Inquiring minds want to know...

Dear Pea,
You are so inquisitive these days! Your catch phrase is some variation of "what that guy doing?": "What is that?" "What they doing?" "What that guy name?" "What I doing?" "What's mama's daughter doing?"

Oh, yeah, that's the other funny thing. You're big into familial relationships and will often refer to people in a relationship way instead of who they are. So I'm often "Eliza's mama" or "you baby's mama" and you are usually "mama's daughter" or "your baby." This extends to everyone we know and can get quite complicated as you go through siblings, cousins and friends. Your cousin will sometimes be Daddy's sister's baby, which blows my mind.

Another thing that blows my mind? You know your right and your left. Sweet Pea, I don't know my right from my left! Oh and your colors, too. That's pretty cute

You ask lots of questions and make lots of demands. You ask the same questions over and over and over again and make the same demands over and over and over again. I will often answer your question twice or three times, then turn it back on you ("what's that guy doing?" "He's sweeping the ground" "What's that guy doing, Mama?" "He's sweeping!" "Mama, what that guy doing?" "What's he doing, Eliza?" Pause, smile "He's sweeping up!" And so on.

You are also super into nicknames. You've decided that your nickname is "Elizie" and my nickname is equal parts "Mommy" and "Ayns."  Harper's is "Harpie" and Jeanmarie is "Jeams"

You also sing and dance a lot. You like to sing songs while you're playing by yourself, while you're walking down the street, while you're eating lunch, while you're face-timing with people. You know so many songs!
And then sometimes you make up songs and dance to them...

 The chocolate song. Are you my kid or what?

You have also finally taken an interest in some babies. You spent an hour playing with a 14 month old at the Y yesterday, passing the ball to him and crawling around. You have a brand new special friend, Ari, and he was the very first baby you held. You like to pet him and talk about how soft is head is. But your favorite babies are your "guys" (Baby Sienna pictrued here with real Baby Ari) and they still often travel with you. 

You've been sleeping in your own bed all night long, but will still sometimes come into our bed to snuggle around 6:30am and there are at least two babies who come with you, too. Yesterday there were four, that was a tough fit for your arms. But you refused to leave anyone behind.

Moods and termperment

Dear Pea,
Last week you were sick for over a week, with a phlegmy cough, runny nose and occasional vomiting. You slept a LOT during the day, often on my lap, and not so well at night. When you were awake, you were grouchy and contrary. It was a tough week for me, I had had it with your constant tantrums and soup mood, your insatiable appetite for milk and nothing else and the lack of sleep was not making anything easier. This week, you feel much better and the difference is astounding. I can't believe how much fun you are to be around. You are hilarious, signing mash-ups of your favorite songs ("We are the dinosaurs, what do you think of that? What do you think of that Black Sheep? Ba ba black sheep..") You are sleeping exclusively in your bed, sometimes with only one wake up a night/nap that lasts a minute or two. It's such a shift in your sleep and Daddy and I are so ready and happy that it's going this way.

You have fully embraced and embarked on imaginative play, having tea parties, cooking in your kitchen and wearing your baby doll. This morning you asked for cow's milk while we were having a tea party, so I got a carton of pretend milk and started to add it to the tea. You said "no, real milk!" Even though I know that you know we're playing pretend food and tea, it still sort of blew my mind to hear you articulate it like that.

You have hilarious phrasing. You use "actually" a lot now. "No, actually Daddy, I want to wear the blue shirt right now" "It's time for a bath. Actually, it's time for a story" etc. You just decided today that "Elizey" is your nickname. Someone asked you what your name is and you said "Elizey. Actually, that's my nickname" I did a double take, you smiled broadly and said "my name is Eliza but Elizey is my nickname"  Okay, then!  Maybe this stems from a friend Evelyn who we often call Evie...?

moxa-ing your legs in the midst of a bad cold

 Mickey and Minnie babywearing

 making binoculars out of a bracelet

 walking with your dolly in the yucky winter ice

 decorating a Valentine's cookie for Daddy

wearing my fancy shiny shoes. Walking in them better than me