Helena-isms

There are obviously fewer Helena-isms because she doesn't talk much, but she has been saying and doing pretty cute things lately.

• One day when I was making dinner, I heard a little voice saying "Yum, yum, mmmm!" I turned around and saw Helena on top of the table, eating an orange that she had peeled herself.
• Helena has been wanting to sit at the big table instead of her high chair for a while now and one night she decided to take matters into her own hands. She dragged the child-size table and chairs into the middle of the room, sat down, and said "Here, sit here!"
• She is very contrary lately. Everything is "I not..." She uses that phrase to tell us both what she thinks she is not (according to her she is not a girl nor is she Helena) and also to tell us what she doesn't like ("I not tickle", "I not scare")
• She insists on only wearing her "Meow" bib and "Meow" pajamas--they have cats on them
• Although she can say Tempe, she prefers to call her big sister "Sis", or sometimes "Tempe-sis"
• The first thing she says to me in the morning is "Where Daddy? Work!"
• Every morning for breakfast she has the same thing: oatmeal with dry cereal mixed in. That's how she rolls.
• Her favorite food is by far "snack"--fruit snacks.
• She is following in her big sister's footsteps and insisting on having a veritable menagerie of stuffed animals in her bed with her: a pig ("Oink"), a monkey, a bunny, a lamb ("Waah"), a Carebear, and "Other Bear". That's not even counting Ho (her stuffed Santa) and Christmas Baby, and her pillow and "blank", her paci, her cuppy, and her wind-up music toy. Whew!
• She thinks she is ready to sit on the toilet like Tempe, so every once in a while I let her sit on it until she says "I done" and wants to flush the toilet. So far, nothing has happened.
• She takes off all her clothes, including her shirt (Tempe can't even do that yet...) during naptime. Luckily, she has only managed to get her diaper off once.
• She likes to wear a pair of panties over her diaper
• If she sees you put your shoes or jacket on, she says "Bye, bye!" and blows kisses until you leave the house