, very clearly, "bite." So of course I gave her bite because she did use her words, after all. Then I felt guilty for setting a bad example and eating such crap! She's also learning to kick her balls around the house. It's pretty entertaining because she misses often but tries very hard!

December pics

December pics are posted to the left. What a busy month! In other news, Eliza said "eyes" and "nose" last night and pointed to each one correctly! She also has started saying "keys" as she carries ours around. She says it with the same inflection as "cheese!", which is what she seems to think the camera is called. Happy Friday!