Figure 1.
baby Fred
As I mentioned before, Eliza is obsessed with babies. She loves her baby doll. But, she also loves any baby at all. Remember, Baby Fred? (This is a baby announcement from a friend that we have up on our fridge.) Well, here he is. As you can tell, he has been very loved. She insists on taking him down from our fridge and giving him big hugs and kisses.
bottles
Eliza has a thing for bottles. She loves taking the lids on and off, and sometimes attempts to get at what's inside. I felt bad when I was always taking them away from her and hiding them in the bathroom cabinets. I'm always trying to come up with alternate ways of saying, "No," because I feel like that can be rough on a kid to always here, "No, no, no" all day. So, I bought Eliza a pack of empty travel bottles, filled them with water, and put them in a cosmetic bag. It's been a great distraction!
backpack
Tiny backpack! When we go out, she gets to fill it with books and toys. Sometimes she won't take it off when I put her in the stroller. So, I have to empty it and strap her in with it still on her back.
animals
She is completely enamored by animals. She can always point them out when she sees them anywhere. She mostly calls them by their noises: A cow is "Moo," an owl is "Hoo," a snake is "Ssss," etc. These pieces are from a memory game that we love, illustrated by Charlie Harper.
Figure 2.
This is a collection of Eliza's "fancy" things:
bracelets, necklaces, sunglasses, bows, and the sparkle purse.
Any jewelry really. Any accessory that she can put on herself, and feel fancy. Sometimes I catch her admiring her accessories in the mirror, slowly swaying back and forth. She picked out those sunglasses, and asks to wear them often. She is (finally!) very into wearing bows- she will ask for her "bow" when her hair gets in her eyes. She actually leaves it in all day, except when she's sitting in her carseat, where she gets angry bored and rips it out to toss it. But then, right when I go to unbuckle her after, the first thing she says is, "Bow??" and I have to go find it and put it back in her hair.
The sparkle purse is my favorite thing ever. She picked it out at a thrift store, placed it daintily in the crook of her elbow, and marched around the store. I couldn't say no. It was the best. She goes in and out of phases where she insists on grabbing it every time we leave the house, and carrying it all day. At first, she would never let me put anything inside of it. But, she is now realizing how fun it is to store treasures. So, now it's not uncommon to find it bulging with Chapstick and jewelry. Also, when the sun hits those sequins and the sparkles dance across the ceiling of the car, her face lights up like a disco ball and it makes her smile. She will then spend the rest of the car ride trying to figure out how it works.
Oh, and speaking of Chapstick. All of mine keep disappearing because she feels so fancy taking the lid on and off and smearing it on (or around) her lips. I love this.
Figure 3.
balloons
Eliza loves balloons. Her words for balloon sounds vaguely similar to "ball" but with a slightly different inflection. She can spot a balloon anywhere- at the store, on the street, in a book. She will be "baaallllllll"ing for five minutes before I finally realize she is pointing at a tiny balloon four aisles away. I keep a bag of balloons at home, and I inflate one every once in awhile to make her smile.
chair
A friend gave us a set of these little chairs, and she was so excited. She is always delighted to find any sort of seat that is her size- a curb, a chair, a bench. She will back it up until her little bum finds a surface at just the right height. She especially loves finding little seats when she's eating. Like, if she has a snack at the park, she will try to insert her rear onto the lowest rung of the ladder to chew on her grapes or crackers. But, these days- tiny chairs suddenly open up a whole new world for this girl. She pushes them around the house and climbs up on top. Now, she can reach everything! My favorite is when she pushes it up against the window, pulls back the curtain, and yells "Herro!" at people passing by. (I also love that "hello" sounds like the men at the Chinese restaurant in A Christmas Story- "Fa, ra, ra, ra, ra!")
In the past few months, Eliza has learned all about pockets. She loves reaching in your pockets. Sam will hide treasures in the pockets, so that when he gets home she can dig around and find them. She loves putting things in her own pockets. When we go for walks, we have to stop quite a bit to pick up rocks and things to put in her jacket pocket. And then, we have to stop twice as often, just to reach in and make sure they are still there. She is the best.
shoes
She loves shoes. She loves her own shoes. She loves your shoes. She loves putting Sam's shoes on and walking around the house. (She's pretty darn good at it now!) And, she loves trying to put her own shoes on. When I tell her, "Let's put your shoes on!" she gets really excited because that means we are going out!
Also, have you seen this video? Eliza is obsessed with it. I am only ever allowed to play it a minimum of five times in a row. She loves to point out the tiger, bubbles, and horse. I'm pretty sure we have already contributed to about 50 of those hits, and it's only been out a few days. But, I don't feel bad about it. It's never too early for good music, right? And, it's such a magical video!
