First, the festivities started with a pre-birthday haircut, since it had been a few months. Julean came to our house this time, she is now doing house calls rather than working in a salon.
Here's the final cut, it came out well:
Nene and Bampi had just arrived that night. Nene was impressed enough with Eliana's haircut to get a haircut also.
The next night, we celebrated the first Passover seder with Aunt Ann, Uncle David, Lauren, Josh, and many other family members. Eliana came to her first seder and did pretty well--she lasted until about 8pm, then got tired and we put her to sleep in Lauren's room. I don't have many pictures, since we were busy seder-ing, but here is one of Eliana & Bampi:
In honor of Eliana's upcoming birthday, our family members sang her "Happy birthday." However, she wasn't expecting this and didn't know what to make of everyone singing and looking at her, so she started to cry! We resolved to prepare her better next time; even the happy birthday song is something you have to get used to.
The next day, April 9, was Eliana's actual birthday. Nene & Bampi got a special Passover cake to celebrate. Eliana could barely wait to take a bite:
On the weekend we had an actual party for Eliana, with some family members and friends, and a flourless chocolate cake for Passover.
Eliana got more into the birthday ritual with a little practice! I helped her blow out her candles, but she was blowing too. No sure whether she made a wish, that might be something to take on next year.
Another highlight was opening presents, her buddy Nico helped with the ripping and unwrapping:
I helped read the cards:
And Nene helped get Eliana in the party mood:
The weekend would not have been complete without a visit to the local sandbox:
Now that she's two, Eliana has been asserting her independence. She often says, "let me do it!" and "I want to do it myself!" She loves to sing, and sometimes when we sing with her, she'll say, "Let me sing it!" We try to give her choices that allow her to be independent. For example, between standing on her stool to wash her hands in the sink or having her hands washed with the washcloth, she'll stand by the sink every time.
She even insisted on walking the dog the other day for the first time:
Since Eliana weighs 22 pounds and Shiloh weighs about 30 pounds, I was concerned that Shiloh might knock Eliana over. But Shiloh was a great dog and followed Eliana's lead. It may have helped that we followed the path we take every morning, across the street and five houses down to Lucy's house; Shiloh probably knows the way like the back of her paw. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
And, lots of change coming up. Interestingly enough, the other day Eliana said, "I'm going to Boston." I wondered why she said that, since we haven't been talking to her about it directly. Turns out our babysitter had not said anything either. Apparently she overheard that we are going to Boston, since we have been talking about it with friends.
Today she asked me, "Where's your belly, mommy?" I showed her my belly and asked if she knew what was inside. She said, "Yes, a baby." And then she said, "there's a baby in my belly too" and pointed to her belly, which does, in fact, have a little toddler roundness. Guess our family is really growing!
Along the same lines, we recently got a book called, "New baby in the house." We'll ask her whether we're going to have a new baby in the house, and she says yes, and points to her baby doll.
So..we continue to enjoy Eliana's perspective and expressions, as we move through this time of transition, she reminds us to be in each moment, not get too far ahead, and keep smiling.
No comments:
Post a Comment