One of Liza's favorite places to be is outside. Even though it was still a bit chilly she was swinging, playing with her now favorite ball (one of Kuma's toys)and running up and down the neighbor's driveway. Julie, her hat is getting a little small, in your spare time could you whip up another?

This morning when I opened the frig to get a diet coke Liza asked for her milk; the only trouble is she wants to put it back and can't figure out which shelf it will fit on.

You can't seriously want me to wear this hat Mom. Baby and I don't like it.

How about this - I'll put it on myself.

Look closely you'll see I have a new molar in my mouth on my right side!

Okay, Baby and I are ready to go to Rita's. What? You want me to leave baby at home. No way. She's going. Maybe I'll learn about sharing today at Rita's.

Liza and her special chairs

I am starting to worry that Liza won't know what to do when we go places and there isn't a special chair for her. This weekend we realized how much Liza associates places with activities and how much she understands about that. When we're preparing dinner and we tell Liza it is time to go get in her high chair she runs over to it and puts her arms up waiting for us to put her in. Sometimes we don't even have to tell her; we find her standing beside it with arms oustretched just waiting to get in. We've been using the high chair for so long and it's so much a part of our daily lives that I'm not sure if I've ever given a proper thank you to the great people who gave it to us. I'm so thankful that my godparent, David and his wife Carolyn sent it. It arrived before we needed it and it was absolutely heavenly to know it was there when we were ready and we could check it off our mental list of things to worry about. Thank you for being so generous to us! Here Liza is enjoying apple slices in her special high chair.

Another special chair for Liza is her pink chair. Her grandmother Bair sent it for Christmas and she took to it immediately. The pink chair usually lives in the kitchen and Liza knows that if she wants milk or a snack out of her high chair she has to be sitting in the pink chair. Thank goodness the cover comes off easily and is washable! When Liza gets angry because we won't give her a snack or we won't take off her shoes and put them back on for the 5th time she'll go to her pink chair to pout, cry or sometimes even throw a minor fit. Liza experiences many emotions in her pink chair and here are a few. Fortunately the transition from one emotion to the next happens quickly!

In this picture she is starting to get frustrated that we won't put the sparkle flip flop that she is holding on her foot.

Her slight frustration escalated and it was all we could do to keep from laughing when she flipped over for the big pout.

We could barely get a few pictures before she was done with the big pout and ready to play Patty Cake.

Or raise her hands in the air for the SO BIG game. Thank heavens the range of emotions happen quickly or else we might be looking into a timeout chair.

Thanks to my Mom for the cute dress!

Fortunately, Liza doesn't tend to have fits in her other special chair - the green chair - as we refer to it. She goes to her green chair to cuddle with her animals, to reach her hand in the air and ask for the picture (from Auntie Em) of the baby that is kept up there. This chair is an outdoor chair that Liza's Aunt Suzanne sent so we can't wait to take it outside for outdoor playtime.


If those chairs aren't enough she has a carseat in each of our cars, there is a timeout chair at Rita's, she has an adult size comfy chair in her room which she sits in every night before bed and any chair or shopping cart we put her in when we take her out has a special cover just for her! Dear Lord, please don't let our daughter grow up to want her own special chair everywhere she goes!

Our Little Helper

Liza likes to help around the house. It may be the novelty of it or it may be she is interested in organization and cleanliness like her Mother! Her infatuation with "helping" started with the dishwasher and progessed to dirty clothes, feeding Kuma, wiping her own nose, putting things in the trash, opening and closing doors, wiping the tops of tables, picking up small items on floor and handing them to one of us. This morning, while I was drying my hair, she came into the bathroom and got her bathsoap and a washcloth. Fortunately she was distracted by a toy before she got down to deep cleaning something she shouldn't! We hope you enjoy the video and please ignore anything you see in the background that we wouldn't want you to see (like a big mess)!

When will it warm up?

Liza's great aunt Ann was waiting for her dinner reservation one night and spied a boutique where she could pass the time doing a little shopping. I don't know what else she bought but Liza and her cousin Mary Katherine have matching Florida dresses now! Liza has to model her new dress inside because it's still way too cold here to go outside without long sleeves.

Liza remains infatuated with her bunnies. She picks them up and makes the music play so we can dance. This morning I tried to get a picture of her dancing. I quickly learned she only likes to dance if you're dancing with her so I couldn't get a good shot while I was dancing around. I tried to trick her and stopped just briefly to snap a picture but as soon as I stopped so did she. No tricking this little cuties.

Yesterday when I watched the weather it said the high was 62 or something. So I put Liza in a long sleeve shirt, dress and socks and shoes. No tights and a very cute jacket. Well...it never got to 62 and it was so cold and windy all day long. Today the weather person said 62 too but I didn't fall for it. I'm taking no chances so I dressed her warmly today!

Liza can say hat and she loves to point at her head and say hat. This hat is her favorite one and she's worn it almost every day this winter. Thank you so much Julie for making this for her - you are wonderful!

I'm feeling better

Liza has not been feeling great this week, but she is doing much better now. You can tell from the pictures she is playing, dancing, and eating well again.

She loves to bring her singing Easter bunny into the room, set it down, and squeeze its hand to start singing. She then starts dancing.

As you can tell, she really enjoys her spaghetti!

Funny girl Liza

When Liza hangs out in the attic and "helps" her Daddy tie flies she likes to research the patterns in advance. In this picture she's studying her favorite fly-fishing magazine.

One day Liza looked so cute in her blue jean jumper and tights so I asked Chris to take some pictures of her because she looked so precious. Well, Liza also really likes her tutu and didn't want to take it off for the photos I was going for. She wore it all night under her dress and had the best time!

I couldn't resist this cute flower headband and thought we'd get a wonderfully cute picture of our precious little flower. Well, Liza didn't think it was so cute and didn't want to sit still long enough for the perfect shot.

I think she's trying to tell us she's sooooo over this!

Liza's activities

When I picked Liza up from Rita's yesterday we went by Bates to say hello to her Grinnell grandparents - Jim and Marcia White. They are so kind, sweet and loving to her. She walked into the store all on her own and found stuffed animals that she could "pet." Jim gave her this balloon but she was a little tentative about playing with it in the store. When we got home however she was going to town. Thanks Marcia and Jim!

Liza left one of her Maisy books at the Petigs' house so last night they walked down to return it. Brody asked me if I could show him where Liza slept and where Bair and I slept. I told him I could but it might be messy! We all went upstairs and fortunately for us Addy said it was only a little bit messy. Both Brody and Addy read Liza one of her favorite stories. Liza's Grandmother Jones sent her the book and it makes animal noises - great fun for all!

We think Liza is so smart and we are pleased when she proves us correct. This morning she showed me that she knew exactly where to put the blue circle. By the way, she loves this outfit and plays with the cuffs a lot - I know it was a gift and for the life of me I can't remember who has such good taste in baby clothes! If you are reading this and gave it to us THANK YOU!

She was making some of the greatest faces this morning and I unfortunately didn't get many of them because our family photographer keeps a lens on the camera that is better than any other but I don't know how to use it very well!



Liza is really starting to love her babies. She'll kiss and hug them and run around the house with them however if you offer to take her outside she drops that baby in a hurry and heads for the door.