The Wonder of Eloise

Eloise has grown and developed so much since we have been here. I thought I would devote one whole post to the Wonder of Eloise.

Eloise Grace Clark (also known as: Eloiser, Ellie, EG, Smeloise, Yeloise, Eloisicus, or Eloisee by the throngs of admirers) has been walking now for two months. This is a wonderful new advancement in her motor skills mostly because she can play at the school with other kids which provides lots of fun for everyone. Her new ability proves to be a bit of a problem now and then, when she has something she is not supposed to. When I notice that she has something unsanitary (dirty dish rag from the laundry) or something that might be a choking hazard (an entire dinner roll), Eloise takes the opportunity to run and hide. When I get close enough to retrieve the contraband item it then goes in the mouth as if hiding it there will get me off her back. It is quite amusing.

Eloise takes after her mother, she loves to read. She is very content to sit in my lap and hear the same stories over and over and over and over. She loves Fox and Socks, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Oh The Thinks you can Think, Mother Goose, and Noah's Ark. Her favorite thing is to sit in Daddy's lap and read the Noah's Ark book because Paul makes up ridiculous animal sounds. Animals that don't make noise all of a sudden do and animals that do make noise make the wrong noise. Eloise has become pretty unforgiving of books. I have used up a roll of packing tape repairing tears in pages. She has done a number on Skippy John Jones. That will need some doctoring when I get some more tape.

Ellie knows where her head is. When you ask her where it is, she puts both hands on her head and grins from ear to ear. I was teaching her eyes and nose. She stuck her finger up my nose instead of pointing to her own nose.

When we sing "If you're happy and you know it..." Eloise claps her hands at all the right parts. We are now working on stomping our feet. That is coming rather slowly because whenever we have practice sessions Eloise just sits down. We read Mother Goose and in the mad flipping of pages we often stumble across This Little Piggy. Eloise always sticks her foot up for me to wiggle her toes and cry "wee wee wee all the way home". I can claim no credit for this next feat, but she always claps through Pat A Cake. I think the Gram-mar or Grammy Grammy may have sewn the Pat A Cake seeds or my daughter is a genius.

We have to keep the bathroom door closed constantly or Eloise will get into the toilet or the garbage. It is not so pleasant fishing used, wadded up tissue out of her mouth.

She loves taking my mug after I have finished drinking hot cocoa. She licks the rim of chocolate off the edge of the cup. When she is done she has chocolate marks all over her face. She just beams up at me with brown smudges all over her chubby little cheeks. It is adorable and totally worth drinking extra hot cocoa to see.

Lately Eloise has taken an interest in shoes (that's my girl). She loves to put on our shoes and stomp through the house. There is usually some tripping and some tumbling. She had Paul's Bunny Boots on yesterday. They were as tall as her legs. She tried so hard to shuffle along. Finally Paul took pity on her and helped her walk with them.

Eloise has been able to sign a few things for a while. The first sign she signed was 'more'. Now when I ask her if she wants more of something she takes my hands and makes them do the signing.She eats just about everything we do. She is pretty adventurous. There are very few things that she refuses to eat. She loves to eat Salmon. She moved to the right place because we have that in abundance. Eating is an event all its own. There is food everywhere, the sippy cup gets thrown across the room.So much for calm quiet dinners.

Eloise can say NO and YAH. It is funny to have a well timed NO. One of the kids was visiting. He was playing on the stairs. Eloise kept saying "no-no-no" knowing that he wasn't supposed to be on the stairs.

Peek A Boo is  the best now that she is mobile. She hides behind things and pops out. Instead of saying BOO she says BAH.

Eloise has been dumping all her refrigerator magnets in the laundry hamper. I have to make sure to shake clothes out before I dump them into the washer or it will be alphabet soup. I fished a Z and T out of the washer the other day.

Everyday is a new and wonderful experience with Eloise. She is a delight and the sunshine that fills our lives. Her charming personality is entertaining and makes us fall more in love with our daughter every day. We are so thankful for our growing bundle of energy and joy.

Love to you all!!!