She definitely has personality!

They say children belly laugh 400 times a day, but adults only laugh five times a day. Well, God must have provided children to help adults laugh more. Watching Elise's personality emerge makes us laugh over and over. Here are some of the funny things Elise is up to.

One evening she kept putting Wes's stocking hat on, covering her face, and trying to walk. Of course she just kept bumping into things and falling over. But, if you know Elise, you know she is a very tough kid. She doesn't cry unless she is really hurting! Here are a couple of pictures of her with the hat. The first one her face isn't covered, but I just adore the expression on her face - pure glee!

Elise, being a social Erwin kid, is facinated with phones (it isn't limited to phones - she also loves remotes, iPods, etc., but she holds them all up to her ear like a phone). Here is Elise playing with her very own cell phone (no, she doesn't have her own plan - it is just one of our old phones). She is surely saying, "Hhhiiiiii!" She has also picked up that Wes and I always say "talk to you later" at the end of a phone call. Right after we say this, she'll say, "Bye!" How cute?! And smart! Elise loves all of her grandparents very much! She is especially fond of Papa T right now. She will wriggle out of my arms to get into his. It is so fun to watch her ability to love people grow and grow. Here she is reading with her Papa T. The girl loves books, but gets obsessed with one or two and just wants to read them over and over.

Okay, so this next picture has a hysterical, yet kind of sad story. All the books about parenting babies tell you to develop a bedtime routine. Our bedtime routine is nothing special - books and then a bedtime song. I started out singing "Jesus loves me" to Elise every night. After several nights of this, though, Elise started having a negative association with "Jesus loves me" because of course, she is sad to be put to bed. So, now whenever we sing "Jesus loves me," well, we get this reaction (see photo below :)). Needless to say, we have stopped singing "Jesus loves me" before bed.
Okay, the last three pictures are just Elise's sweet little smile.