More cute-ness

Cute-ness

Eva girl

This is what Eva does when she says "I don't know."

Thanksgiving

I hope all of you out there in cyber-land had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We had a long 4 day weekend, which got extended a bit due to sickness. Eva got really sick on Wednesday with disgusting fluid coming out of both ends. I left work early and went home to be with her. She was not a happy little girl. I spent a lot of time changing runny diapers, I learned all about the "BRAT" diet (that's bananas, rice, applesauce and toast for anyone who didn't know), and I got to cuddle my little girl who so seldom lets anyone just sit and cuddle her. I did all that while cooking Thanksgiving dinner, however, 24 hours after changing Eva's diapers, the incubation period was complete and I got sick. Then, mom got sick and David got sick. It was not a happy Thanksgiving for us this year. However, on the positive side, we were extremely thankful after we started feeling better. Going through something like that does help to engender appreciation for just "normal" living.

I started feeling better on Saturday, so we went and picked out our Christmas tree. Eva went with us and her eyes got big when she saw trees inside a store. She oohed and awed over them just like she heard the adults do. She was fascinated with watching the salesman put the tree inside a plastic bag... a really big plastic bag. (He did it to assist us in getting the tree in and out of the SUV). I waited until she took a nap to put up the lights, but she got to help me put on the ornaments. I only put on the non-breaking ones that I don't care a lot about. Eva has been having a great deal of fun packing them around the house. It's very cute... she goes to the tree and inspects it like it is a shopping counter, selects the ornament she wants and then does whatever it takes to obtain it, so that she can carry it around with her for the next hour or two. The first time she saw it lit up at night, she was properly impressed and we got a delighted "ooh" out of her.

Eva has recently taken great steps forward in her development. She finally has developed to the point that she understands the concept of ownership. Since, she doesn't have any siblings, it really is pointless, but she picks up a toy and brings it to us and then insists firmly that it is hers. We all agree, but that doesn't seem to change anything... she still argues her ownership. However, she has started forbidding any of us use of her blankets lately. She has started to carry them with her and then if we use one she comes and takes it off of us and claims that it's hers. She hasn't attached to any single blanket, but does prefer any of the 100's of flannel blankets that Granny made for her. It seems that she has attached to the texture, instead of the pattern. I figure this is a good thing, as it allows us plenty of washing time.

Other behaviors we've noticed in her include the fact that she has figured out what pictures are, and when she walks down the hall upstairs where I have family pictures hung, she stops, points to each picture and then tells whoever will listen who it is. She loves to piont out the pictures of granny. Eva loves to twirl and lately she has started stomping her feet. She bends over at her waste, lifts her leg as high as she can and then stomps it down. Very adorable. In the mornings, she has taken to walking around the room in circles... I don't really know why, but it entertains her for a long time.

I have to admit this weekend was hard for me. It's incredibly difficult to take care of a child while throwing up and running to the bathroom every 5 minutes and feeling like a wet rag that has been wrung out. This is apparantly the priviledge and struggle of a mother, because neither David nor Granny were able to help at all. Eva got very upset when she saw me get sick... she acted scared and didn't want to come near me for a while. I had to assure her that she was fine and not at fault and mommy would still take care of her. That seemed to work, so then she tried to comfort me. I got a lot of hugs and pats on my back from her. My life and Eva's are more entwined that I realized they would become before I became a mother.

The Eva Factor

Last night Eva kept waking up so we brought her into bed with David and I. At 2:15 this morning, I heard a sweet little voice in my ear saying, "more, more nei-nei (Chinese for milk), Mama, more nei-nei." So I got up to get her nei-nei. I come back and she's cuddled up next to David saying, "Baba, nei-nei. More Baba." She abandoned David quickly when she saw I brought her milk... she had herself cuddled up next to me quicker than anything. Later in the morning, I was laying in bed waiting for Eva to wake up, but not really wanting to wake up myself. So, after she woke up, I kept my eyes shut and just listened to her. She sat herself next to me, patted me on my chest, decided I was still sleeping and took her blanket and covered me up with it. She's never done that before, and it was an absolutely amazing feeling to have my little girl "take care" of me. But, since I don't like blanket over my face, I got up anyway.

The cats, Ginger and Enoch, were feeling feisty this morning and were wrestling around on the living room floor. Eva thought it was fascinating. She immediately ran over to them, squatted down with her face literally three inches away from them and then couldn't understand it when they both stopped and looked at her like she was nuts. She spent a lot of time following them around the room trying to get in on the action, I think. Maybe she was just trying to referee.

Dressed in red...

Eva, Sweety

This morning in class, one of my students was joking with another student and in their "pretend" insulting told him, "You're adopted, no one loves you." I stopped my class, told him I didn't appreciate what he said and made him apologize for his statement. Then I told him that my daughter was adopted. It just made me realize how ingrained in our society is the negative image associated with "being adopted." The fact that it was natural to him to connect being adopted with not being loved disturbed me greatly. How do I insulate my daughter from this pervasive thinking, when it is so ingrained that it's even part of a casual joke? When a person adopts, they confirm over and over again that they want that child. It is an extremely difficult process that requires an amazing amount of love for a child who is unknown in many ways. The only way that one can actually survive the process is to love. I guess I am just going to have to educate this entire world on the subject one person at a time.

Last weekend, Eva was carrying around a can of vegetables (she packs everything around) and she dropped it on her big toe, cutting the skin next to the toenail. There was blood everywhere. Eva was very concerned about it, and insisted on being comforted by her mama. (Yea for attachment) I cleaned the cut, gave her some motrin and put a bandaid on it and told her that she would feel better. She did, until her bandaid fell off. She cried again, until I put another bandaid on. Mama discovered in the process that bandaids apparantly have magical powers, heretofore, unknown and undiscovered. Oh my word, did that make all the difference. Bandaid off = hurts, bandaid on = all better. It was cute.

Mrs. J's son has been sick all week, and so daycare has been closed. Eva stayed home with Granny this week. She's so cute and busy and delightful. She wants to wear her Panda Bear costume all the time and tries to dress herself in it, Granny lets her. When you ask her where something is, she shrugs her shoulders, puts her hands up in the air and says, "don't know." She can feed herself with her spoon, loves to carry around her blanket and check to see if her dolly has a wet diaper. Although, she hides from Granny when it's time for her diaper to be changed. She has recently discovered the doggy bone biscuits. Our dog has never had so many biscuits given to her... she really likes Eva. Seriously, Eva is feeding her about 12 a day now. We're going to have to go and buy more soon. She will help me unload the dishwasher and she repeats the last word of every sentence we say. I can't get over how fast she is growing. As quickly as she grows, so does her desire to test her mommy increase. It was a rough day last Friday.

I love her more than I thought was possible, and my heart melts everytime she grins up at me, or giggles, or hugs me, or pats my back, or gives me a kiss. Oh... and when she says "I love you" back to me, it is powerful.

Busy Girl

Eva is at the age that she is constantly busy. She plays with the cats, reads herself books (gets upset when mama wants to look at every page and has to take over herself), talks on the phone (she actually figured out the 5 button sequence required to call Mrs. J on the phone herself on Saturday), loves on her babies, re-decorates the house, packs things around, helps mama with whatever she is doing at the time, feeds herself and tries to dress herself. One of Eva's favorite things to do is play pretend. She especially likes to pretend to cook and make things for Granny, mommy and baba to eat. It is highly amusing to mama to see her pretend to take a bite of air.

Eva in her hat that mommy made

Fun on the steps

Panda Girl

Partying panda

Granny made this costume for Eva. Eva liked it, she even left her hat on for the longest time.








Eva enjoyed a fun day on the 31st of October. She had a party at daycare and then in the evening we took her to Halleluyah Night at our Church. It was fun, she got to eat hotdogs, dance and play some games. I was making balloon animals, and Eva thought that all the display balloons were hers... she insisted on carrying them around all at once... her arms were very full. She did fine, until some adults who I didn't recognize showed up in scary, dark, witch costumes. Eva studied them for a couple of minutes and then hid behind David... she got her little body squeezed in between his chair and the wall. She's never seen a witch before, so she must have been responding to the darkness of the costume and make-up. She definitely didn't like it. Finally we got her home late, just for her to wake up at 5:00 a.m. again. Really, this girl does not handle time changes well.

So, twice before I have given Eva chocolate and both times it caused her to have diareah. In her partying tuesday, she consumed more chocolate than she ever has before. On Wednesday (yesterday), I noticed that she has a rash all over her body. There aren't any pustules, just red, flat blotchy spots that are mostly on her belly and back. I'm pretty sure that Eva is allergic to chocolate. Tell me, how do you explain that to a 1 1/2 year old?!