eliza says, vol. 8

Eliza has always been the girl of a million faces. Do you remember this breakfast photo shoot? The photo above is what I call the "scrunchy nose smile." It's what she does when she is up to no good and being mischievous. Or, when I get her all dressed up and ask her to smile and she wants to push my buttons. The photo below is her "salty stare." It's what she does when she is legitimately mad, or I've taken too many photos and she wants to go inside now. It is often accompanied with a foot stomp and hands on hips.

Eliza makes me laugh lately. She also makes me cry a little. Cry because she suddenly looks HUGE and is acting like a small tween, and cry because she drives me absolutely bonkers crazy. I don't have the energy to wax poetic about this miss today, but just know that I love her beyond anything imaginable. And, between her crusty stares and Sadie's crusty diapers, I am so ready to call it quits in all future baby making endeavors. 

Love you, E.

Eliza says:

"Why?"- I'm sure I have mentioned this before, but this is the question I hear 24 hours a day. Eliza is one of those "why" kids. It is simultaneously annoying and pride-inducing. I mean,  I'm proud because she has always been our curious one, and continues to grow more smart and more adventurous. 95% of the things I say are followed by a "why?" from Eliza. And every answer to a "why" is followed by a string of additional "whys." I am teaching myself to be patient and answer her questions. It makes me think about what the answer actually is, because I would rather teach her the correct answer than something made up. But, really I can only answer about five "whys" in a row before I trail off with a typical, "Just because!"

"Eliza"- I know I have also mentioned that Eliza prefers her preschool teachers to pronounce her name in Spanish. Well, apparently she has been correcting several adults on this matter. When she went to church recently, they introduced her as Eliza and she said, "No, my name is E-lee-sa." To the point that I watched one of her friends trying to get her attention at the park, "Eliza! Eliza!.... E-LEE-SA!"

"Never, ever!"- Eliza has always been a bit dramatic. When she is upset now, she runs into her room and slams the door and then wails about how hard her life is. She includes several "Never, ever, evers." Such as, "I never, ever, ever want you to be my mama ever, ever again!" She also likes to make sure the neighbors are well aware of the fact that, "My mama is not being nice!!"

sharing stickers- Eliza LOVES stickers. But, the second she gets her hands on a sheet she immediately pulls them all off one by one and distributes them to the people around her. This may include Sadie or her own baby dolls. Also, my rear as I walk past, and don't discover until I have already been to five stores that day with a huge Elsa sticker stuck to my pants. The stickers then float around the house on dirty laundry, or stuck to the bottoms of our socks. And then they die in the washing machine. She also like to remind us of the rule, "No stickers on Sadie's skin, only on her clothes." This rule was implemented after she covered Sadie's face in stickers and they left little heart-shaped welts when removed. Poor baby sister.

fortune cookie- Eliza got a fortune cookie, and asked me to read the fortune for her. I read, "Someone you know and admire will honor you soon." I watched her work that over in her head, and then she replied. "Hmm, maybe it's Sage.... Or, Jesus."

singing- Eliza has recently found a love for singing. She has always loved us to sing for her, but she never wanted to sing herself. But, now, you can find her singing several favorite songs a day. Mind you, this child has absolutely no sense of tone or tune. And, when she is singing along to the music, she is always about five words behind. I love it. At her preschool holiday show, they sang three songs for the parents. She got bored in the third round of Feliz Navidad and started shimmying a little, which progressed into a few very well-placed and technically beautiful pliés. She flashed a huge smile at me, and then finished the verse off with a rousing, "from the bottom of my heaaaaaarrrrrtttt!"

hand and head gestures- Sometimes when Eliza is telling a story she adds in the funniest hand and head gestures. She often tilts her head to the side and bobs it up and down while she talks. Then, puts one hand on her hip and has the other hand waves around to add emphasis.

"Can you believe it?"- She tacks this saying on to her statements often. "We got to go outside to play, can you believe it?!"

prayers- Our church organized a really great calendar leading up to Christmas, in which you were asked to follow Christ's example "25 ways in 25 days." Many of the challenges were service-oriented. Eliza and I really enjoyed doing these, and I felt like like it changed the way we see and do things on a daily basis. It gave us the opportunity to look around us and find ways to serve others, and provided some really nice teaching moments for our family. The sweetest result of those daily service opportunities were Eliza's prayers. She has included a string of requests in her prayers, and still says them each night- "Please bless the people who don't have houses, and the people who don't have glasses. Please bless the people who are sick..."

"Papa's energy"- We donated a few bags of feminine hygiene products to a local shelter, and Eliza had some questions. "What are those?" "Well, these are things that mamas need to take care of themselves. And some mamas don't have any, so we are going to give them some." "Oh... do they turn into babies?" "No, they don't." "Oh yeah, because the papa's 'energy' goes in to the mama and that turns into a baby." (said very matter-of-factly) What!? I seriously have never explained it to her like that. It's now our favorite thing to quote, Sam and I. The "papa's energy"!

memory- Eliza has a mind like a trap. She can remember every single detail from any part of her life. She will be babbling on about some story, and I have no idea what she's talking about. Then, an hour later, I realize she was recalling something from two years ago... as in, when she was a year and a half old. She won't let you forget anything either. Especially hollow promises, like treat bribes.