Eva Talk

Eva thinks her "chicken pops" are mosquito bites. "E'ah lots and lots of quito bites mommy." She actually isn't doing to bad with them though, she will wiggle around a little to rub the bites on her back, but she doesn't have them anywhere near as bad as if she had not had her vaccination.

So, Eva has been delighting us with the unexpected things she says. They aren't particularly funny outside of the setting, but just further validation that we can not underestimate her little mind. For example, David has now misplaced his keys to his Explorer and is using the spare set. Eva, after hearing us speak about that, and remembering the Volvo keys that she found, announced very seriously that "Baba looses lots of keys." Another point of fascination for her is the female anatomy. My 2-year-old is fascinated with boobs. She's going to be so embarrassed when she's 13 and reads this. But, for now, it is a topic that occupies a lot of her thoughts. She is constantly trying to discuss boobies. When our social worker was here on Monday, Eva was sitting with Baba while I was talking with her. She lifted Baba's shirt out and asked, "Baba have boobies too?" David was mortified and hoped that no one heard. Come to think of it, he might be embarrassed by this dialogue also. Oh well. So, Eva keeps asking us where her boobies are and we tell her that she will have them when she's older. Now, on a regurlar basis and at unexpected times, out of the blue, she will come up to one of us and say, "E'ah have boobies when older." Granny says that we've heard it so many times that when she's a teenager we are all going to sit around and tell Eva that she has boobies now and discuss them with the same level of thoroughness that she wants to discuss it now. The thought amuses me, but I won't actually purposely mortify my daughter. Granny says that we should just treat it matter-of-fact and Eva will outgrow the fascination, that it's a normal part of growing awareness of her world. In the meantime, David is trying very hard to explain to a 25 month old child that men don't have boobies. Another thing Eva has heard us discuss to death, it seems, is the topic of paying bills. The other night, she found a bill on the coffee table and after Baba opened it up, she ran into the office, got her checkbook (it's an account register in a check book holder) and a pen and came out and started scribbling on the "check." David asked her what she was doing and she informed him, "Paying bills Baba." The same night, she found a copy of the latest Oriental Trading catalog that we have and after looking thoroughly at each page, brought it to David and pointed at a picture of some squirting fish and told Baba, "Mommy order this please." I remember something my father told me when I was younger about adults making the mistake of underestimating children. He said that children have the same mind and intelligence as an adult, just not the experience and that adults often underestimate what they are capable of. I have to remind myself of that. When Eva says these things that I did not expect, I understand how easy it is to underestimate a two-year-old's intelligence and understanding, and I tell myself that I must expect anything.