Eila loves her friends and calls them by name. At playgroup, she claps and hollers from the basement for each of her playmates as they arrive - a very warm welcome.
Here are few stories about some of Eila's friends:
Jake, look at me. Look at Eila, Jake.
On the airplane coming home from California, we had to wait a while on the plane once we landed. As you can imagine, many people were just standing around at their seats; Eila was one of them. Suddenly, she started saying, rather sternly, "Look at me, Jake. Hey Jake, look at Eila. Look at me." She continued this for sometime, while we tried to figure out who Jake is. We asked her lots of questions, pointing to the various people surrounding us. The only conclusion we could come up with was that Jake is her imaginary friend, who wasn't listening very well...
No, Zach. Here you go, Zach.
Some relationships are a little more touch & go with Eila. Zach is a 15-month old boy that comes to our house occasionally to play. Well, Eila isn't quite sure how she feels about him, but she talks to and about him all the time. Sometimes, Eila will yell "No, Zach" or "Don't touchy, Zach" then just a fraction of a second later, she'll sweetly say "Here you go, Zach". It's a tale of Jekyll and Hyde.
Cheers, Marker.
Marcos (Aunt Amber's boyfriend, affectionately know as Marker) taught Eila how to toast and say "Cheers" with or without a cup. At random times throughout the day, you might hear Eila call out "Cheers, Marker!" Eila often asks for Marker to come with us in the car and talks about him regularly. If you'd like a punch in the hand, just say Cheers!