Oh Little Liza!

 

This girl...I have to keep reminding myself that she only turned four, not fourteen. She is a riot and keeps us all on our toes. Some of these Eliza quotes are from almost a year ago, but I'll put them in chronological order. Nothing could be left out!

One day while eating a banana, and already feeling a little fragile, Eliza noticed an owie and exclaimed, "I need a banandaid!" she paused and then tried again and again and again. She eventually burst into giggles and her mood completely changed. 

After weeks of Eliza waking me up in the night I asked her if she was going to sleep all night that night. She quickly responded with, "When I'm a mom I'll sleep all night." I'm just going to let her ride on that illusion and after her first child is born...bam! I'm going to remind her of this moment. 

One day Eliza really wanted to sit on my lap and when Tanner offered his to her she replied, "no I want to sit on someone's lap that has makeup on." 

After scraping her knee and less than two minutes after crying hysterically she looked down at her knee and shouted, "It's healing!" 

After Chet lost a tooth Eliza became obsessed with the Tooth Fairy. She asked me, "Mom! Did it pop out of the trash can?" And then she just ran with it. She decided that wolf spiders own the tooth fairies and live under the trash can and collect the teeth and then give the tooth to the fairy. After killing a spider she asked, "why did you kill the tooth fairy's owner?" Probably the creepiest backstory for the Tooth fairy...and we still don't know where she got the whole idea. 

She gets a real kick out of potty humor...two older brothers doesn't help. One day she told me that she was a poop but within the same breath she corrected herself saying, "I'm not a poop 'cuz girls are not poop they are sisters." 

Eliza went through a big story telling phase. She would often start them with "When I was sixteen..." There were tragic stories filled with death, epic stories of adventure, and funny stories...One where her baby sister got hit by a bomb. "And I saved her, she didn't get killed yuckiwee." Another time she was telling me about the time she cut off some animal's head...when she saw the look of horror on my face she quickly said, "But don't worry mom, I did it outside so the blood didn't get in the house." Yeah, that was what I was worried about...

Another time while monologuing: "I ate a dog once, in Nevada. It was nasty." I guess thats her opinion of Grammie's cooking...I kid. 

She calls sneezes "blessyous". "Mom I blessyoud!"

Months before her birthday Eliza was planning her party. One day while driving in the car she said, "Mom for my birthday cake I want Jesus on it." Me, trying not to laugh, "You do?" "Yeah, and Moses." Well at least she's learning something in our morning devotionals. 

Tanner: Eliza what do you want to be when you grow up?

Eliza: Mom

Tanner: What else do you want to do? 

Eliza: Go clothes shopping and mento meetings. 

"We played hide and sneak. Austin and I were the sneakers." 

While playing with Vivi, "Mom I'm her girl Uncle." "You mean you're her aunt?" "No, I'm her girl uncle!" 

She likes to pretend that Vivi is her Grandma, or her mom, or her baby. Whatever fits in with what she's pretending. 

Once while at Costco she got very excited and practically shouted, "Mom did you know that girls can have mustaches? I know because I just saw someone!" I have never hustled out of an aisle faster than I did then. I didn't even get to see the poor woman, which was a disappointment to Eliza. 

Tanner likes to call Eliza our Demotivater, these next stories illustrate that perfectly.

I try to build my kids up by telling them how awesome they are. Eliza once responded with, "I know why I'm awesome. It's because I'm smart and you guys aren't." Well alrighty then...

Once after patting Tanner's belly she said, "Dad you look like you have a baby in your tummy." After sucking it in Tanner asked, "How about now?" To which she promptly replied, "No, you're always fat Dad." 

I try not to talk about how certain things can "make you fat". But Eliza went through a phase where she loved to talk about "getting puffy". "If I ate all day I would be puffy." Sometimes when talking about Dad's belly, "It is a bit puffy." Which I guess is nicer than calling him pregnant. 

She often asks me if I have a baby in my belly...no folks, this is not a pregnancy announcement. Even if my tummy says otherwise. 

Her primary teacher at church shared this story with her mom who then shared it with me: They asked why God flooded the earth and Eliza said, "God couldn't punch them in the face so he sent the flood." I'm so grateful her teacher has a sense of humor. 

Now for her birthday interview: 

Mom: What is your favorite color?

Eliza: white

Mom: What is your favorite food?
Eliza: Noodles

Mom: What is your favorite animal?
Eliza: Horses

Mom: What is your favorite book?
Eliza: Go Dog Go

Mom: What is your favorite movie?
Eliza: Bluey

        

Mom: What is your favorite song?

Eliza: I Love to See the Temple

Mom: Who is your scripture hero?

Eliza: Mary

Mom: What is your favorite dessert?

Eliza: Cookies

Mom: What do you like to do for fun? 
Eliza: Play like I'm the mommy and Jack's the daddy 

Eliza wants to do whatever her siblings are doing...until she gets bored and then she finds me and follows me around helping with whatever I'm doing.

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?

Eliza: I like you to push me on the swings

Eliza is usually my little shadow. I get moments of reprieve when she goes off to play with her siblings but it doesn't take long for her to come find me and climb on the counter to watch me cook, clean, or put on my makeup. And she talks the whole time...it can be a little draining. 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?

Eliza: I like watching basketball with him. (This year for March Madness Eliza had one of the best brackets. She follows her college basketball teams closely...not really, she just picked whatever team I said second every time.)

She loves to snuggle with Tanner and often says, "I just want to cuddle with dad and watch basketball." 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mariah? 

Eliza: Play Horsey

When Mariah is fixing her hair, Eliza wants to fix hers; when Mariah puts on a necklace, Eliza does too. she has a pretty great sister to look up to. 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Chet?
Eliza: Play outside

she and Chet both have strong personalities so they can butt heads, but Chet loves to serve Eliza. 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Austin?

Eliza: Play games of puppies

The real frenemies. It just depends on the minute really. 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Vivi? 

Eliza: To play with her 

Eliza still mothers Vivi. Now that Vivi is walking though I am grateful for an extra set of eyes on her. Eliza keeps her out of trouble a lot. 

Keeping Vivi away from the road. 

Mom: Who is your best friend?

Eliza: Lilly at church (One day after church Eliza let me know that she had a new best friend. She gets really excited when Lilly is there.)

Her life long best friend is Jack. They do everything together. Here's just a few of the many pictures I have of them...

One day I walked up on them having a very serious conversation. Jack was just saying, "My mom still has to wipe my bum for me." Only the most thought provoking topics are discussed. 

My best friend growing up was my cousin Greg so it really makes me happy to see these two get along so well.

Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Eliza: I want to be a zookeeper, I really love to see animals. 

With her pet toad. She really wanted to keep it, but I was able to convince her to let it go. 

Eliza has grown and changed so much this past year. The meltdowns are getting shorter and less frequent and I can really see a desire in her to be kind and helpful. Unless she's "sick" or her leg hurts...which usually seems to happen right around the time to empty the dishwasher or clean up. Strange...

She gets "cursty" and asks for a drink of water. 

Talks about how it is "burzing cold" outside. 

She will randomly walk up and give us massages, which are really just little squeezes along our shoulders but it's the thought that counts. 

Eliza vacillates between wanting her hair cut short like a boy (because she never wants to brush it) and growing it out long like Mariah's. She often wishes she were a boy so she wouldn't have to wear dresses to church, but then every Sunday gets excited to pick out a dress. Basically she wants to be just like her brothers AND her sister...

Eliza is always asking us to take pictures of her, and she comes up with some pretty great poses.

We sure love our Eliza Ann! Life would be a lot less colorful if it weren't for her dynamic personality. I am grateful for the things she teaches me each and every day and I'm excited to see the amazing girl she is becoming.