Growing up

This past Tuesday was the 3 month anniversary of Eva's adoption day. It is incredibly hard to countenance that fact... we've only had her for 3 months! No... it feels like she's always been here and when I think of time before her it is like a different life. In 3 months, my baby who was on the cusp of toddlerhood has transversed that invisible boundary and is definitely a toddler.

Not only can Eva safely, easily and quickly climb the stairs, she now is just as good going down the stairs. She will throw away trash if you tell her, "Eva... go put this in the trash." She has given up bottles and is using sippy cups only. This week, David asked her to find her horsey... she looked all over the room, searched the toy box until she found and brought him her horsey. She sees the chickens in the yard and immediatly goes "bawk, bawk..." Her vocabulary has grown to include so many words I can't even list them all. Anything we say, she repeats it. She talks constantly and doesn't cry anymore when I have to go to work. She understands everything we say (potentially a scarry thought) and mimics whatever she can. She dances and sings and tries to put her shoes on herself. If I open the chicken house to let them out, she insists she accompany me. In addition, she insists I let her help unload the dishwasher and unpack the grocery bags. She carries things all over the house and believes herself to be an interior decorator... apparantly she doesn't like all the locations that David and I have chosen to put things. She finds great amusement in making grand entrances and will walk just out of our view so that she can come into the room and hear accolades in her honor... my daughter is behaving like a diva. I really hate that expression and have tried very hard never to apply it to her. However, it does fit. She will do anything if it earns her applause. And, yet in all this, she still has yet to climb out of that crib. Yes, I have begun giving her lessons on how to do it. I believe it will break free the hold the crib has on her that keeps her imprisoned to have control over when she can get out of it.

Eva is a delight and joy in my life... she teases and laughs and our house finally feels alive. Here's to the next three months...