eliza says, vol. 7

Eliza is the best. She is our little buddy. Having a baby around makes me relish in our moments alone together, just me and E. They come in roughly 30 minute spurts throughout the day, when the baby falls asleep, and it's so hard for me to realize I need to not do the dishes and go play with my three-year-old. It's like I have to switch gears and turn off my brain, and just say "yes." Yes, Eliza. Let's do whatever you want to do right now. Let's do it now before the baby wakes up, before I need to make dinner, before I need to send you to bed. It's so hard.

We play dress-up, we play kitchen, we have picnics on the porch, we make dinner together. We read a lot of books. Books are easy to do while I am holding the baby. Eliza is very good at turning the pages on her own now. 

And, we talk.

Eliza is so fun to talk to now. She tells entire stories, using sound effects and movement. She describes things that happened months and years ago- her memory is so sharp. She makes plans for the future- fun things we will do as a family or with friends. 

She is my little friend. I think having a newborn with another kid running around can be seriously difficult, but it can also be your saving grace. I can remember how hard it was having a baby staring you in the face, crying and crying, with no one else at home to talk to. It can drive you crazy. But, having Eliza around to chat with makes it so much easier to keep my sanity and feel like a human being. I love that little human of mine.

Eliza says:

her chatter play- I love Eliza's voice. It is like the ringing of a jingle bell- super high-pitched and, well, jingly. Eliza has quiet time/nap time every afternoon, and I love listening to her chatter while she plays. Her little voice bounces around the room, with an occasional crescendo when the action gets interesting in her imaginary world. It is the most beautiful music. I have decided that one of these days, I will record hours of her playtime chatter, and when I am old and lonely, I will set up a speaker in another room and play it all day long, letting it waft through my house. Jingle, jingle, jingle.

"I love your hair, Mama"- Eliza is extremely complimentary. She loves to tell you if she likes something of yours, whether it be your outfit or your hair. She doesn't gush through a compliment, though- she states it very matter-of-factly and sweetly, "Oh, I love your sweater, Papa."

"My bonk bed"- Eliza is officially a big girl now. She no longer sleeps in her convertible crib/toddler bed. Now, that girl slumbers on the top of a bunk bed with a princess canopy and fairy lights. She calls it her "bonk bed." It is everything. I was so nervous about the bunk bed thing, but I knew that we would need to come up with some sort of space-saving option for when the baby came. I also wanted to make this transition special for her. To show her that being a big sister didn't just mean the addition of a screaming, crying, and totally useless tiny human. I wanted her to know that change could be a good thing, and something to be excited about. And, seeing her all tucked in with a big girl bedspread under that canopy with a bookshelf within arms reach- that's what every little girl deserves.

"Can I have this for Christmas?"- I started offsetting Eliza's wants and needs, by telling her that she can "put it on her Christmas list." It has worked like a charm. Pure parenting genius. The only downside could be when she actually starts remembering this "Christmas list." For now, we just "add" things to do it all throughout the day. Let's hope she's not too disappointed when she doesn't receive that pineapple hat...

"Saves the day!"- Eliza loves superheroes lately. There was one day, when I finally started to figure out the "mother of two" thing- I had Sadie asleep and strapped in the Ergo, and the perfect pocket of time to actually give some attention to Eliza. I sat on the chair in her room and we played "Super Eliza" for a glorious half hour. I would gather all of her dolls and animals on my lap, and without even having to get up or disturb the baby, I would chuck them across the room or up on to her bunk bed while shouting, "Oh no! Sage-y Baby has been kidnapped by the one-eyed monster! He is keeping her up in his cave! 'Save me, Super Eliza!'" And Eliza, wrapped up in her superhero cape and magic wand, would climb up onto her bed to save the baby. "Super Eliza saves the day!" Over and over and over- it never got old. I loved that day.

"She's so damatic" (dramatic)- We apparently use this a lot. Because yes, Eliza is sometimes very dramatic. Well, she just recently started using it herself. The other day, she said that Sadie was being "so damatic." I could not stop laughing. At some point Sam explained to her the meaning of the word, and so when asked, "What does dramatic mean, Eliza?" she says very matter-of-factly, "Ovowy emoshomo." (overly emotional)

"My robot shirt."- My friend has a really cute shop, called Mochi Kids, where she sells shirts that she has designed and screen-printed by hand. Eliza has a little tank top with the Kawaii Boombox on it. Seeing as how Eliza was born in 2013, she has no idea what a boombox is. So, she thinks it's a robot. 
She loves her robot shirt. When Sadie was born, I completely gave up on trying to do anything beyond what was absolutely necessary. Trying to referee Eliza's outfits each day fell to the bottom of my list. So, for three weeks straight, Eliza wore that robot shirt every. single. day. I will not admit to how often I actually washed it between wears.

"It's massive!"- This is one of my lesser proud mom moments. It started with my desperate search for nursing- friendly dresses. I wanted to get something nice for Sadie's blessing day, since I knew we would be taking family pictures. But, nothing I had fit me yet. Or, it would be impossible to feed the baby in. I went online and ordered a bunch of nursing options from ASOS so I could try them on and return the ones that didn't work. It was the best, because they have free returns which meant I got to fill up that virtual shopping cart like nobody's business. But, the worst when they arrived and I had to try on each and every piece over my postpartum body. My mom was in town, and so we were discussing all the clothes one at a time. I must have said, "But, it's massive!" several times. I remember it. The dresses were so big and frumpy, and then when I put them on they looked even worse. I was having some serious post-baby body blues. Anyway, the next day, Eliza kept saying, "But, it's massive!" And I couldn't figure out why. I realized she was saying it whenever she was referring to something as "gross" or "disgusting," and then I made the connection. Eliza had equated the word "massive" to "gross" because of the way I was using it when talking about the clothes, and my body. I felt horrible. It was my first experience with body image and my daughter. And, I hope to start paying attention to how I describe my body from now on. It's scary to realize how much she is picking up, even when the conversation isn't directed at her. On a lighter note though, it was kind of funny hearing her say, "Ew, it's so massive!" like some sort of teenbop term, circa 2000.

"Can you draw me a vampire squid?"- Have you ever seen Octonauts? It is one of the best kids' shows out there. We love it. The characters are so cute, and they teach Eliza so much about the ocean. The other day, Eliza brought me a pencil and paper and asked me, "Can you draw me a vampire squid? It has spikes." (vampire squids)