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.