Eliza at 18 months

Eliza is 18 months old today. She is so fun right now.

The first word that comes to mind is busy. She’s always stacking or carrying or climbing. Eliza really craves new experiences right now. She loves to be in the kitchen with me and empty cabinets of pots or drawers of spoons. One night this week she even helped me set the table and loved running back and forth, table to kitchen, one spoon and potholder at a time. Sacrament is pretty manageable as long as I bring something to do. One time she just took the crayons out of the box and put them back in for like two talks.

She’s been going to nursery for a few months now which had been combined with her big brother’s Sunbeam class so she’s been happy. But now that she is eighteen months old she’s like that’s ok, where’s my mom? Of course.

Miss Eliza is very communicative but mostly physically still. She used to stop everything to concentrate on nodding her head but nodding and shaking her head are part of her everyday actions now. Yesterday we heard her say “yes” for the first time, when Jacob asked if she’d like a cookie.

She is very much a chatter box. She loves to join in on our evening ritual of sharing a good memory or favorite part of the day. When she is asked she always starts with “uuhmmmm” just like the rest of us, and then she’ll babble for quite a bit. She wants to be heard but can’t get her mouth to say what she wants it to. But she has mastered some important words like: Dada, Momma, Isaac (i-da), Anna, Please (pees), Up, Yeah, Apple, MeMe, Poppa, Hello, and Buh bye. Tonight she answered our nightly question with “I don’t know” (the syllables plus shrug and upturned hands make this one adorable).

She loves playing with her big siblings. They chase and wrestle. They pretend with food and with babies. And one of my favorites is to watch the bigs tuck Eliza in. She’ll lie on the floor or couch and they lay a blanket over her while she holds super still and then breaks out. Isaac sometimes helps baby sit:

She loves going outside to run all over the yard, explore with freedom, and practice her stair climbing. We have more stairs outside than in. I thought we moved here for Isaac to run around but apparently we moved to the country for all our 18 month olds to have freedom of movement, and also for our older kids to have that freedom as well. They all love making forts and climbing trees and chasing chickens!

My sweet girl has been taking a regular nap and going to bed on time with her siblings. This has been such a gift! Jacob and I were able to plant twelve trees in two nap times this fall. I just love our little orchard. Teething and a bout of runny noses disrupted the routines a bit this holiday season but it is nice to know it can be done: having three kids across five years sleep in the same room without losing their minds. Although I thought I had lost mine when Isaac cried moooooommmmmmy at three am and woke up the whole house but even separate rooms wouldn’t have saved his sisters from that time when I went to comfort him he just said “it’s wake up time, Mom.” Sigh

Eliza even braved the snow to play outside with all of us on our one snow day this year. She was patient while we bundled up and loved walking around in her boots. She tried to keep up with the boys wherever they went. I loved playing in the snow with all my kids! I hope we get some more snow this winter.

My youngest has been trained to all the recurring beeps and noises in our home. She jumps and tells us that there is something that needs our attention when we get a phone call, or a timer goes off, or when the driveway alarm beeps (which is sometimes a family member and sometimes the mail delivery but mostly just deer). It’s quite jolting and she usually has to hop up from wherever she is to look out the window or walk towards the phone. And then she rambled on presumably about how you should handle the noise. Love that special cutie.

She also loves to color. She knows how to hold a pencil or crayon and has a temperment to keep them on a paper instead of all over the place. Right now she’s carrying the magnet drawing board all over the house to scribble on.

My favorite part about her current stage is her understanding of the words “hug”, “kiss”, and “bye”. Mom life is so rewarding with tiny toddler hands wrapped around your neck or waving buh bye to you.

Happy one and a half little cutie!