A Little Bit of Baby

It's so hard to believe that we now have a three year old and in a few short weeks, a one year old. Where did our tiny babies go? A three year old is hardly a baby anymore but I had such an enjoyable morning with my little Elyse. After breakfast, she went over to the sofa, sat down and said, "Mommy, you want to snuggle with me?" Of course! I'll take any opportunity she'll give me these days to hold and cuddle her. While we snuggled, I inhaled in her pure scent. I hope I never forget the way she smells, a sweet mix of baby shampoo and apple jacks, her favorite. That's my Elyse, sweet as can be, and the snuggles and smell just reminded me of how small she still is. There is still a little bit of baby under the activity, chitter chatter and independence after all.

Speaking of chitter chatter, Elyse's conversational skills and personality are growing rapidly. Here are some of the funny "Elyse-isms" I've documented recently.

"We'll have to use a telescope!" - to look for her orange balloon that flew away as we left the mall.

"Mommy, you look so posh! Everyone looks so posh!" - learning words from Fancy Nancy.

"I want big diamonds." - when asked what she wanted for her birthday. I honestly have no idea where she got that.

"Daddy, I want to talk to Mommy now." or "Lila, I need to talk to you." - requesting a turn to speak at the dinner table.

"Mommy, you need to clean up Lola's poop." - informing me that it's time for my yard duties.

"I put the monster in time out!" - sometimes she is referring to Papa with this statement.

"Calm down, Dad!" or "Calm down!" - to anyone who is speaking fast or loud.

"I love chocolate raisins!" - talking about the chocolate chips that were in the cookies Aunt Lilia made for her. We usually make oatmeal raisin.

"Jesus make it better." - telling us how her owie feels better.

We were playing store one night. After I purchased all of her toys, I told her that I was going to be "broke" if bought anything else. She ran over to me, patted my head and said, "Mommy, are you OK? Does it hurt?" For a while her store must have been in the UK because everything cost "4 or 5 pounds."

"Slow down mom!" or "Faster! Faster Momma! Like you always do!" - outing my driving skills while I was with my mother-in-law.

As I was putting Elyse to bed, she grabbed my chest and said, "booboobooboo." I said, "Elyse, no." She replied, "Momma, everyone wants to touch everyone's boobies!" - hmm.

A few weeks ago I took Elyse to the potty and left her there to do her thing. I was in the other room with Bryn and I could here her in the bathroom talking to herself and playing with the toilet paper holder, a no-no in our house. I was not expecting what I saw when I got back to the bathroom. She was reclined back on her potty seat waving the recently used and still wet toilet cleaning brush back in forth in the air above her head. I think I probably screamed as I grabbed it away from her and told her why we never play with that because it's very, very dirty. She said, "I'm sorry Momma. I was cleaning." As I grabbed some toilet paper for her, I noticed that the roll was wet. I asked her if she had "cleaned" the toilet paper and she responded, "Yes, and I cleaned the bathtub too!" Sure enough, there were streaks of blue toilet cleaner from the wet brush dripping down the sides of the tub. One word, Clorox. So gross but so funny!

Just recently, Elyse has started occasionally calling me mom. I'm still Momma or Mommy the majority of the time and I really hope it stays that way for a while. Like I said, I'm not ready to give up my babies just yet!

3 Year Stats

Height: 39 inches (84%)

Weight: 31 pounds 4 ounces (57%)