One and a Half

18 months today!

Eliza is all energy and curiosity. She's figured out how to pull the step stool up the bathroom sink and turn on the water. She can be found standing on a chair, the coffee table or trying to scale the dining room table. She opens the caps to all our pens and markers and threatens to fall off our bed at every twirl. No is a favorite word and is the answer to all questions. Did you have a good day at school? No. Are you hungry? No. Is your name Eliza? No. When she doesn't get what she wants she screams and throws herself on the floor. We call her Tyrannobaby and Baby Menace.

Still she can be sweet as tapioca pudding, bringing you an animal book to read and sitting herself down quietly in front of you or on your lap. Her vocabulary has doubled at least in the past month and mainly consists of animal words. She's switched from calling me Mama to Mommy which is what greets us at 6:15 am in the morning from the next room over. She has moved out of the infant room at school into the toddler room where she sleeps on a mat and baby bottles are banned. She refuses to use a sippy cup but I'm hoping with persistence that will change. Her smile transforms her face. She adores Addie. She's confident and loving. She has no idea her life is going to change in July when her baby brother is born.

Happy year and a half Eliza Wren! You make me laugh and I love you.