Eva-isms - two more

I forgot a couple additional standard Eva sayings:

- "puter" - computer, pronounced just like computer minus the first syllable
- "Pee-caw-joh" - currently how she is pronouncing Chicago. :) This word has gone through a couple derivations, this one is my favorite.

Eva-isms

I've noticed certain vocabulary "isms" that are particular to how Eva talks at 3 1/2 yrs. A couple friends at church were even commenting on a couple oft-repeated words of hers, which made me smile and realize that even in the name of accuracy, I don't want her to outgrow the certain way she pronounces some words - not yet at least.

The most common Eva-isms these days include:

- "actually," said correctly and all, but just used - A LOT (I've noticed how much I say this word - correlated?)
- "excuse me," said again, correctly, but very, very often - when she disagrees, wants to talk, wants you to do something differently, etc. etc.
- "cans" - her version of because, or 'cause
- "I begot" - her version of forgot or forget
- "bemember" - remember
- "just joking'" - when she is being funny, or says something incorrectly, she laughs and says, "oh, sorry, I was just joking"
- "I'm uh ladee" accent; she LOVES accents of all kinds, and hearing me imitate various accents lately, and has even developed her own accent called "being a lady" - it's pretty funny. :)  

Quoteable

"Momma, I have some spinach?" Eva asked me excitedly while we were reading stories last night.

"Spinach? Why do you want spinach, babe?"

"I have spinach! Uno, dos, face - and roho!"

"Oh - spanish - you want to count in spanish. Good work - you said one, two, three in spanish - and then the color red."

"Yeah, I have spinach. ROHO!!"

(Apparently she loves the color red. :) And btw, this foray into bi-lingual skills is brought to you by the television program, Dora.)

Some Common Eva Phraseologies...

Lately I find myself laughing - hard - at Eva's way of seeing and communicating with the world. (I also find myself getting irritated and wiped out by some of her two-year-old antics - but mostly, its pretty stinking cute!)

Some of these phrases I hear, literally, ten times a day, so I wanted to remember them and her funny little way of talking and interacting with our world. :)

"Okay, buh-bye, see you soon!"
(Said when she is going to leave, for any length of time, including going into her own room if I am still in the kitchen - for example.)

"Socks (or, baby/momma/drum/etc.), wuh-are you?"
(Said while wandering around the house and looking under things, or sometimes after she has hidden something and is purposely making a game of finding it.)

"Where did thot come from?"
(Said in a quizzical tone, whenever she is surprised by something being where it shouldn't be, including - today - wondering where the brightly-colored ear on a new toy came from.)

"Good night momma, love you momma, g'night, see you soon."
(Yelled through her closed door after I tuck her in for a nap/bedtime.)

"Oh Boy!"
(Said all the time, for obvious reasons.)

"Stop it, stop it," or "go away, go away."
(Said when she is being typical two year old and getting upset about something.)

"Dans with me, dans with Eva, in-si-ments, get insiments (instruments)!!
(Said many times a day, or whenever music is on, or she gets an idea for dancing or pretending she is something.)

"HI!! (Yelled full-volume to most strangers we see in the park/grocery store/or off of our deck. Then it's followed up by:) "What's your name?" (which is sometimes followed by:) "I Eva."

"Hi little toes, how are you? What's your name?"
(Said while crouched down on all fours, talking to my painted toenails, which she loves lately :). Yep, our daughter talks to toes.)



(This last photo is Eva playing a new 'instiment' with her dad, where they both make sounds into the "pipe" - aka, her toy broom handle. It's a fave game lately!)

Emotions and Imaginations

In the last few months, Peter and I have both noticed that Eva's emotional and imaginative sides are developing like crazy! She's always been pretty aware of emotions, noticing crying, sadness, scared feelings, or happy feelings very frequently for the past year or so. She quickly learned to recognize feelings she was having and declared them, and then moved on to noting emotions in other people, in tv characters, or even in her animals/dolls/toys. This later stage of making up feelings that inanimate objects have is a current favorite past time. One example happened at breakfast today:

While we were finishing eating together, Peter raised his bare foot next to Eva's chair and wiggled his toes at her. Then Eva proceeded to talk to Peter's toes, in her sing-songy, pretending voice:

Eva: Hi there (directed at the toes), what is your name?
Peter: I am daddy's toes.
Eva: Hi toes, I'm Eva. Are you hungry?
Peter: No, toes don't eat!
Eva: Oh, okay, are you sad? Let me give you a hug (followed by gently hugging Peter's foot - while Peter and I laugh uncontrollably.)

Another interesting development is that almost every favorite toy now has its own personality, feelings and a voice of its own in Eva's world, including puzzle pieces, trains, baby dolls, lambie, bouncing balls - sometimes even food! Also, it is often true that if we talk to her toys about going to sleep, eating, or getting dressed, she will respond much faster then if we just ask her. She will also have a conversation with said toy about doing said activity. She will also mercilessly mimic us in her conversations. For example:

Liz: Eva, it's time to take a nap sweetie.
Eva: Nap sweetie... come lambie, let's nap sweetie.
Liz: Is lambie tired too?
Eva: (directed to lambie, in sing-songy voice) Are you tired too sweetie? Nap sweetie? Good night sweetie.

Also, she turned to Peter the other day and said, "Daddy, what you thinking about?" THAT one was mimicing mommy. :)

I kind of love all these things that she is picking up and reflecting to us... we just have to keep being intentional about how we talk and emote around this kiddo!

(this picture is Eva's response when I said, "Smile!" with the camera.)

Two Reasons Why This Friday Morning Rocks:

1. I turned in my dissertation draft to my advisor!!! (No, this doesn't mean I am done yet - still plenty more to do - but this was a BIG milestone. Woo hoo!)

2. Eva looked down the hallway and said, "When do I get to go and get my coat? Car? Car?" (She is heading over to Izey's house today.) Peter and I both just looked at each other.

Happy Friday all.

What did you just say?

I have been pretty surprised at several phrases coming out of my little girl's mouth this week. I don't know if it's her super smart babysitter, my amazing mothering skills, or the influence of Sesame Street kicking in, but I have been wondering -when did she learn to talk like this?

- This morning she greeted me with, "Hi Mommy! I love you! Time to play - come with me."

- After her nap, she yelled, "I have poopy diaper. Change now."

- At lunch, she made up a song (that she sang at the top of her lungs) that included the phrases, "me and you play together," and "puppy and goose and goat play in the park. Goat and goose eat outside." (Recently she loves seeing the geese peck around for food in the snow in the park, and she's always loved puppies - and I don't know where the goat came from, probably from one of her fave puzles?)

- Before leaving the house with her dad for a walk (wearing her adorable sunglasses and pink mittens), she confided in me, "I walk with daddy now. Daddy stand on feet. Eva walk too."

????

Complex ideas and sentences, made up several phrases, made up of a bunch of words? What is going on?

Yep, I love it. Can't wait to communicate with my girl even more.

Funny Quotes from this Week

Peter: Do you like grammie?
Eva: Nope... I LOVE grammie!


Liz: Eva, where did we go today?
Eva: Izey's house! Ando's house! Zec's (Zach) house! Kate's house!
Liz: Where are we going next? Outside on a walk?
Eva: Izey's house!
(she talks about being at her god-brother/friend's house A LOT)


Peter: Eva, are you cute?
Eva: I smart! Yeah!

Eva Quotes

Peter: "Eva, what does a frog say?"
Eva: "Ffrrrooooooogggg," said in a high, sing-song voice

- - - - -

Liz: "I love you Eva, goodnight."
Eva: "I yuv oo, momma," in a high, sing-song voice (she just started saying this phrase, and I love it)!

- - - - -

Liz: "Eva, what shape are the bubbles? How about this grapefruit - what is this shape?"
Eva: in a very serious tone, "Blue."

(Nope, she doesn't get colors yet. :) )

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.)

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. :)

Proud Owners of a New and Improved.....Toddler

I think it's official; we have a toddler in the house. Here are a few snippets of our last week and why Eva has me convinced that she is truly fulfilling the age-appropriate stereotype:

Cute thing she did all morning: said "Wow!" over and over when she saw something she liked.
Not as cute thing she did the same morning: threw her hat in the toilet.

New skill she has mastered: climbing stairs
Skill she has regressed on: walking (she now prefers that mom and dad swing her along in between us while she sings and squeals)

Her new words that she says accurately: mo (more), Ah-do (Ando - for little Anders Danielson), bay-bee (baby), may-ow (meow, when she sees a kitty), dat (dad - in addition to the previously learned "daddy") and goh-goh-goh-goh (for go)
Her new words that she often confuses: ah-doh (all done) and a-may (amen)

Sweet thing she now does: cuddles much more & gives us hugs/kisses un-asked for - and often!
Not so sweet thing she now does: smears yogurt/hummus/'insert-food-product' here, all over her arms/legs/face/ 'insert-body-part-she-can-reach-while-in-her-high-chair' here.

Ah, Eva - she is a funny kid. :)

Stylin' Shades part 2 - or, "The Realistic Side"

This second, short little video of her with her new sunglasses shows another side of our little girl. It's not really about the sunglasses - instead, this clip captures a sweet, priceless everyday moment of cherubic little girl; namely, her predisposition to say "no, no, no, no," and repeat it over and over. :) I have trouble not laughing at her because I think the way she says it is so cute. Although Peter reminds me that over time, hearing a repetitive "no" will probably NOT be cute.

So to balance out all the cute little girl moments, here is our girl being - you know - a little 16 mos old girl. :)