Funny Eva Phrases This Week

Eva is acting a lot older lately - in how she talks, walks, expresses her (many) emotions, and in how much she understands what we are saying/doing. It is fun to see her engage the world so much at this age - although she definitely has a mind of her own and 'engages' things in ways that create more work/mess for us sometimes! (She also LOVES dressing up, wearing 'hots' (hats) and 'necks' (necklaces) of mine - per the photo to the left.)


She also chatters most of the time and about 70% of her words I understand. Many of her short phrases are just conveying that she wants something, or describing what she sees. But this week I have been noticing how funny many of her normal phrases really are - and how aware of her own feelings she already is. I've explained feelings a little bit to her, and she has said "I sad" and "I hoppy" (happy) for a little while now, but she's adding other self-realized phrases and exclamations that crack me up. Here's some of our grown-up girl's recent vocab:   

"I saucey." (I'm sorry)

"Oh Mah" or "Oh Man - look, look!" (when she's excited)

"Peeaze? Peeaze?" (Please - when she really wants something, said with chin stuck out and eyes closed)

"Yeah!" and then, "Okay, okay, okay..." (exclamations of joy, also said with her early favorite, 'Wow!')

"Hey! No, no, no..." (when she doesn't like something)

"Me, you - me, you - me, you." (Me go with you)

"Baby nigh nigh, sow-man nigh nigh, momma nigh nigh, I nigh nigh." (at nighttime, when she is putting everyone/thing to sleep)

"I funny! I funny!" (when she's laughing, or being funny)

" I cry, I cry, I go cry." (when she is getting sad or about to cry, leave somewhere, etc.)

I Don't Know What YOU Did Today, But...

...Eva experienced her first real snowfall!  This goes under the category of "things I would never do if I didn't have a toddler" - but we had some fun mom and daughter time as I bundled up Evie late this morning, complete with snowpants, puffy winter coat, hat, and layers of warmth to keep her warm in the frigid air. Right after the new, heavy, beautiful bright snow had settled over our fair city, we went across the street to meet Dad in the 'winter wonderland' play yard that is NPU. So. Much. Fun! 

So far, Eva calls snow both "so" and "so-man" - snowman - pretty interchangeably. So she was overwhelmed with delight as she explored the 'so-man' with her hands, kicked it around with her feet, and made trails all across the hump (open space on campus) while smiling people walking by looked on. I enjoyed frolicking around a bit myself - and then noticed a bunch of people we knew walking by and chuckling as I ran around in my own boots making the outline of a person with hair, arms, and a face in the snow with my tracks. Mom gets to have fun too, right? :)

 

Funny Phrases From a 20(ish) Month Old

- Eva routinely stands up, points both hands outward in a wide gesture, and exclaims, "Ta-da!" This can happen when she wakes up from a nap, when she puts together a toy, when she gets all dressed up in her winter wear - really anything she is proud of or just done with. It's awesome.

- When Eva is upset about something that is going to happen, like us leaving her or turning off Sesame Street, she know states emphatically ahead of time, "I cry, I cry" - which sounds like, "I kai, I kai."  Then she half fake, half for real starts to cry - with her hands up on her cheeks. Except for the part where she is really truly sad, it's pretty funny. :)

- When Eva is done with an activity, or done being with a certain person (could be a babysitter, one of us parents, a grandparent, etc.) she turns to that person/activity and loudly says, "Bye-bye." Even if you are mid-way through an activity, or in the middle of holding her, or still hugging her good-bye, if she is done, she declares "bye,bye" - several times, while waving bye to you - and that is that.

- Eva has discovered the fine art of tickling, which anyone who knows her dad will not be surprised at. She has helped tickle other people for awhile now (by 'tickling' I mean sort of scratching, sort of wiggling her fingers generally in the direction of someone else.) Recently she added tickling herself to her repertoir - so her routine goes something like this: yell, "Tick! Tick!" then wiggle fingers at mom, wiggle fingers at dad, tickle self in the tummy while falling over backwards on the couch, repeat.  

- Her current counting usually goes something like this: : "1, 2, 8, 9... TEN!"

- Her current alphabet singing goes something like this: "a, b, Ceeeeee, d, eh, eh, Geeee.... eh, eh, eh, eh, l, m, oh, oh, Peeeee.... eh... Veeeee, ....Zeeee... eh, eh, eh, eh, a, b, Ceeees, ...... Meeeeeee." 

Fave Books List

Grandma V suggested once that we write down Eva's favorite books before we forgot what they were, and I thought that was a good idea! Parents everywhere will know what I mean when I say that just typing in each book title reminds me of exactly which page, which sentence, and which picture made/makes Eva squeal with glee. And yes, I can recite from memory most of these books... not sure if that is something to be proud of or not? :) But I am proud of how much Eva and both of us parents love reading together - and do want to remember these titles in the future.

First/Early Favorite Books:

- Where is Baby's Belly Button? (flip book)
- Tails (touch and flip bk)
- Alphabet Books (Baby Einstein in a Box Series)
- Goodnight Gorilla
- Where is Baby? (flip book)
- Baby's First Words (fish on front)
- Touch and Feel Farm Animals
- Are You My Mother? (soft bk with plush bird)
- Global Babies

One Year Old Favorites:

- Duck Ellington Plays Jazz
- Ella Elephant Sings Scat
- God Loves You Just As You Are
- Baby's First Nursery Rhymes (peek through bk)
- Baby's First Bible (peek through bk)
- Baby's Praise Songs (peek through bk)
- On Noah's Ark
- Snuggle Puppy
- A Baby's First Year (Eva's Birthday Book!)

18 month old Favorites:

- Go Dog, Go
- 4 Pups and a Worm
- Counting Kisses
- Dr. Suess's Alphabet Book
- Corduroy BIG Book
- Elmo and the Schoolhouse
- Green Eggs and Ham

Three Holidays and a Sermon

We just finished a very full long weekend - celebrating Thanksgiving, early Christmas, an 85th surprise Birthday, and then preaching for the first Sunday of Advent. After we got home tonight, I realized that this is one major event per day, for four days in a row. :) It was a lot of fun to see people in MI and enjoy family time during two holiday festivities! We got to hang with Josh and Kara who were here from Mpls and spend a morning at the Field Museum. Then we all drove to Peter's parent's place and met Alicia and Dave, who had made the long trek into town from D.C. Jill came over for the holiday celebrations too, and so it was a full VerHage family gathering! We even got to see Peter's cousins and much of his extended family who were in town to celebrate Peter's great-aunt Casey turning 85 - a surprise party that was so fun to see for such a sweet and tender-hearted lady.

Eva had great times with the everyone on our visit and took turns walking various people around the house by the finger, usually while saying 'come, come.' She also enjoyed chasing after the small chocolate soccer balls found in her stocking, and trying to pull out the pigtails that I kept re-doing in her hair. This morning, when we were back in town, she enjoyed the Bethlehem scene set up in the front of Sojourner Covenant Church where I spoke this morning. A beautiful miniature little town, complete with lighted star overhead and the scrolls of Isaiah resting on the floor, fills the stage at the front of the church.

We really had a good time at each event - and are feeling surprisingly rested and ready to start a "normal" week now. Yeah for Advent and the start of the holidays! Yeah for getting to appreciate family from near and far. Yeah for being invited to share the beginning of the Advent journey with a neat congregation. I am a fan. :)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We're heading to Michigan to see Peter's family for Thanksgiving soon and have a holiday break. We'll also be opening Christmas presents with the VerHage side this weekend, so Eva has been busy making gifts and 'helping' me wrap gifts for the Xmas season. While I know some people try to hold off the impending and ever-earlier consumer start to Christmas, I say bring it on! Not the shopping, the hoarding, spending and worrying - but the beauty, the focusing on Advent, the twinkling lights and the fabulous music. I can't tell you how fun it is to have Bing Crosby crooning "What Child is This" through the speakers while I hum along and wrap up treasures and Eva gets stuck in piles of ribbons and colors her cards for people. I LOVE Christmas, and am excited to start teaching her more about what this season is all about this year as she is old enough to experience it much differently then her first Christmas. The holidays are here! And yes, we start early... I LOVE it.  

Pigtails!

Yesterday, for the first time, I put little pigtails in Eva's hair!

This was due to two mini-miracles taking place: 1) I finally found little bands small enough to go in her baby-fine hair, and 2) she sat still for a total of 45 seconds while I put them in. :)

 

Thailand Part 4 - Koh Chang

Koh Chang: Island Chillin, Jamaican Pool, and "The Motorbiking Incident"
Left the north to head for the islands on the east coast via plane, bus and ferry from Trat to Koh Chang (elephant island.) Trekked up the hillside late at night and found "Little Eden" - great low-cost bungalows, main cathedral-ceiling hang-out house, yummy food and nice English/Thai host couple. Beautiful windy roads for motorbiking, up and down gravel roads, to end of the path stream, and late night billiards at Jamaican bar we had all to ourselves. Explored windy roads and switchback by motorbike again, found the end of the road/stream south of our town by bike, while researching new place to stay overnight, I had my bike-wipe out (super girl-style - flying over the handlebars and grazing the whole front right side of my torso). I hit wet sand that grabbed my rear wheel while turning. Got to pour rubbing alcohol on the bleeding flesh on my arm and hands. Then doused myself/wound in salty ocean water at our new beach front resort. Can't stop listening to Colbie Caillet here on the laid-back beach, a mix of grown-up hippies and artsy, Door County-like craftspeople. Love it.

Koh Chang: Snorkeling, Fishing and Boating
Explored port city and docks with restaurants, shopping and see-through into the ocean tables. Got adorable flowered skirt for Eva on the docks, reminded of how ready I am to see her again! Rented our own carved wooden Thai fishing boat for the day, left in pouring rain to get to the pier (although minus a very sick Jed :(. ) After drying out in the sun, snorkeled in aqua-perfect waters on top of magical coral and striped exotic fish; then later in the day deep-sea fishing started, at about the same time my sea-sickness started. Meghan - of course - caught fish, & guys caught some too, and I spent several hours in framed middle of ship watching for the horizon before performing an impressive second-story vomit into the water. Freshly-caught grilled fish for supper on the boat, or Tums - whatever works.

Koh Chang: Memorable Last Days
Cards at night, pineapple smoothies, and big french doors wih geckos on the ceiling here at this resort. Enjoy our own little beach, porch swing, and conversations about going back to real life after a vacation. Talk about not being afraid - fearless - how to hang onto the space and rest of this vacation away. Enjoy amazing crab, mussels, prawns, scallops, and more at fresh fish house out on the dock - talk with fun waitress there. 4 of us went with Tim to get his bamboo tattoo at Yo's - one of the coolest nights for me by far. Seeing how my brother was so excited, present, and gracious while having ink jammed into his upper arm - and learning about the Thai phrase he chose to have done: it means "finish well," or if its hard you can do it, work hard and you will complete it. :) Very appropriate and powerful. Oh - and saw cute little street puppies all over - decided Megs should get one.  Last thing I experienced in Thailand was a traditional massage by this spry older woman who did amazing work on every muscle in my body. A-Ma-Zing. Then saw Peter get a shortened massage and somehow she was picking his entire body up on her knees using just the torque of her (80 lb) body leaning back on her heels. Unreal.

Home
Leaving Tim and Megs after spending two weeks together felt strange - but knowing they were heading to our country shortly definitely helped. We all were at various stages of being wiped out/not feeling great on the flights home (three flights, to be exact), but played cards in the airport, packed my trusty Mentos (to fight off travel sickness), and I finished reading several books that felt right at home in the east (The Monkey and the Fish - by Gibbons, and The Centered Life - by Fortin.) Journaled much of my way back home, while listening to Fearless and Imogen Heap on repeat most of the way home.  Felt very aware of how when you travel, you see your own life - your own normal - differently, and it's a gift. Also was very aware that while breaks from stress and routine are so necessary, they do not solve the stress or questions waiting for me. Ready to jump back in, tackle and see things for what they are, for who I am, and work at taking some lessons learned from Tim/Megs/Thai culture back into my 'normal.' Am freshly aware of what expectations and rules are in my life - want to look at those more closely now. Also need to research buying a motorbike and what kind of tattoo to get. Stat. :)   

Thailand Part 3 - Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai: Motorbiking Up the Mountain Day

Loved our time in Chiang Mai - felt like a relatively big city with cool blend of industry/culture surrounded by countryside. Rented motorbikes for the first time and LOVED the first day speeding around the 8-lane city loop, climbing the mountainside on switchbacks to Wat Doi Sep, then motoring to a series of waterfalls and finally taking my own morning spin (24 hours for a 100cc motorbike cost just 200 baht = $6.00!) The mountain-top Wat was amazing - many people worshipping here. Torrential rain storm forced another afternoon break and slower pace while descending the wet curvy roads.Could feel a noticeable temperature drop as we leaned into turns heading down the mountain through fresh green countryside... beautiful, even though my helmet was an aquarium! Got Eva and other kiddo gifts at this temple bazaar. Also biked outside the city and into the evening to the state park with 10 waterfalls and damp, slippery rock trails. Good, good day.  

Chaing Mai: Flight of the Gibbon & Cooking Class Day
Peter, Josh, Tim and Megs spent the day flying through the jungle canopy - 100 ft or so above the ground! Saw gibbons, heard 'feet up' all day, and got back exhausted after all the zip-lines! I discovered the beauty of skyping Eva from our guesthouse's garden breakfast terrace and sleeping in :). Jed and I met Kenny from Bethel for lunch - small world thanks to fb! That night Jed, Peter and I took our cooking class at Asia Scenic Thai Cooking school - who knew we could make curry and stir-fried dishes! Learned about a 'bomb in your mouth' from our funny teacher and heard about RSA current politics from classmates. Shopped legendary night market - started the beauty of bargaining.

Chiang Mai: Up on an Elephant Day & My Down Day

I purposely carved out a day of "not doing" for myself - the rest of the crew took another jungle trek, this time riding on elephants up and down muddy hillsides, taking a bamboo raft, and visiting a native hill tribe village. I enjoyed the bliss of doing nothing, thinking, writing, reading, and spending a loung-ie afternoon at 'Love at First Bite' cafe - misty fans blowing in the palm trees as American 60's musak played around me and Thai couples of all ages ate quiche and cheesecake. :)

Ah-May (Amen)

Eva is steadily learning when and how to pray. Before meals that include both Peter and I (usually supper), she will stop us when we both sit down by saying "ah-may, ah-may" (amen), while nodding her head. Then she points to one of us, usually me, to signify that I should start to pray. She holds her hands together under her chin, and watches us intently, sometimes whispering along while we pray. When we say "Amen," she says "ah-may" again, and about half the time, gets upset and points to the other person to indicate that she wants someone to keep on praying.

Once we went back and forth between Peter and I praying before our meal about three times each, because Eva was so upset each time one of us ended our prayer and stopped praying. That particular instance, I was having one of those days where I didn't feel like praying at all - much less over and over as an example for my kiddo. I remember that I started to get a little teary eyed as my 1 1/2 year old kept clearly telling her mom, then her dad - then her mom, then her dad - to keep praying. She listened and engaged with us during each prayer; she was not playing or distracted by something else. Who knows what she actually got out of the content of our prayers, but I sure noticed my own content. Slowly, throughout our mini-prayer-marathon, I moved from my beginning prayers of, "thank you for our food and our day and for our daughter," to praying things like, "Thank you that you listen to us all day even when the days are hard; help me to remember to pray more God; I need you more then I realize."

It felt very profound to me to be pushed to pray by Eva, and to be praying both for her, and for me, in a more genuine way before that meal. I realized that I don't always really pray from my heart like that when I pause for a cursory prayer before a meal; heck, we don't even always pause before every meal to pray. Except now, when we're with Eva, gathered as a little family with her pointing at us, whispering along and solemnly folding her hands, smiling and watching us, listening to our every word as we talk to God and talk to her - it makes me want to do it more.

Thailand Part 2 - Sukhothai Highlights

Sukhothai: Train Rides and At Home
I loved the long travel days on the train from Bangkok to Sukhothai, and then from Sukhothai farther north to Chiang Mai. Saw the view of big cities change to outlying slums, then grasslands change to fields, then on to hills and mountains with lush vines all over and a misty sunset. Caught up with people while chugging further and further north, learned to not eat the sweet rolls served (they had a surprise black-bean-something in the middle), and read "The Shack" and talked through it forever with Megs. Listened to Imogen's "First Train Home" song, appropriately, and realized I had gone several hours in a row without thinking about Eva, for the first time on the trip. :)

We also found an amazing guesthouse, rightly named 'At Home' - and settled into teak-studded rooms with screens and shutters over big open windows, then had amazing dinners downstairs in Swiss Family Robinson-like open air family room. Singha, cards, Dreamgirls on the big screen TV, and my first taste of Massaman curry... what a place!

Sukhothai: Biking the Ruins
Had a GREAT day in the old capital of Thailand/Siam that is now home to vast acres of temple ruins and remaining statuesque buddhas. Took turns taking pictures of amazing sights - and taking pictures of each other taking pictures. :) Started being able to interact a little more with the local population, saw other people visiting the ruins from all over Asia, admiring families who gathered to worship and give offerings. Laughed at - I mean helped - Meghan when her tire on our already-low old bikes blew out.

Thailand Part I - Bangkok

In honor of Tim and Megs being back home, and since the time is already flying by... I wanted to make sure to capture some of my own mental highlights from our fab trip to Thailand last month. I know I can't remember all the details about our adventure, but between notes we took, photos, my ipod playlist and lingering impressions, I feel like I can hold on to some of the highlights from each stage of the journey. The following posts are just a few photos/experiences/songs that summed up the our trip for me, done in segments. This first post starts off with the first leg of our two-week trip:

Bangkok: Arrival
Arrived at 1 am, got off the plane on the tarmack while listening to "I Gotta Feeling" and grinning, then took crazy cab ride straight to Ko Sahn Road. "Angels" from West Wing soundtrack was playing as we 'descended' into the main streets of Bangkok and got off the highway - so appropriate. Reminded me of Burnout Revenge East Coast driving map...in some ways. :)  Learned to throw toilet paper in the garbage can and shower with everything else outside the bathroom door. Learned that one is capable of sweating even more than previously thought was possible. (Above photo is of our crew together our first night on the town in Bangkok: L-R is Tim, Jed, Peter, Liz, Josh, and Meghan - which includes two sets of siblings, two best friends, two serious camera geekheads, two married couples, five Minnesotans at heart, one Iowan for now, one Michigander, and two Chicagoans!)

Bangkok: Daytime
Saw the familiar stomping grounds for Tim and Meghan's weekends; ate at 'their' breakfast place. Whirlwind day seeing the Grand Palace/related museums/few big Wats downtown, then sitting & talking during an afternoon rainstorm about life and our futures and relationships and expectations and... life. Got street vendor Pad Thai, our first bucket, and shopped along the side streets with Megs. Bargained for fisherman pants before hitting "The Club" and soaking up the air-conditioned internet cafe that charged 1 baht per minute (roughly $2.00 an hour.)

Bangkok: Departure
Packed up for our train ride north to Sukhothai. Had real coffee in upstairs of train station while watching crazy Thai sitcom. Ran back and forth finding right train but had super helpful attendants help us out. Leaving Bangkok I realized I was feeling kind of sad - about the three year olds I had seen running around everywhere at 1:00am, the street people covering the corners just down the block from the clubs, and the fairly visible sex-trade industry that defines the party side of Bangkok. Beautiful country so far - but also complicated.        

   

HOO-RAY!!

After almost seven months of being in Thailand, my brother and sis-in-law (aka, two of my favorite people on the planet), returned to the States last week. :) While we did see them just last month on our trip over there, having them back in Chicago where they could hang out at our place, play Zuma on our couch, cuddle with our girl, and just enjoy some everyday life together again was precious time indeed. Above are Tim and Megs looking way too rested and tan for just getting off their marathon flight home.

Above is Eva excitedly waiting for them at the airport!

We had a great time with them in town, and I am convinced that Eva remembered them - she had a lot of fun with her 'Unca Poop' and 'May-guh' - we all thought we heard her refer to them that way. :)  

Even though they won't be in town again for a little while, or live up the street (or up one flight of stairs) from us anymore, just knowing they are back on US soil, with access to someone's cell phone that we can call them on, makes us all a little happier here in our household. :) Hoo-ray!

Oh, That's Why

Today I woke up with a bad, bad cold, congested head, and swollen throat. Sadly, Eva has had the same cold the last few days - probably from our various outings in the cold-ish weather, since we can't quite give up the park visits, pumpkin patches, and walks to the fruit market just yet.  However, I have been diligently wiping her nose, washing her hands and mine, using wipes and soap and all kinds of stuff to curtail the start of the sickie season with a toddler. I was surprised to get her cold so soon, and so strongly.

Then this morning I saw Eva sucking on my toothbrush - the whole head of the brush in her sticky, germ-filled mouth. Ok, so that explains it.    

Stateside!

We got back into town Wednesday after a full two weeks of traveling. Whew! It was great and so much fun and full of so many different experiences... and we are still unpacking, cleaning, finding our "normal life" stuff around the house, and getting our sleeping clocks back in order!


My favorite phrase from Eva since our return home has been, "Momma home! Momma home!", closely followed by her newest expression of excitement, "Oh my!" (pronounced 'oh maui.') She did splendidly with the Mosbo grandparents while we were away and transitioned back home really well (so far), which of course helps us transition too. It was great to have a break from parenting and all the daily 'normal life' stresses, and I have to say it's also great to return to our normal life and to our little girl who is growing and changing and expressing herself more every day. I like that balance - enjoy time away, and enjoy the returning.


We have SO MANY great photos from our time in Thailand, and so many great stories! It has been fun to share some tidbits of our travels with others, but it is hard to sum up all we did - and it is surprising that it already seems so far away and long ago. We were lucky to have Tim and Megs show us all over and plan out our itinerary; looking back, it balanced out into a fantastic tour of seeing the country's various regions, doing touristy and every-day Thai stuff, and having a great balance of both fun and down time with our crew of friends, too.


I hope to get more pictures and stories online from our travels soon, but for now, the three of us are all getting used to life back in Chi-town. I feel very lucky that we got to celebrate ten years of marriage, having awesome siblings/siblings-in-law, and having great friends this way - yeah for "Toyland!"

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

We're off to Thailand for TWO WHOLE WEEKS tomorrow morning... and it feels surreal! I already miss our little girl more then I thought I would, and got teary-eyed making a little calendar for her that shows the days we'll be gone and ends with a picture of us holding her. Sigh.

I also cannot WAIT to see my brother and sister in law in just 24 hours, and have them show us around their world over there. We have such a fun group of people we will be traveling with, and I think it will be a perfect mix of adventure, relaxing, seeing sites and chilling on the beach - it all sounds so great... once we get going and on the plane all the running around the past week or so will fade away.

Here is the cute girl we are leaving behind (with loving grandparents!)

Below is a great recent video of Eva dancing and giggling with me. ( I also have a stellar clip of Eva reading with daddy, but it's not loading properly tonight... I'll try another time.) This clip is for her - and us - to have online while we are out galavanting around Thailand! I know Eva will have a fantastic time with her grandparents in MN, probably learning new skills, words, and songs every day - but I know I will miss her and will now have to work to remember how to be without her. She's at the age where she is a total information sponge and so fun to watch learn; my parents have planned so many activities for her visit that I wonder if she'll even notice we're gone? :) How blessed we are to have people who love our daughter so much and help keep her safe and supported while we are gone - and we are also grateful for the financial ways my parents also helped make this trip possible. Big thanks grammie and gramps! And thanks Tim and Megs for being our in-country guides! As Eva would say, "wow!" What an adventure we get to embark on! :) See you in two weeks.

Spilled Milk

It's been a hectic day full of prepping for leaving town for awhile, and Eva has been slowing me down (even more than usual). I am realizing, though, that I often forget how aware of things and how smart this kiddo is getting. Here is my favorite example:

This afternoon Eva was eating a snack on the floor in the kitchen (peanut butter, milk and popcorn, her new favorites.) I looked over to see her accidentally spill some "mick" on the floor after putting the cup up to her mouth to drink, and just as I was starting to whisk her up to put her in the high chair, where messes would be easier to control, she ran away from me. Purposefully ran away, carrying a dripping cup. More than a little perturbed, I firmly said, "Eva, come back, you need to sit in your chair now and not spill the milk." She wandered back next to me, and as I looked down, noticed she was holding our kitchen towel. Before I could pick her up to save future messes, she started to wipe up the milk from the floor!!! She looked at me and smiled as she cleaned up her own mess, and said, "ah-dow" (all done.) I broke into a huge grin and gushed, "You were helping momma clean weren't you? THANK you Eva, that was so nice! What a smart girl."

After I gave her a BIG hug for acting so grown up and helping, but before I got her up into her chair, she deliberately turned her same cup of milk fully upside down and made a HUGE mess of spilled milk on the floor. Then she handed me the towel. Sigh.

New Pics Online

FYI, there are several new albums in our online photo stash (smugmug) - including Eva's 18 month old outdoor photo shoot with Grammie and Gramps at the park(s), all the Labor Day beauties (from Linnea,) random September shots, and a few collages arranging highlights from the past year.


I am sure that EVERYONE relies on pictures to the same level that I do to capture, explain, and order life. :) Yes, I know we take a lot of pics - especially of a particular little girl. I fully accept that. And yes, if I was not me, I would probably judge me. But for the three family members who actually look through all these pics, or the average 'we met once and now I am your anonymous online stalker,' here is your photo update. :)

One and a Half?

We crossed another milestone last week; Eva is now 1 1/2. To me that sounds old somehow - which I think is more due to the fact that our little girl is fully a toddler and seems to have lept ahead in several kinds of growth spurts recently, all of which remind me how fast she's growing up.

Personality at 18 months:
- Eva knows what she wants and is more adept at telling us what that is. She yells often and speaks loudly to command our attention - but then easily adapts if you listen to her or talk with her enough so that she feels hears. She still yells back at honking horns or loud animals - maybe she will always be a fiesty "right back at you" kind of verbalizer. :) That would be kind of fun.

- Evy also does her fair amount of falling apart into tantrums for now real discernable reason - but is usually distracted into being happy again by stickers, songs (especially Old MacDonald Had a Farm,) or fun fruits. These are magic bullets people!
- Eva has intense looks! Strangers in stores will point out how cute she is, AND how cold and steely her glare is. She does the glare for lots of reasons, I can't always figure out the why - but it does communicate volumes! Her looks now tend to match her feelings and gestures/words much more.

- Eva will take a bath, jump in a pool, play with water or in water, splash with a bowl full of water - do just about anything with water for as long as we will let her. HOURS in a pool and this girl loves it. Dumping water by little spoonfuls (and large bucket-fuls) over the side of the deck - never gets old.
- Eva is much stronger lately, pulling herself onto chairs, shelves, couches, beds, up and down her nightstand and window ledge- whatever she can manage to get access too. She is also more sturdy on her feet when she does climb up and down, and is also almost always excited to be chased, swung, twirled, danced with, thrown around, etc.

- Eva likes being tickled! (Which is good news for her tickle-happy dad.) If you start to tickle her, say rubbing the bottomof her foot, when you stop, she will lift her foot up in front of you and say, "go, go, go" until you tickle her again.

- Eva understands my basic discipline and limits I tell her; not that she always obeys, but I can tell she knows at least 90% of what I tell her and she follows complex directions or requests easily. She wanders away when we are out together, but looks back to check for me. Sometimes she will run farther then I told her she could, and then stop to see me come get her and tell her no.

- Eva is genuinely delighted to see us (me and Pedro) lately. She will wake up in the am/after naps or come home/see one of us return back home and literally pump her arms with full force, or squeal in delight, or run over and forcefully give us a leg hug, or smile super wide and jump into our arms for a squeeze, usually all while chattering and talking Eva-speak to us. It is amazing to me how cool this reaction feels as a mom; such genuine feedback and connection from this little girl! Love it.

No doubt about it, she's getting to be her old regular little person!

Language Development*

Favorite new phrases:

- mow, lee (more, please)

- go, go, go, go, go (when she wants to go - mainly leave the house for the park or car)

- noo-ow (no way)

- yum-um, yum-um (yummy, or I am hungry)

New words:

- uh - uhp, uh - uhp (up, up)

- ow... ow-tuh (out, out)

- caw (car)

- coh (cow)

- moo (moon)

- wah-ow (wow)

- stick (stickers)

- ah-boo (apple)

- choch (clock)

- chram (grammie-grandma)

- doe (door)

- bah-bah-bah (lamb)

- yee-a (yeah)

- poo, poo-uhl (pool)

- bah/buh-boo (bath - keeps adding words for this one!)

- ah -may (amen)

- ah-do (all done)

* I could write a whole chapter surrounding just this area of 'language development;' it would include emails I should not read from 'linguistic specialists' who scare moms of toddlers, emails I should not read from moms who try to compete with the universe through their kids' early language skills, and my own surprise at being affected by Eva's quirks in her timeline for this developmental area. But, suffice it say, I've been happy to hear her reading, talking, pointing, and listening to more and more words each week. I think she is probably soaking in a lot about her world right now, as she should be, and will not be destined to remain in special ed her whole life, despite not speaking in short sentences by 12 months (as one of the aforementioned emails enticed me to believe.) Sigh. :) Being a mom is nuts sometimes, nuts!

I have lately returned to being able to notice and encourage her word acquisition and growing comprehension, but chill out about the speed and accuracy with which she connects it all together. So now it's fun to reflect on how she says words and which words are common in our house, because already her vocab is so different then it was a few months ago.

It feels good to stop and reflect/remember who she is lately, and who she seems to be becoming. I now understand why parents always say 'they grow up so quickly' - I think time is forever different when you nurture a little person literally from their entrance into the world into becoming a walking, talking, hugging, school-attending, school-graduating, home-leaving person of their own. I never got that before Eva! Ah, I have a one-and-a-half-year old. :)

Labor Day Weekend

I know its been several weeks already, but I had to share some of the great photos and fun times that we had over Labor Day Weekend on here! My college roomie and a godmomma to Eva, Linnea, came into town from Colorado so we could play, talk, eat, sleep in, laugh late at night, and take a bunch of pictures together for a weekend.

Most of these photos Lin took on her fab camera (thanks, chica!), which helped make a fun walk in the park a photo shoot. These first few shots are of us in Gomper's Park by the fishing pond - it's Eva's new fave park (and there are many more good pics from the park and the weekend in our online photo albums as well.)

We also spent an afternoon with Lin at Danielson's *new* house for their block party - meeting all their new neighbors and chillin with the chillins. My favorite pic is the one here, of the two toddlers sitting on the front stoop - so cliche, and so cute! They were swapping sunglasses, drinks, and some kisses that afternoon. Gotta love 'em!

Over the long weekend, Eva and I also got to see Molly, a dog that Linnea was meeting so she could consider bringing her back home to their family in CO. Molly is a cute, smart pup that we watched fetch tennis balls in the lake and run all over the hillside; she is flying on "Pet Air" to join Lin in her new home next month! Needless to say, Evy was pretty excited about a dog who could swim AND chase balls.

Labor Day also marked ten years of marriage for Peter and me! TEN YEARS! We've done several date nights to celebrate our anniversary together already, and are taking a big trip to Thailand in a week or so that is in part to celebrate - but it was kind of cool to actually pass the official day and think about all that has happened in ten years of being married to my best friend.

How lucky we are to be able to share everyday moments - and big milestones - with friends that we love so much! :)