Our Growing Girl

I don't remember the last time I took Eliana outside just to take pictures.  Although this trip outdoors also including getting the mail, I hoped I'd get a few nice shots.  I think there was such a long season of Eliana being a blur in initial photo shoots that I took a break.  Trying to get her to smile for a photo isn't happening much, but she did stand mostly still while I took a few photos.

 Thanks Elaine for the special necklace from New Zealand!  I'm hopeful that it will help her as she has her 2 year molars coming in any time now.

 These photos above and below were actually from June, but the outdoor look matched this post.  Plus I really don't know how much longer Eliana will nap, so it made sense to me to put them all together.  Eliana loves to be outside.  Drawing with chalk is a current favorite hobby.  She enjoys "helping" me with whatever I am drawing.  So there is often an animal with lovely stripes or spots on it from her handy work.

I'm amazed at how much she has grown from her 1st to her 2nd birthday.  In that year she learned to walk, run, and is currently working on jumping (which is hilarious to watch).  She feeds herself pretty well when she is interested in the food set before her.  Just last night I noticed that she is taller than the kitchen table.  I remember the season of her hitting her head on the underside of the table.  She loves to help do the dishes, switch the loads of laundry, sweep the floor, and just about anything else we do.  This morning she wanted moose in her hair since I was putting some in mine.  I tried to explain that she needs to wait until she has long curly hair, but she persistently asked for moose.  Needless to say she wasn't thrilled when I said no and put it away.  She figured out how the baby locks work on the few cabinets we keep them on.  She hasn't unloaded a cabinet for us, and she doesn't get in them unless we are talking about something she knows is in them.  For example, I mentioned needing to her some medicine, and she went and unlocked the cabinet for me.  We moved the medicine up to a top cupboard that she can't reach.  We'll continue to train her not to go in certain cabinets, but I wasn't willing to risk having the medicine in the same location.  This morning Iheard her saying parts of nursery rhymes,"Baa Baa Sheep.  Have any more?  Yes sir, Yes sir."  and "Twinkle, twinkle... twinkle, twinkle... wonder and then repeated"  which she says for all the words but in different sing-song voices.  Our little girl is growing, and we love her dearly.