Mismash of Updates

These two pictures are from the beginning of February after the big snow storm.  Eliana and I were playing outside when our neighbor Katherine joined us.  She is ten, but she treated Eliana like a big girl.  She would show Eliana ice formations, how to dig in the snow to make a cave, and how to use the icy cellar cover as a slide.  I was really impressed with how kind and considerate she was especially with Eliana being so much younger than her.  When it was time to go inside, Katherine said Eliana could come over any time to play.

This was Eliana's favorite thing to do in the snow.

One morning Eliana was holding her cereal bowl and cup above her head.  I couldn't figure out what she was doing until I finally understood her saying "I'm Jesus!"  That's when I realized that she was holding up her cup and bowl like the priest does during the consecration.  (Eliana often gets the priest and Jesus mixed up.)  How cute is that?  I guess she is paying more attention in mass than I realized.  All was going well until the next picture . . .

Now Eliana has tipped her cup a little too far and is dripping milk down her back.  That's when playing priest game had to end.  By the way, this is not the only time Eliana has pretended to be Jesus.  Yesterday after her bath, she grabbed her white changing pad and wrapped it around her.  Then she announced, "I'm Jesus!"  I guess because Jesus is often dressed in white?

I found Eliana in her room like this today - she had her pink baby glowworm in the stroller on top of her bed.  Why?  Who knows.  She just loves playing in her bed right now.

My cutie

 Eliana's sleep strike lasted two weeks, but hopefully we are finally getting past it.  I think our main issue was separation anxiety from our trip to Mexico and leaving Eliana for five days.  This past weekend we went to Indianapolis to celebrate my mom and my brother's birthday, plus go to a wedding of one of David's good friends.  On the drive to Grandma and Grandpa's house, Eliana kept crying and saying she wanted to go home.  I think she was afraid that we were going to leave her again.  Since we didn't and stayed WITH her at Grandma and Grandpa's, I think she was reassured that we are here to stay.  Since we have been back, she has slept through the night the last two nights!  Last night she slept from 7:30pm to 6:50am.  Can you believe it?  Gosh, a full night's sleep feels so good.  Eliana now also has a nightlight and a toddler alarm clock in her room (per the suggestion of a good friend :)).  The alarm clock turns green when it is time to get up (whatever time you set it for).  Now when I put Eliana to bed at night, I tell her that mommy is just across the hall in her bedroom and that I'm not leaving.  I tell her I will see her in the morning after her light turns green, and that Mickey will be with her all night long until then.  So far it has worked.  Raising a toddler is such a fluid thing.  You never know what phase they will go through next or how long it will last.  During the sleep strike when I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep, I felt like this phase would never end, and my life was doomed from here on out.  But now I look back and say, wow that was only two weeks.  Really, that wasn't too bad.  Of course, everything looks better after a full night of sleep. 

In other news, David is finishing up his night shift rotation in the ICU.  Only 7 more nights and we will have Daddy back in our lives again.  A few weekends ago, he went to a curling class with some guy friends.  Curling as in the Olympic sport, not as in doing hair.  He had a great time and would love to do it again.  I hope he signs up for the on going class.  I think it would be a pretty cool thing to do. 

And finally, Eliana's new favorite word is "Why?"  She says this approximately 200 times a day.  A typical conversation goes like this:
Mommy:  "Eliana, don't rip that page in the book."
Eliana: "Why?"
Mommy: "Because it ruins that book."
Eliana: "Why?"
Mommy: "Because then you can't read it."
Eliana: "Why?"
Mommy: "Because you tore that page out and then it gets lost."
Eliana: "Why?"
Mommy:  "I don't know why you tore the page out.  Just don't do it."
Eliana: "Why?"
Mommy: "Because I said so!"