Plesae Don't Eat That!

Eliza is determined to feed herself whatever she wants. She continues to find small pieces of lint, leaves, and hair on the floor and eat them. It is disgusting. However, she now knows she shouldn't eat these sorts of things because everytime I catch her with something gross in her mouth, she immediately spits it out as soon as I say her name or even look at her.

Her love for eating random items has moved on to encompass her blanket, the hair of her stuff animals, and the loose threads from her clothing. Her favorite new chew toy, though, is this:

 The foot scrubber!!

I bet you are wondering why I had enough time to take a picture of her with this in her mouth rather than immediately snatching it and putting it away. Well, this little princess absolutely loses it when she has to part with the delicious foot scrubber. Really.

On top of this, Eliza has decided that raisins are her new favorite food. RAISINS! I have gone my entire life without ever eating a whole raisin (I have nibbled on a raisin once or twice and have always found that they remain unedible. Raisinets are an exception to this rule, though, and remain delicious). I will need to post a video of a raisin feeding frenzy.

I was almost certain Eliza could be no child of mine (with her raisin love and all) until this weekend. She totally redeemed herself when she showed outright love for Bombay House's tikka masala and naan. I was proud.

It's the Small Things

For those of you who spend any amount of time with me, you can attest to the fact that I constantly lose my personal items. This includes (but is not limited to): keys, cell phone, camera, clothes, remote control, shoes, retainer, make up, wallet, etc. The questions most commonly heard at our house begin with the phrase, "Have you seen...?"

Just to give an example, last month, I was at Walmart with my friend Julie. I went back to the car to look for a receipt and, in the process, lost my wallet. As I went to pay for my groceries, I realized the wallet that was recently inside of my purse was nowhere to be found. Frantic, I ran outside to the car and found my wallet in the PARKING LOT. It had been laying by my car for almost an hour and no one had stolen it. Thank you, kind Utahns of Springville. Well, the absentmindedness continued that day. An hour after returning home safely with the wallet, I realized it was missing again. As I was looking for the item, my brother in law walked in the door, holding my wallet and my keys. He said: "The trunk of the car was open, the wallet was in the driveway, and your keys were left in the door."

How does that happen!?  Nathan insists that my chronic loss of items is due to the fact that I am constantly going, always thinking of the next step and never thinking of what I am actually doing...like placing my wallet behind the couch (so Eliza can't get it) or hiding my keys under the cushions (so Eliza can't find them).

Regardless, I hate losing things and when I can't find a particular object, I will tear the house apart until I find it. Lost objects cause me serious anxiety, which is very unfortunate seeing how I always am losing something. Sadly, this anxiety has carried over to Eliza and her toys. For her birthday, she received very nice (and expensive) Melissa and Doug sound puzzles from my sister. After a week of looking for the "V" from the alphabet puzzle and an hour long search for the missing cow from the farm puzzle, I retired those toys until Eliza was older (and I could handle them being lost).

Then, on Thursday night, Eliza lost the purple triangle from her Playskool Shape Sorter. I bought the toy at a yard sale for 25 cents, so it really wasn't the end of the world if the triangle was lost. However, I couldn't stop thinking about it! My friend Tina was over and said: "Don't worry. You'll find it when you aren't looking" (which is always true, by the way).

Well, just a few minutes ago, I opened up the tupperware drawer and pulled out a container.  Inside lay the purple triangle. I have no idea how Eliza managed that.  I can tell you, though, that this small discovery completely made my day. I love finding joy in the small things!

I was going to include a picture of Eliza with her Shape Sorter, but cannot find the camera. I will update the post if I ever find the camera. Ahh!

Baby Hurricane

Eliza is 13 months old today and I can hardly believe how much she has changed over the past month. She is walking everywhere, has more hair, constantly chats words of nonsense, and enjoys exploring everything in our house. She even runs and tries to jump. Eliza is the cutest thing on two feet, however, she is also the smallest terror known to man (or just Nathan and me).

I just want to list a few things she did today:

- Pulled my makeup bag down from a shelf I thought was out of her reach, where she then proceeded to crack the container of my Bare Minerals face powder and pour it all over herself and the bathroom floor. She also licked the powder and attempted to eat it.
- Shredded a pair of headphones with her teeth and tried to eat one of the earbuds.
- Attempted to fling herself into the bathtub ( luckily, I caught her before she tumbled in head first)
- Turned the television off every time I tried to watch anything (even Yo Gabba Gabba!)
- Attempted to spray hair spray into her mouth
- Attempted to spray air freshener into her mouth
- Tried to put a plastic bag over her head

And of course, she made sure every toy was out on the carpet or under the couch, every piece of Tupperware was in the middle of the kitchen, and that every DVD was off the shelf in the middle of the living room.

I know, I know. You are thinking: "How does she have access to these things and where are you!?" Well, she is fast! And she can open anything! I can be two steps behind and she will be into something new as I am cleaning another disaster area. Also, I had to work from home today, which did not make things easier.

We really need to get those baby proof cabinet devices. I don't even know what they are called, but we need them. I can't be upset with Eliza too much because she is a baby and our house is so much fun to destroy. However, it is somewhat nerve wracking to discover your toddler eating makeup and chewing on headphones. Goodness.

Working from home with a toddler is much harder than working at home with an infant. Regardless of how destroyed my home is at the end of the day, I am ultimately very grateful I am able to be with my daughter for the majority of the day.