The Ringleader

Someone has recently become a little obsessed with taking pictures of her favorite friends.
She gathers them together very carefully...
...then tries desperately to climb into the chair in front of the computer without dropping one. "Pictures? Pictures?" she pleads.
Some of them are cuter than others. I'll leave you to your own opinions.
Frankly, I find the monkey to be a bit of a strange choice. But who can say no to that face?


I don't think I've given much of an update on Miss Eden recently. We haven't been to the doctor in several months so I've no idea what her height and weight are at the moment. But lately she has seemed, almost all of a sudden, much more of a little girl than a baby or even a toddler. She can be amazing and confounding and utterly delightful and completely provoking. She surprises me everyday with what she can do and what she knows and just with the incredible little person she is becoming.

She can run. Fast. She can also do pull-ups.

She can recognize and name most of the letters of the alphabet, although not in order for the most part, and pretty much never on command.

She has recited her numbers from 1 to 10 several times, once going to 11 and then tagging a 19 on the end for good measure.

I've stopped counting her words. She knows a lot.

She still calls flowers "waffles." Blueberries are still "happies." Daddy and doggy are virtually indistinguishable - but if you ask her which one she is referring to, she'll add a little "ruff, ruff!" to be helpful, if it's appropriate.

We've noticed she seems to be picking up just a little grammar too (although a bit inaccurately). More than one sheep are "sheeps," and when our two cats are sleeping curled up in the same bed, they become "Shebas."

She has a massive sweet tooth. She is highly suspicious of anyone eating anything in the vicinity of a recent cookie spotting. If you give her a chocolate chip cookie, she will carefully locate the visible chips and try to gnaw them out first before consuming the rest.

She still loves trucks, and buses, and trains. All motorcycles are "bicycles."

She has an absolutely amazing memory. She knows when we're driving to church just based on what she can see out of our back window. As soon as we pull into the parking lot for the mall she starts demanding to see the "horses" (the carousel). She remembers people and asks for them by name days after she has seen them. She seemingly memorizes new books from the library overnight and knows what animal or object is going to appear on the next page often well before I do.

She loves, loves, loves books. She will now go through all the books on her bookshelf at least once if not multiples times a day. She wants to be read to, she wants to look at the pictures, and sometimes, she wants to read aloud to herself. This is absolutely adorable because it is usually a bunch of meaningless jabber with key words thrown in. Thus, Everywhere Babies becomes "jabber jabber jabber babies!" on every page and We're Going on a Bear Hunt is read with a repetition of "uh oh!"

She is obsessed with Sesame Street. Particularly Elmo. She also loves watching the Bare Necessities clip from The Jungle Book on YouTube. "Bear?! Bear?!" she'll cry if she sees you open your computer.

She's not at all perfect, of course. Lately we are dealing with unwanted food being thrown on the floor and running away when it's time to go to bed (or when she wants to do anything other than what you are taking her to do). She gets frustrated easily and has the most high-pitched, ear-splitting shriek of anger that you can possibly imagine. And she can be so S-T-U-B-B-O-R-N.

She continues to be, as she was named, a "delight." I am so thankful to know her and to be able to watch her learn and grow and develop.