Dogs as Christmas Characters

Elizabeth learned a new song today.

The song is about Oma's dog. The dog's name is Bell. (Short for Silver Bell, because she's a grey miniature schnauser.)

Elizabeth's new song, in her own - uhm - phonetical pronunciation, is "Jingo bowz". The rhythm is halfway between the straight ta ta ta-a of the carol and a toddler version of "The Marriage of Figaro". She misses most of the other lines, but always gets "way" in the right spot and usually on key. When I showed her which note to press, she did something like an actual rhythm of "Jingle Bells" on the piano, though I think she was surprised that it didn't sound right when she got to "oh what fun" and she continued to play E.

It was really cute.

We spent some time on the alphabet as well, for which she knows the melody but not the letter names. She chimed in on "Zed", though, and I think she got "x". And she went around carrying her foam puzzle piece number eight and shouting, "Huit! Huit!"

She just learned how to open tha bathroom door by turning the knob.

I have a very smart 17-month-old.