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