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Way back in February we had family come out to Texas for a nephew's (Issac Cope) baptism. Jack's parents came out a few days ahead of time to play. And what do you know, the weather decided to give us a snow storm, Texas style. There was enough snow and ice to cover our back patio and since everything is bigger in texas the reaction was for the whole city to  shut down. Consequently our plans changed to snowman making and sledding sown the driveway 

Saturday the cousins came down and we went to the zoo and had a grand time. The highlight of the trip was feeding the Lorikeets. The exhibit is set up so that you can buy nectar from the concession stand and walk into the exhibit with all of the birds flying around. If the birds are hungry they will fly up to you, open the little container, and crowd around you drinking the nectar. Very easily one of the best parts of the zoo, right next to the hippos, and the river bend.

 Lorikeet feeding

 Eloise, Eliza, and Grandma Marla

 My happy Girl

Walking

Our  darling little girl is 17 months old now and still prefers a bottle to solid foods, gets me up at least once a night most nights, and prefers scooting around on her bum as opposed to other modes of transportation. If she doesn't want to do something it is very difficult to talk her into it. Tonight, however, we made a huge leap forward. In the last couple of weeks Liza has consented to let us take her hand and help her to walk around the house. She has also taken up furniture walking as a casual hobby. Earlier this week at play group Liza actually wanted me to hold her hands and walk around the playground, a surprising first. Also this afternoon we were at a different park and she let Jack help her walk around most of the time. Then this evening we were all in the living room and as I watched Eliza pulled herself up and lean her back against the ottoman, which is not unusual. However  after a few seconds she takes a huge leap forward all on her own. She didn't get very far before she lost her balance, but I got all excited and did the typical parental "ya!! complete with higher voice and clapping hands. Eliza got excited too. She crawled back to the ottoman,  pulled herself  back up and got in ready position. I got in front of her and held my arms out and she did several toddler steps forward. Jack had caught on by now and we all yelled ya and clapped hands. For the next half hour or so we enjoyed this new game together. Jack and I tried sitting a few feet apart from each other so we could help Liza stand up  and find her balance before we let her go to walk to the other person. She humored us for a few runs but then she crawled back to the ottoman and pulled herself up and got in ready position.  Liza still wanted to walk towards us and enjoyed all of the hugs and attention but she wanted to do it by herself, and on her own terms. I have no idea where she could have picked up that particular character trait.

Warm Weather

This afternoon as I was out and about running errands I realized what a beautiful afternoon it was. it has been so cold, gray, and gloomy and this afternoon the sun decided to come out and warm things up. On my way home I started plotting and as soon as I found Jack I announced that it was a beautiful day outside that as soon as groceries were put away we were going to the park. I decided that we should try out a new one so we drove over to Raymond Remkus Park. We got there about 3:30 so it was busy but not crowded. Apparently I wasn't the only one excited to be outside. Liza ,as always, was happy to be out and about with her peeps. We tried having her climb on the smaller play structure that is purposely designed for the little ones, but none of the other kids were there and so she wasn't interested either. So we went over to the bigger kid area. Lilza had great fun scooting with me as her shadow or walking with  Jack's assistance as she went around exploring. I believe her favorite feature was the long, orange tube slide. The slide was rather tall  so with a little hesitation I sent her down on her back and Jack caught her at the bottom. She didn't fuss but she wasn't all smiles either so the next time I went down with her and we were all giggles. Running a close second was the swing, we had fun playing tickling games as she swung back and forth. We also tried out this single seater spinny thing. Basically it was a poll with a seat at the bottom and as you twisted the top part of the poll it would spin you round and round. Liza thought it was fun. She hasn't figured out how to hold on tight yet so both Jack and I had our hands ready to catch her as Jack spun her around. They also had a good old fashioned merry-go-round, I hadn't seen one in years. My elementary school had one and it was my favorite thing to do. We didn't try that one out though. I think it will have to wait a year or two.

Thanksgiving

Yes I know it's almost Christmas, however, my darling little munchkin seems to think that when I sit down to work on the computer she needs to be in my lap. This is o.k. for checking email and general web browsing but it does make blogging difficult. Anyways Thanksgiving was great for us. We were planning to spend it quietly at home when my parents and my brother Daniel surprised us with a visit at the last minuet. They got here Wednesday around noon and after a lunch of sandwiches we decided to head for the zoo. Of all the options that San Antonio has to offer I wanted to do the zoo since Daniel hadn't been before. We had a great time since the weather was great, the zoo wasn't to busy and the animals were very cooperative and around for us to see.  We also kept losing Daniel and Jack, someone had to see everything. Thanksgiving mom did most of the dinner preparation as I had over done it a bit the day before. The boys sat down and played several rounds of Dominion and Liza had a grand time with the extra people and attention.  Friday we did a little shopping, played a few more games, and enjoyed leftovers. In the evening we made gingerbread houses. Dad engineered a bridged while mom made a more traditional house. Jack was more classical in  his undertaking while Daniel was creative and went for something more original. A great visit, even if it was short.

Into Everything

Eliza keeps me busy. Her favorite activity seems to be finding everything that there is to get into in the particular room I'm working in. The kitchen has turned out to  be a gold mine.  I had already childproofed the obvious cupboards that I didn't want her getting into, the one under the sink with the dishsoap and other cleaning supplies, the one with all of my glass pans, and the one with the crock pot, stock pot, and cast iron skillet.  I purposely left others open so she would have venues to explore. Up until recently Liza was content to get into the tubberware and the lighter pots and pans.

However when grandparents came for Thanksgiving she decided to up the annie and break new ground.

Also no longer content with emptying the cupboards she now has to get in them.

She went through everything; paper cups, napkins, plasticware, and two boxes of trash bags. After putting Her to bed my mom was kind enough to put everything back and to close all of the paper product bags shut with rubber bands and twist ties. I eventually went through things and compressed two cupboards into one. Now has her own cupboard to climb into without having to empty it first.  Also the cupboard pictured above is now off limits.

Pumpkin Patch

The church down the road had a pumpkin patch for the month of October so we just had to go.  As expected they had tons of pumpkins and little chairs and things so you could get some cute pictures. When we were there I saw several kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes, we'll have to do that next year. We had a good time wondering around, letting Eliza scoot, and tried to get some cute pictures. Liza was moderately cooperative,  it was getting close to her bedtime and she was rather tired. As it turns out this was a first time experience for Jack and Eliza. Jack missed a class trip to a pumpkin patch due to chicken pox. I was glad that we could remedy the gap in his lifetime experiences.  All around good fun and hopefully we can make it a family tradition.

 On top of the world. There is something thrilling about gaining a higher perspective.

 We have a hard time encouraging Eliza to stand. This seemed like a good opportunity. I mean she doesn't have room to sit down.

Pumpkin roll!! I tried making a barricade so I could get ahead of her and get some pics. I'm happy with the result.

Tease

I suppose with her family background there wasn't much chance of avoiding it. Eliza is a thorough tease. She often likes to play "chase" when I ask her to come here and tries to make a break for it when I'm trying to put on a diaper ( we do have a rule that she can only do this once her bum is clean) I've found that things are a lot more fun when I play along with her , get out my " I'm going to get you voice"  and crawl after her both of us laughing all the while.  It's rather cute when she scoots a few paces and then looks back to see if I'm coming after her, scoots a few more; looks and scoots again. Usually at one point she stops so I can get her. I suppose its her game so we play by her rules. The other day it was bathtime so I was filling the tub. Eliza heard the noise and very excitedly comes to check it out. I reached out  my hand and said something along the lines of " come 'ere time for your bath!!" So she laughs and starts scooting toward me. Now her bedroom is right next to the bathroom and at the last second she fakes me out and makes a dive, as much as you can dive scooting in your bum, for her room.  I had been had, and she knew it, and thought it was very funny.  I was simply surprised that she would plot against me like this. So of course I had to chase her down, pick her up, and give her a thorough tickeling before proceeding to her bath. Stinker.