Second Child, Wild Child

So you may be wondering what our little Eliza Kate is up to these days.  To sum it up nicely for you, she's up to doing whatever she feels like with complete disregard for what we tell her topped off with a scream for emphasis.  You may say this is typical of a sixteen month old.  I will tell you this was not typical with Isis and that I am forced only to believe this is second child syndrome.

At this stage, if I could only pick one word to describe her, it would be mischievous. As sweet and cute and sweet and cute as she is, she is a stinker.  When I tell her it's time to put on her coat, she hauls off in the other direction as fast as she can.  When I tell her no, of course she does it again, but this time with a smile. She is really only interested in things that are not hers.  If you actually give them to her, she decides she doesn't want them anymore. She prefers to color on our back door as opposed to the easel we so kindly provided for her.  Or even better, her pants and feet.  And no Eliza, sidewalk chalk is for the sidewalk, not our siding.

And can we say stop climbing?  This is the only thing she wants to do and it must be as high as possible and then maybe a little higher still.  We have found her on staircases, book shelves, beds, tables, couches, and the tub.  Child safety gates?  Quite the opposite.  Just one more thing to conquer. Her newest thing is to stand on her rocker and kind of surf because just climbing is not thrill enough.  A few weeks ago I found her dangling between the rocker and an attempted launch to her changing table.  Ever heard of a child climbing the walls?  Yes, you read correctly.  I have found her standing on her rocker with her feet sprawled and her hands reaching up the wall grasping desperately for something to grab to hoist herself up with. At this point it would not phase me one bit to find her clinging to the ceiling.

For about a week straight she got into the habit of licking her changing pad directly following a diaper change.  Yes I know that's gross.  You don't have to say it. As soon as we were done she would sit up on her knees, bow down to the changing pad, and lick it a few times. It was very ritualistic and she was very devoted.

It's funny because so often Chris and I will look at each other and say, I don't remember Isis doing this.  I think we've come to terms that Isis in fact didn't do this stuff and that we are raising two very different little girls.  Or maybe there is truth to the fact that the first child gets so much undivided attention that Isis spent her time doing constructive activities.

Oh, forgot to mention that I"m not fully convinced Eliza feels pain either.  Falls and scrapes don't phase her one bit.  I don't think we ever taught her how to cry when those things happen because the truth is we never came running.  One morning she managed to fall backwards while holding a baby gate. The gate fell on top of her but she never cried so we never went looking for her.  A little bit later we found her laying in the hallway with the gate on top of her just waiting for someone to come get this thing off of me please.  A few weeks ago she fell off a toddler slide onto her head and stayed there.  The fall looked terrible and scared the crap out of me.  When I ran to rescue her, she was balancing on her head, legs up in the air and her neck looking like it should snap sometime very soon.  Just waiting.  No tears.  No pain.  Just upside down and waiting.

And for your viewing pleasure...

Her latest phase is wearing this pink headband around for extended periods of time.  Kind of makes me want to bust out the Hendrix records.

We've also given her the nickname Lunchhead which I believe requires no further explanation.

AAAAAAND....snot streams on our living room pillow.  That about sums it up.