Merry Christmas!

We hope that everyone had a fun and enjoyable holiday season!

Preparation for our's started several weeks ago when we went down to our local evergreen doug fir forest to cut down our Christmas tree. Just kidding! (Actually, we went down to our local Lowe's.)

The reason we go to Lowe's is because it's very close to our house. Given that we can only drive 15 mph as the tree is precariously tied to the roof of our sedan, we think buying the tree from the closest place possible is best.
The next day, we set up the tree and Eliana helped to decorate.
And here is our tree all decorated. Every morning, Eliana reminds us that there's a "shtar" on top of the tree.
At first, Eliana was fascinated by the lights on the tree. She would touch them and say "hot." Here she is inspecting them while snacking on a cup of milk.


She is really into hugging things right now, whether they be her stuffed cat, her book, or even...the Christmas tree.
We let Eliana open one present early. The Sunday before Christmas, she opened a present that Uncle David and Auntie Christina sent from Indianapolis.
On Christmas Eve, we went to church. As part of the tradition at church, candles are passed out and lit. Because this service was being held at an elementary school multi-purpose room, they passed out glow sticks instead.
On Christmas Day, Emily's parents came over and Eliana opened presents. She didn't quite understand the entire present-opening routine, but got the hang of it after a/while. Here she is with her stocking. A present she really liked was a stuffed dog.Another present that was a hit was a miniature cooking set from Ikea. Having watched Daddy cook dinner countless of times, she immediately knew what to do without any prompting from us. Our little monkey has been watching very closely...



And though this wasn't a present, but rather a hand-me-down from her cousins, Eliana has been asking for something with "pedals" for a long time, since she has a little friend who has a bike with pedals. We whipped this out and even though she doesn't know how to pedal yet, she's willing to brave 40 degree weather + wind chill to ride her bike.

Eliana is changing and growing every week. Some of her recently acquired words are "pease" (please), "zebra", "baboom" (vacuum), "ropa" (which means "clothes" in Portuguese), and "help". Her favorite food continues to be "sauce" (i.e. Ranch dressing) and her favorite activity is still watching her sign language DVDs. She also spends a bit of time looking at her fish or flipping through books.

She is just now beginning to understand what the telephone is all about. Today, Daddy called home from work and she realized who was at the other end of the phone.

Here she is playing around with the rice cooker, which she can lift and carry around the house. She also likes to pull on the retractable cord/plug on the rice cooker.

She loves playing with Scotch tape by pulling out a bunch and then pulling some more.Eliana enjoys a handful of ramen.

For the past several weeks, it's been either very cold or rainy outside. So Eliana is on "outside withdrawl" and when she does get a chance to go out, she never wants to come back in.

Sometimes she likes to hang out inside her crib. Here she is enjoying a book.

And when she is spending time in her crib, she ALWAYS asks for a drink of milk.

Now 17 months old...

Eliana continues to entertain us with her new words, her new skills, and her new antics. When she's awake, she is in constant motion--running around, getting into things, picking things up, and knocking things down. Elvin is seriously considering putting a pedometer on Eliana to see how many steps she takes per day. If you have suggestions on how to attach the pedometer to her body without her knowing (and pulling it off), let us know.


Here's a taste of what we get to experience...

Thanksgiving weekend...

On Thanksgiving weekend, Eliana had alot of fun. For Thanksgiving dinner, Eliana wore her brand new dress. She spent time with her cousins and helped decorate the table cloth with Crayola markers (it was butcher paper.)


She must've worked up quite an appetite, as she ended up eating 4 pieces of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and rolls. All watching were amazed.
The next day, Eliana met up with her cousins at the community pool. Splashing around was quite fun.

Eliana spent some time with her Aunt Jen.
In the evening, Eliana hung out with her cousins some more. They love carrying her around, and sometimes Eliana doesn't have a choice about it.

Ever since the weekend, we hear about "Abbeeee" (Abby), "MeeeeMeeee" (Millie) and "Leeeena" (Lena) - her three girl cousins all day long, every day. They were a hit!