Elena has embraced toddlerhood full force, becoming a very strong, capable little walker and climber. She appears to have no idea she is small. In most activities she observes, she attempts to imitate others, so much so she astounds us.
First came the realization that she had her own personal refrigerator. The beverage fridge is daily unloaded and reloaded with toys, and kitchen items. We decided to restock with safe items after she made this her own.
One evening I just was so tired of chasing her around and it had been a full day so the others were tucked in, but she was not tired. So I sat on the floor in the kitchen listening to music, and I just watched her and smiled as she stayed busy and wore herself out. She is a peaceful, joyful, happy girl.
The next day she leaned over and sipped out of a straw, and really now appears to prefer drinking from a straw.
Next came the kitchen assistance. She found it was very easy to climb into the dishwasher. She wanted to help unload it, or go for a ride on it.
We brought her a chair to sit in during 'school' time for John and Leesie. She loves to sit in it, and pretend to look at books, hold a pencil, or play with anything they may have left out.
Next came her attempts at sweeping the floor with a full size broom. We have two kids brooms, but being only 13 months we only had out Mom's heavy, large one. She was very capable and happy to carry it around and sort of but not really pretend to sweep.
Elena likes the 'big' toys as much as the ones for her age. Our own little Jedi warrior, holding a very heavy little saber.
She can retrieve diapers and unpack and pack her little diaper changing basket to help us. Well sometimes it gets repacked.
She wants to be in the 'big' chairs, and very quickly in came to be standing on the chairs.
Then came climbing onto the table to get to all the fun stuff we've been keeping from her.
There's also the newfound ability to walk quickly on uneven surfaces, which means we get to be in training to keep up with her. Oh dear, where did she go??? How did she get over there this fast!
The funniest of all is seeing her snatch a bottle of wine from the beverage fridge, and carry it all around the house. We keep it for guests and cooking, and usually have one in there. Whenever we tried to take it from her she screamed in protest. It was really funny to see her hugging this shiny blue wine bottle. So being busy I figured she could carry it (unopened) around and amuse us for a little while. Now we have seen her bang a bottle and pour Chardonnay all over the kitchen, so we decided that wasn't a good idea anymore. No wonder wine bottles aren't in the kid toy sections.
So the wonderful world of exploration has begun, and there is no end to the daily discoveries. If you were here more than 20 minutes you would hear someone say, "Where's Elena..." and the pitter patter of two little scampering feet running away with some fun object in her hand and giggles of glee, and the occasional, "Mom, you gotta stop her, here she goes again!"
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