Eliza at 41 months

Eliza had such a fun summer.  Even though she didn't get to see her friends or leave Grammy's house very much, she kept very busy being Grammy's special helper.  She loved going out to the garden to pick produce in the morning. 

Eliza was very generous and good at sharing this month. One time she got two jellybeans for helping Caleb go potty and she gave one to Mike.  When we were camping she was concerned that there were only two marshmallows left and mom and dad hadn't had any.  She wanted to make sure that we got the last two.

Eliza and Caleb have been playing together really well.  They pretend all sorts of things and get very involved in their imagined adventures.  It's pretty fun to watch.

If you missed the story about the haircut Eliza gave herself, you can read about it here.

Eliza told me several times that she is "the best big sister."  It's usually after she goes out of her way to help Caleb or teach him something.  After he went potty one time, she gave him a big hug and said "Caleb, I'm so proud of you!"

Eliza is very friendly, almost too friendly.  Maybe because she had so little friend interaction this summer, she was extra friendly whenever we were in public.  Whenever we saw kids anywhere she'd say "Look, there's a friend we haven't met yet."  At the park she would go up to anyone (kid or adult) and introduce herself and Caleb and strike up a conversation.  I'm trying to teach her to just talk to kids and not be so friendly with adults she doesn't know.  I had an older man come up to tell me that Eliza just came up to him and started talking and playing with him.  Thankfully he was nice and probably just wanted me to know that he wasn't approaching her.  I'm glad that she is so good at making friends though.

A few cute anecdotes from this month:

-On a Monday afternoon, Eliza came to me and said "I have an idea for something we can do for family night tonight.  We can draw pictures for Lily.  We can put them in a bag and send them to Lily and Jesus."

-After noting that only birds fly and people have to fly in airplanes, she decided that if she practiced flapping her arms everyday she'd be able to fly.  She proceeded to give Mike and Caleb flying lessons.

-Eliza uses adverbs better than most adults.  In case you haven't noticed, adverbs are becoming extinct in spoken English, which makes Eliza's proper usage of them make her sound particularly educated.  It's funny what kids pick up on their own.

Eliza's first person drawing: