Eliana Lately

During these past two months, we have seen Eliana's personality blossom and we love watching her explore and start becoming her own little person.

She loves Dora the Explorer and is constantly singing the theme song and also belting "Super Babies" which is a little jingle used in one of the Dora episodes.  Eliana also loves trucks!  She'll hear the rumble of the garbage truck and will then be found perched by the window so she won't miss watching the truck in action.  In  nursery, she'll often be found over by the race track with all the cars and at the library she is glued to the trains and moving them all over the tracks.  When our driveway was being demolished, it was extremely hard to get her away from the window--it was truck heaven for her!

Many times when we go to a park, we will often find Eliana pushing the stroller instead of playing on the playground.  Ha ha!  And when she's running around the house with her play stroller, watch out!  She stops for nothing!

Eliana is also talking up a storm now-a-days.  Her cute little voice will be heard all throughout the house, whether she's asking for a snack, for 'poop-paste' (toothpaste), 'taper' (paper), or if she's asking 'hold you me' so she can get some snuggles.  Whenever you call for her to come get her shoes on or get ready for bed, you'll hear her holler back, "CO-O-O-MIN'!" at the top of her lungs and then her little feet start shuffling and her elbows start swinging back and forth as she races to get to her next destination.

She's also very much on her own agenda as well.  We often hear, "Do myself!" or when she asks for a snack, it is a very specific request (goldfish, pretzels, or crackers) and if you do not produce said request, WATCH OUT!  ha ha!  Sometimes getting dressed in the morning is quite the ordeal, because if she's already involved with an activity and you ask her to get dressed, good luck!  Having said that, though, there are times she will get off her own agenda--Eliana is a trooper when it comes to trying new foods.  If she sees something unfamiliar on her plate, she'll let you know she doesn't want anything to do with it, but usually if you ask her to try one bite she willingly does so (and 99% of the time realizes that she actually likes it!)

Eliana is also singing a great deal.  She loves the songs she learns in Nursery: Here we are Together, Our Bishop, Choose the Right, Scripture Power.  And her ABC's are getting better and better with each note.  I love hearing her sing.  It reminds me of when she was 6 or 7 months old and I'd be rocking her to sleep, she would give a little hum and wait for me to hum back (or vice versa) and we'd go on for minutes humming back and forth.  Music also would help her calm down at night and go to sleep.  If Eliana was upset and didn't want anything to do with bedtime, Geoff or I would start singing to her, her fingers would go in her mouth and her head would hit the pillow.  When the song was done, though, she wouldn't always stay in that position!  Now, she's much better at staying in her bed and often we'll hear her little singing voice coming from her bedroom when she's supposed to be snoozing--but as long as she stays in her bed we let her belt out her little ballads.

Eliana is helping out more and more around the house with making her bed, cleaning up her clothes and toys, she still loves to help with the dishwasher, and lately one of her favorite things to do is give Lillian her bottle.  Anytime Lillian's milk dribbles down her chin though, Eliana will rip the bottle out of her mouth, grab the burp cloth, and while she is smothering Lillian's face she'll declare, "Wipe mess!".  Every time I intervene, however Lillian never seems to mind how Eliana helps her.

Eliana has her little quirks, too.  Recently, she's grown attached to one of our beach towels and will often insist on having it on her head...at the table...while she eats.

We love Eliana and all the laughs she brings!