Formerly the blog for my daughter Eliza, where we posted from her birth until she began Kindergarten, now all the old posts are integrated into Pattern Recognition.
Eliza loves tunnels. I think it’s because her dad loves caves so much. She crawls through them, rests in them, sits in them and sings to herself.
Going to the park with her is so different these days. She can climb the steps to the slide all by herself and she ven sat in a big kids’ swing yesterday for the first time.
Will all of Eliza’s teeth please hurry up and come in? We’re all anxious to meet you. Thanks.
Eliza is now healthy, except for some teething pain that makes her a grumpy puss. She does her best to be happy, honestly. But sometimes she will just scream and shove her fingers in her mouth.
On the other hand, she has now discovered the joys of Dora and Diego, much to our chagrin. We were hoping this wouldn’t happen for a while longer, but it was inevitable. She goes around the house singing “Backpack, backpack!” and “I’m the map! I’m the map!” Good times.
Because I’m tired, I’ll just do a brief update rather than my usual laundry lists. Plus, we’re entering the phase of toddlerhood where not as much changes from month-to-month as it once did.
Biggest development: Eliza has a new obsession with dressing up. As you can see in this photo, she hardly goes anywhere without several necklaces. She has been known to walk around the house with 8-10 necklaces, several scarves, and mom’s underwear around her neck while wearing a hat, dad’s socks, and mom’s shoes. She also loves to put stickers on her left arm (she is very obviously right-handed). She is all about adornment right now. This stage is a mystery to me, since I don’t remember being much of a dress-up kid.
Needless to say, she’s going to go crazy for Halloween this year. She will be the kind of kid who won’t leave the house without her ____ costume, even though Halloween was three months ago.
Other changes / developments: lots more eating with a spoon or fork, although she’s kind of lazy about it sometimes. She is now saying “sorry” at (mostly) appropriate moments. Hates to get scolded. Absolutely loves nursery rhymes and makes me repeat them over and over. No longer in love with yogurt. Has discovered the joy of apple slices. Wants her food separated (she apologized to the apples this morning when mommy foolishly put grapes in the same bowl with them). Has used the potty once and is clearly interested in it. Pretends that her animals and dolls go to the potty.
Still the same: her favorite activity is still reading, but now she has memorized several books and “reads” to her dolls. Still loves to dance, listen to music, and wrestle with Daddy. Still loves icecream (who doesn’t?).
Wow, Eliza is 19 months old. And every day is still a big adventure.
Eliza’s cousin Kelsi came to stay with us for a week, and everybody had a great time.
They spent lots of time reading, doing crafts, playing outside, and singing. We had an awesome fourth of July, although Eliza missed the parade and the fireworks due to her sleep schedule.
Eliza adores older kids! Hopefully we can spend more time with her Kentucky cousins in the future.
Here’s something Eliza and I have in common: we HATE the summer heat and the direct sunlight.
We’ve tried to keep her cool by staying indoors, but she also gets bored fairly easily. And we live in the middle of nowhere, so our options for indoor play are limited to the Piggy Wiggly, the CVS, friends’ houses, and an ice cream place.
So, we broke down and got her an inflatable pool. Jason went all out and got one with an attached slide, which she adores. She has no fear of water and loves splashing and sliding in her new pool. The neighbors probably hate us because the only place to put it was our front yard. Oh well. It’s worth it to see her cool and happy on hot summer days.
Eliza is officially a year and a half old! Time flies!
Favorite hobbies: watching home videos of herself, sorting the recycling, singing, “reading” by herself, putting on shoes (especially mommy’s), playing dress up with scarves, hats, and necklaces.
Favorite toys: Melissa & Doug castle and dolls, Elmo mailbox sorter, stuffed animals, magnets, wind-up toys, balls, sand and water table, anything her friend Griff has.
Favorite books: Billy and Milly Short and Silly; Spot Loves His Daddy; I’m Just Like My Mom / I’m Just Like My Dad; Peekaboo Zoo.
Favorite foods: chicken noodle soup, cereal with milk, vanilla ice cream, green beans, vegetable soup, Gerber juice treats (not really “food,” but she’s totally addicted), peanut butter, pizza
Eliza has changed a lot in the last month. She is better at feeding herself with a spoon, even something as tricky as cereal! She’s also working on the fork, although she still needs practice. She is faster at going up the stairs and can now come down the stairs with a little bit of help. Still quite the talker, she says 3-4 word “sentences” on a regular basis now. It seems that she says at least one new word every day.
Emotionally, Eliza is getting more complicated. She has turned into a biter, and we’re working on that. She gets her feelings hurt very easily and does not like to be in trouble. She’s also a lot more affectionate that ever before, doling out tons of hugs and kisses. And she has become a bit of a daddy’s girl, which is cute to watch.
At 18 months, she can count from 1-14, sing most of her ABC’s (she gets stuck on T-U-V), recognize and say most colors, recognize and say several shapes, point to and say at least 10 body parts, say 3 days of the week in order (Saturday, Sunday, Monday), recognize, say, and do the sounds for countless animals, and properly use the pronoun “I,” as in one of her favorite phrases, “I want that one.”
We can hardly keep up with her!
Eliza got to spend 9 whole days with Daddy while I attended a workshop in Florida. I’m sure she stopped asking about me at some point. They did lots of fun daddy-daughter things, like a trip to the farmer’s market, playdates with friends, hanging out at the park, and a visit to Nana’s house.
In the 9 days that I was gone, she changed so much it’s scary. When I left, she needed help getting up the stairs to the slide at a local park. When I came back, she could do it all on her own. Standing up, mind you, not crawling up on all fours! She has also developed a new love of YouTube videos of animals (thanks, Daddy!) and a worrisome obsession with watching home videos of herself, especially of herself falling, which is apparently the funniest thing she’s ever seen.
I think Eliza is going to have her mom’s sensitivity to others, which is both a blessing and a curse.
We were watching an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba today, and there is a character named Gooble, who is always crying.
“Gooble’s sad,” Eliza said.
“Yes, he is sad,” I confirmed.
“Hug Eliza,” she suggested, in order to make it all better.
Works for mommy and daddy, so why not the rest of the world?
Eliza saw the ocean for the first time when we spent 4 days at Rosemary Beach, Florida. Although it exhausted her (in a good way), she absolutely loved it. She had no fear whatsoever, even when the waves knocked her around. She wanted to stand there all by herself (“Eliza do it!”). She also enjoyed digging in the sand with her new shovels, picking up sea shells, and watching the birds and airplanes fly overhead. All in all, a great trip. Can’t wait to go back when she has a little more stamina!
She is almost a year and a half old! To celebrate, and because she has been feeling terrible with a fever and sinus infection, we took her to a local ice cream place. She insisted on eating it all by herself, like a big girl.
Favorite foods: Ketchup. Asks for it at almost every meal and will dip absolutely anything into it. Ice cream (vanilla). Pizza. Applesauce (more for spoon practice than for filling her belly). Peanut butter.
Favorite music: Still completely obsessed with the Laurie Berkner band, as featured on Jack’s Big Music Show. She also now loves to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Old McDonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Clean it up (Laurie Berkner), as well as some songs she has apparently invented or learned elsewhere.
Favorite toys: Anything like an action figure, especially her family dolls from Melissa & Doug and her Elmo and Ernie figurines; magnets; water table with shovels, scoops, and sponges; books (see below); Foofa doll (from the Noggin show Yo Gabba Gabba); gel window clings
Favorite hobbies: Singing, talking, dancing, marching, stomping, wiggling, throwing, tickling, scooping, digging, climbing stairs, climbing into and out of chairs, taking baths and “swimming” in the tub.
Favorite books: “Flip a Face” book called Colors; Froggy Green; Fifteen Animals (Sandra Boynton); anything with Elmo or Zoe from Sesame Street
Dislikes: Too much sun. Getting too hot. Sitting still in her high chair to eat breakfast. Someone trying to help her do something she insists she can do by herself (“Eliza do it!!”).
What she knows and can do is scary sometimes. She now recognizes and says most colors (and tells us her favorite is pink), several shapes, and quite a few letters, and can count to ten. She can accomplish just about anything with phrases like “See it.” “Hold it.” “Do it.” and “Want some.” The other day she looked at her piece of toast and told me, “Cut it,” because she wanted it in triangles.
Her social understanding is also amazing lately. She is great at saying “thank you” and “you’re welcome,” unprompted. We’re working on “please,” which she will say when told to do so, but not on her own yet. Is now telling people to be careful, like when we’re carrying her down the stairs (“Careful, Daddy.”). And she checks on everyone’s well being: “Happy, Mommy?” “Happy, Daddy?” “How doing?” “Where Nanny go?”
Eliza the baby, I think, is all but gone. Eliza is now our little girl. And that’s pretty special.
