Eliana's new books

We recently bought a copy of the 1970's "Sesame Street Library" for Eliana. We got the box and opened it for her. She took out each book, stopping at times to describe the cover (e.g. Monster in airplane). She then sat down on the couch and went through each book almost page by page until she got to book number 1. We already had that volume and she recognized some of the stories. She got to the story with Bert trying to take a bath while Ernie wanted to play football and stepped through the story describing how Bert needed "one more thing" and how Ernie kept wanting to play football. We managed to get the last 30 seconds or so on tape, but not much more. After that story she just looked at the rest of the book.

Cow (Duck) -girl

Eliana climbed into an inflatable duck tub, took a piece of cord from one of her older pieces of clothing, tied it around the duck's neck, sat down in the tub and "rode" the duck like a horse. She kept saying "Yee-hah" while making the duck pop wheelies.

She then exclaimed that she was a cow-girl. Then that she was a girl-girl.

Who said life with a two-year-old is boring?

Gender Identification

Eliana decided today that she would classify all of her friends and toys as boys or girls (with accuracy). Somehow she determined that if she could "sleep" until morning on a "bed" she made up on the fireplace that she is a girl. Shortly afterwards she proclaimed that she had slept until morning and was a girl.

She then announced that the same test must be done by the other children (assuming those in her SS class at church) and her SS teachers/watchers. I don't know if she'll remember this until Sunday so she can make them try it. We'll see what happens (or more likely hear what happens).

Salvation Army

AL took Eliana to Hobby Lobby today (craft store chain down South). On the way in, they encountered a Salvation Army worker - collecting money, ringing bells, etc. AL gave Eliana a couple of coins to put in the pot. Eliana deposited the coins into the pot and went into the store with her mom. On the way out, they passed by the worker again. They walked a ways when Eliana remembered that she'd put some quarters in the pot. She asked "Where's my quarters?" AL explained that we donate money to help those less fortunate than we are. Eliana then responded with "You're joking me." Apparently she couldn't believe it even when mom explained this again because she still responded "You're joking me."

Here's hoping that the Salvation Army worker outside of the Hobby Lobby today got a small chuckle out of the experience if she overheard.

Cleanliness is a good thing, right?

Eliana came into the room today while AL was finishing a scarf she'd been working on for a while. Without warning, Eliana picked up the other end of the scarf and blew her nose.

Later, she came in to the living room after having used the potty all by herself. When asked to go and wipe herself, she promptly picked up a handy blanket on the floor and obeyed. We're very glad that this only lightly soiled the blanket and it was a good reminder that we need to be more specific when we ask her to do things.

Eliana - Cinderella

Lately she's taken to scrubbing floors (or bathtubs after her bath) and singing the little line from Cinderella where the sisters are taking their music lessons "Sweet Nightengale" (a very brief line of the song) over and over. She also tries to clean up with her broom pretty regularly.