Good Bye 2009....

Happy New Year Everyone!

After some tastey homeade liquers to celebrate, and recovering from getting our car towed tonight from Lake Shore Drive (bad alternator cut short our downtown drive/sightseeing stops), I started slowing down to reflect some on this past year. It's been a year full of changes and also waiting for change; full of the same everyday and small things right along with the unique and deeply significant events. It's been a complicated year in some ways - but also a very simple one. I think I am ready for 2010, ready to welcome whatever is next.

I've been loving making collages of my fave photos lately, since the visual connection of where we've been and what has happened helps me remember and organize (at least some of) the random thoughts in my head. I find myself looking back at the collages when I can't remember when something happened, or where the time went. So here is our past year in photo review form. :)  2010 - here we come!

Winter 2009:  (photo above) New yrs at our apt, wedding, mtng Linley/Ando/Wyatt, midwinter Sankofa reunion, trip to FL to lead conference, helmet was finished!, a gets very chattery and expressive

Spring 2009: weddings!! fun with family and visits, Izey turns 2, Eva starts to walk, Tim and Megs leave :(

Summer 2009: traveling to the cabin/MN/MI/Door County/all over, discovering stickers and the deck, started house hunting, saw cousin Sarah and visiting godparents, Eva's first sprinkler and paint set, OPRAH!

 Fall 2009: trip to Thailand, fall fun, visits with fam, more Lincoln Park Zoo/Children's museum, Ando's dedication, seeing Eva turn into a comedic little toddler!

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."