My 87-year-old visiting teacher is coming over today. I love her. She is prim and proper and can't stand my rowdy boys. She shakes her head and says things like, "oh my lands!" and "oh heavens! What is the world coming to?" whenever they're around. She is very opinionated about my mothering skills and tells me so. . . all the time. But every month she comes to visit - warm and smiling - always bringing home-baked banana bread for me, rice-krispy treats or dollar-store cars for the boys, and hand-sewn (always pink) bibs, blankets, and bonnets for Eliza - whom she absolutely and utterly. . . adores.When Eliza was born, my 87-year-old visiting teacher brought over this baby doll tied with a wide pink ribbon. It was the first time anyone had handed me a doll since I was a little girl and I felt like I was holding something completely foreign. I made some comment about not knowing what to do with a girl toy and she said, "well, get used to it because all little girls love dolls."
Do they???
Do they???
This little girl does.
She loves and hugs. . .
kisses and totes. . .
and unmistakably adores and mothers her "baby".constantly.
Besides her doll, Eliza also loves her pink blankie - almost as much as she loves Isaac's blue blankie (which she also kisses, hugs, and drags from room to room when he's not around). She loves eating cheerios, lint, bugs, and dirt off the floor, and emptying our bookshelves. The boys take turns being on book duty - re-shelving the books almost as quickly as she can pull them off.
We also have someone on constant stair duty - blockading and rescuing Eliza from her non-stop climbing and diving attempts.
One thing Eliza does NOT love is sitting still for pictures. (wondering why I haven't posted pictures of her lately???)
She's a complete wiggle-worm.
I tried posing her on the stairs (her favorite spot) but she refused to look at the camera. She just giggled and bounced then dived (face-planted?) onto the floor.
I tried posing her on the couch. This was the only picture I got before she squirmed away.
Last night I captured a few more typical (non-posed) Eliza shots - just so I can always remember her at this stage. . .
and how much I love this little girl. . .
(Even if her braces and hair products - look at those teeth and that hair! - cost us a fortune in the future. . .)
My real-live, bright-eyed, wiggly-giggly, baby-doll. . .
my beautiful Eliza.
6 comments:
Guess what? Today is Eliza's birthday! We're not celebrating until the weekend though - when family will be in town for Clayton's baptism.
Happy Birthday Baby Doll!
She's gorgeous. I am glad you have a daughter. Happy Birthday Eliza!
I can't believe your baby is one year old! Where did the time go? She really is a beautiful little doll. I hope someday I have earned one of those. I mean how man boys must one mother survive before she earns one of those?
She is so so so cute! Mom reminded me today that it is her birthday. Happy Birthday Eliza! She's growing way too fast for me, especially because I only get to see her once a year! I love the pictures of her even when she's not posing for you. Actually those are almost more fun because they really show her personality.
Happy birthday, Eliza! She is beautiful! Can I copy and paste your post onto my blog (changing the names of course). Naomi is doing the exact same things. She loves to climb the stairs while holding her baby and its bottle. I love this post!
She is so cute! Happy (belated) birthday, Eliza. I can't believe how much she has grown since this summer, what a doll! I love those big brown eyes, and it is so cute to see her loving her "baby"
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