Eliza at 22 months

Once again, I better get this post up since Eliza will be another month older next week. Still playing blog catch-up.

The word of the month would most definitely be "self." Eliza demands to do everything "self." And I mean everything. We do let her do lots of them even though it takes three (or more) times longer to let her do them herself. We have put our foot down in denying some of the requests like changing Caleb's diaper (or hers), driving the car, and pouring the milk, to name a few.

Speaking of milk, Eliza really likes cold cereal. She requests it for every meal. What's gross is that she especially likes it soggy. Mike (who is usually the one giving her breakfast) puts whatever she doesn't finish in the fridge for the next day. I was about to throw it out before he told me that's how she likes it. I about vomit when I see her shoveling in the congealed mass into her mouth.

We have a wooden kids' chair that Eliza carries with her all over the house. It allows her to get into everything. Here I found her splashing in the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink (once again wearing Mike's socks over her PJs). I told her it was gross because the dishes were dirty, but she said she was "washing."

She uses the chair to get things off my dresser. When she took down the little frame with Lily's footprints, Mike told her that those were her big sister Lily's footprints. Now when she sees them she points and says "Lily's." It's pretty cute.

Eliza is a great big sister. She sincerely cares about Caleb's well-being. She worries so much about him when he cries and is sad. She has an amazing knack for making Caleb smile. She's very good at pointing out his emotions (happy, sad, laughing, crying, etc).

I got the following picture when I told her to smile by saying "show me your teeth."

I didn't tell her to open her eyes as wide as they would go. She did that one on her own.

More than half of this month of Eliza's life was spent in California for Christmas vacation. Sadly, she spent a while of it being sick with whatever was passed around to nearly everyone in the extended family (Mike and I were among the few who were spared).

Stay tuned for our post about Christmas break for more pictures of Eliza's adventures this month.

A few more notes on Eliza this past month:

• She loves playing Ring Around the Rosie(s).
• She is about 32 lbs.
• She loves to color.
• She is very good at sharing.
• She has a very good memory.
• She is energetic and friendly.
• She rarely sleeps in her bed (If I weren't so behind on the blog I may have lamented this point more, but since I know this one will be resolved in the 23 month post, I won't bore you with the details).