First she tried to eat the dog bone herself, then she tried feeding it to the cat. Ginger thought she was crazy...


Eva isn't suppose to pull the movies out...she got caught.

This morning Eva told me she was Hungry ("Hungee"), so I asked her what she wanted for breakfast. I asked her if she wanted fruit, she said "Don't want it." I asked her if she wanted an English muffin, she didn't want that either. Finally, after denying several offerings, she decided that she was hungry enough to eat some cereal for breakfast, but she didn't want any milk on it. So, I gave her a bowl of cereal, which she promptly turned upside down, making a mess all over the floor. She looked at the cereal, then me and said, "Mommy, cereal messy." I agreed that yes, when Eva eats cereal it is messy. Then she said, "Clean cereal. Mommy do it." I walked away.

Update: After David and I got home from work, we decided to tackle the cereal issue and Eva's attitude that she can do what she wants and Mommy will clean it up. So, we told her that she had to pick up her cereal. She again said "No, mommy do it." 30 minutes and 3 time outs later, Eva finally decided that mommy meant what she said and picked up the cereal. It took her about 30 seconds to do it. After that we took it out and fed it to the chickens, which was a reward in itself.

Pretty in Pink

Helping, Mommy

Daycare was closed on Monday, so I took a personal day and got to spend the entire day with Eva. We went down to Fargo and did some shopping and visited a friend. Eva is definitely a helper when shopping. She picks things up, examines them and then puts them back... everything mommy does, only she doesn't quite get them back the way they were when she picked them up. I was just impressed that she put it back... victory in the small things. We ate at a Chinese Buffet and she told everyone in the restaurant on the way back to our seats that she was "Hungee" and she was "Eating Dinner." After we ate, she told everyone on the way back to the front counter that we were "Paying now." I am sure everyone in the restaurant was anxious to know both of those facts. At the mall, there is a play area with foam dinasaurs in it... Eva enjoyed going down the foam slide a lot! We need to get her a slide.

Last night, when David and I went upstairs to cook dinner, Eva came up with us to help. After I cut up the fresh water chestnuts (by the way... fresh water chestnuts taste completely different than the canned ones, they taste a little like Jicama), Eva sampled them. After I cut up the snap peas, Eva sampled them. After I cut up the red bell pepper, Eva sampled it. After I cut up the green onions, Eva sampled them. She can reach up on the counter and help herself to the samples. I spent 10 minutes looking for the broccoli... Eva thought it would help to put the broccoli on the floor of the dinning room rather than on the counter. After I found it and cut it up, Eva sampled it too. She helped David measure out the rice, she even sampled a dry rice grain. Finally, after we finished dinner and went downstairs to the table down there so we could eat with Granny, Eva took a bite, looked over at me and said, "Dinner good, Mommy." She is definitely an active participant in this life.

Tough Girl

Time Out for Enoch

I have mentioned before how Eva has become well acquainted with Time Out. The best thing about it is that it works... she has been put on time out for hitting, for biting, for not listening, and for throwing her toys and then whining about it. She has started to roll play time out. Yesterday morning she put her baby doll in time out for not listening. After she got her out she gave her a hug and kiss and said sorry for her. This morning it was the cat... our black cat, named Enoch (who Eva calls Knee-Knock). Eva was on the bed with me playing with her baby doll--she was trying to re-dress it after taking off its pajamas. Only she hasn't quite mastered that level of fine motor skills. Anyway, Eva was concentrating very hard when Enoch came up on the bed to join us. He wanted attention and we weren't giving him any, so he did what all cats do, started to play with the object we were giving attention--Eva's doll. Eva got very upset that Enoch was biting her baby. She told him "No, Knee-Knock, move." That didn't work, and she was increasingly agitated that he kept biting on her baby's foot. So, finally she exclaimed in a deep, stern voice, "Knee-Knock, Stop. Time out." Of course Enoch didn't stop, so we put him on time-out. I carried him out to the dining room and sat him on the chair that Eva has to sit on for time out. The funniest part to me is that he actually stayed. He sat there and enjoyed a bath until Eva and I came back and got him. I had a really hard time not laughing through the entire thing... you should have seen Eva strut down the hall after giving Enoch time out. Her belief that she is the complete boss of the cats in the house has just been cemented for all time. Maybe I should apologize to Enoch. I wonder if he'd like some wet cat food this morning...

More fun

Fun

Constantly Busy

Stories of an almost 2 year old

Daycare has been closed for a couple of days now and so Granny has been watching Eva. Apparantly she spent the day yesterday cooking for Granny. Granny's favorite was the stack of pancakes with ketchup on it. Eva puts sauce on everything... she really loves sauce of any kind. Food is so much fun with sauce, you know.

This morning Eva tore a Winnie the Pooh card she has in half. I asked her what she was going to do with it now, because it was torn and she couldn't use it anymore. She looked at me and in a voice that clearly spoke "Don't you know anything?" said, "Tape it." I couldn't argue.

Eva got new rubber boots since the snow has melted and it's muddy everywhere. Eva loves to wear her rubber boots. She puts them on, and goes to the door and tells me "Chickens out." It turns out that she very much enjoys helping me with the chickens. She will walk up to a hen and say "Hello Chicken," then try to pet it... which of course, never works. On Tuesday we were feeding old bread to the chickens and Eva spent at least 15 minutes trying to chase down the chickens so that they would eat the bread out of her hand. Scarlet (the dog) eventually caught up to Eva and took the bread from her instead...alas the chickens never did get any of her bread.

Granny tells me on Tuesday that she sees Eva over with the cat, Ginger, and Ginger is eating something. Granny wondered what on earth Eva could have given Ginger that she would eat. When she saw Eva run to the other room and then come back a minute later carrying a little plastic plate (from her kitchen) with dry dog food on it. She carried it over to Ginger and put it down in front of her. Ginger took a bite and then Eva popped a piece in herself. They polished off the meal together. Yes, my daughter eats dog food. I am working really hard not to care.

So, Eva likes to help with everything. Whenever I have to carry something upstairs, Eva searches the room until she finds something too to carry. She helps me bring in the groceries, put them away and run the dishwasher. Other than handing us the dishes, her job is to put in the soap squares and to push the button to start it. She has actually gotten really good at fetching things, but still has the tendency to stand in one spot in the room and turn in circles, looking straight out, when she is searching for something. Let me tell you, there are very few things that are exactly 3 feet off the floor in our house.

Another change that has occurred recently is that Eva finally has started agreeing to letting me put "pretties" (Barrets, rubber bands, etc...) in her hair. I have been taking full advantage of it, she even will let me comb it now without screaming. Whenever we tell Eva that she looks pretty she will literally strut down the hall. She stops and primps and then holds her shirt or dress out for us to admire. I have a nagging feeling that I might regret our encouragement of this behavior. It sure is cute, though.

I try really hard to use correct English with Eva and not succumb to repeating back her words using her very adorable toddler pronunciation. However, I must admit, that I can not help myself with her word for "ladybug." Eva calls ladybugs "picklebugs." I don't know why she enunciates that word as she does, but it is very hard to resist calling them that myself. The other day, when Eva was on time out there was a ladybug right next to her and she was very upset by that. She kept trying to scootch herself away from it. When that didn't work she stood up. I of course, not realizing she had a ladybug issue, told her she had to sit down or I would restart the timer. She sat back down visibly upset and then emphatically declared "Picklebug, Icky!" while pointing at a spot about 2 feet away from her. I moved the bug and she was fine. I had to work hard not to laugh.

I love that Eva can carry on conversations now and I adore how she thinks she knows everything, but in reality she gets it all wrong most of the time. I do not know how I lived so long without her, seriously, I didn't realize it was possible to love a precocious little girl as much as I do.

Pictures from Valentines Day

My digital camera was out of commission for a few weeks (The motor opening the shutter quit and had to be replaced) which is why the scarcity of pictures for a few weeks. In any case, it is back up to operation, but my pictures are a little older. Not that it matters, Eva is cute all the time. These particular pictures were taken on Valentines Day. Eva had a party at daycare.

Pictures from our Flat Kenny Expedition

These pictures are some that we took when we went around with Flat Kenny (the paper version of my nephew who is 5) to see the area

Eva and the Doctor

I took Eva to the Doctor yesterday. It was actually for her 2 year wellness exam, although she is a month away from turning 2 yet. So, at 23 months old, she weighs 31 lbs and is 36 1/2 inches tall. Her Doctor said that she has RSV, a viral infection of her respitory and sinus tract. That's the same thing she had before, and it's just hanging on stubborn. He prescribed a medicine that she breathes in using a nebulizer, and it actually works. She slept all the way until 2:00 this morning without coughing. Then, she coughed a little and went back to sleep. We are very happy. He told me not to worry about her being sick, she hasn't been sick any more than what he normally expects for children who go to daycare and are exposed to other children. Also, the nature of my job causes me to be exposed to lots of viruses, etc, which I can carry and expose to Eva. Her Doctor said to expect anywhere from 6 - 8 illnesses each winter. So, Eva's immune system is fine.

So, Eva is a delight to take to the Doctor's office. She still does NOT like nurses. We had to wait for about an hour for the Doctor and all the while we waited, every time she saw a nurse walk by or open a door, she immediately grabbed onto me and said "Nurse. No." I got some pretty tight hugs from her. As much as she hates nurses, she actually does like her Doctor. It helps that he's male and has never jabbed her with a needle.

I am out of time, or I would post more. Here's to wellness!

Family

I am still struggling with trying to balance every aspect of my life: Work, motherhood, faith, wife... and yet still have time alone to come to terms and deal with everything. Eva is sick again... fever, runny nose and cough. She's sick a lot, which makes me doubt myself. It is also exhausting to constantly be taking care of a sick baby. The nannies told me that she was sick often, which is why they had put the IV in her head. Does anyone have reccomendations on vitamins a toddler can have and will like?

Other than that aspect, life with Eva is a lot of fun. I have discovered an amazing talent she has... another one in common with her aunt Kathy. Eva can find things. For example, this morning, I told her I didn't know where my watch was and I asked her if she knew. She immediately left the room and then a minute later came running back in carrying my watch. I have no idea where it was, because I looked. On Sunday, David asked her if she had seen his cologne. She hopped off his lap, ran over to a seldom used shelf in our living room, grabbed his smelly stuff and brought it to him. I must say to her at least twice every day, "Oh... that's where ?? is, I've been looking for that." Since that is a talent I have never had, it never fails to impress me.

Time out has been working well... Eva has started to control herself and hasn't been hitting as much, in fact, hardly ever anymore. Now when she gets angry she will raise her hand to hit, look at me and then slowly lower her hand. Occasionally she will throw something, but never at me. This weekend she did bite David twice and she bit me last night. She's been going on time out for that also. Eva hates being on time out, but is really good about sitting there, she will tell us why she was put on time out and will apologize afterwards. It's actually working. However, sometimes I feel like all I ever do is discipline her. I tell myself that this is an investment in the future so I won't have to fight these battles when she's a teenager, but still, there are times I feel like my entire day is spent teaching and disciplining Eva. On the other hand, she actually listens to me. If I tell her something, she immediately responds.

Eva has gotten to the point in her development that she actually remembers the names of her family, even those she hasn't met yet. She has been learning the names of her cousins. She recognizes Aunt Kathy's in picture and video, will say "Kappy" and then make the fish lips that Kathy taught her. Eva loves to watch the video of herself... I use it to calm her down when she's upset. She's seen the video of when we got her in China so many times that she will tell us what's going to happen before it does and she tells us who everyone is. It's adorable. She has learned to say that she is Chinese. She can recognize the difference in our appearance also. Whenever she sees a picture of an Asian child, she tells me it is Eva. If she sees a picture of a Caucasian child she will tell me it is someone else... one of the other children she knows. In any case, I didn't realize how young she would be when she started noticing those things. Although, I'm not sure still how much of it she understands, but she definitely is aware of her world. Granny says that her level of awareness also reminds her of Aunt Kathy, as well as the fact that she talks nonstop and is really bossy (that part is from me not Granny).

Hair Cut

I took Eva with me to get my hair cut this weekend. The first hour I was there, she spent holding me close and burying her head in my chest. The second hour, she decided they were really good people after all (the sucker helped) and she really was interested in what was going on and well there were new things to explore. So, this morning when I was trimming David's hair, Eva declared she wanted a hair cut too. "I try it, mommy. Hair cut mommy. More." I thought, it wouldn't hurt to trim her bangs, only Eva didn't keep her head still. Now her bangs are crooked. I'm not even going to attempt to straighten them out, I think she'll be going into the beauty salon soon for herself. It was however, the first time she's had any sort of hair cut since we've had her.

Concerns of an almost two year old...

Yesterday, David had surgery... he had his tonsils removed as well as the edges of his pallete cut out or trimmed. His sleep apnea has worsened in the last year and his C-PAP isn't working any more like it used to, so they in effect, surgically widened his air passage. His surgeon said that after they anesthesized him and he fell asleep, his tonsils (which are larger than normal) fell back and together, completely blocking his air passageway. The Doctor couldn't believe he could breath at all. This surgery has the potential of removing his sleep apnea completely, and at the very least, reducing it greatly. In any case, David had to be in the hospital for observation overnight. He went in for surgery yesterday morning, before I went to work. I got off work early and brought Eva and Granny in to visit him in the afternoon. Eva was very concerned about her Baba in the hospital. She kept telling him he had an "owey" where his IV entered his hand. She freaked out when the nurse showed up... Eva does not like nurses. Actually, she was fine until she saw her needle, then Eva started screaming. She ate Baba's cup of ice and half of his dinner (as well as her own dinner), she played with his remote, pushed all the buttons on his bed, made him read her books (with a very sore throat) and made me hold her a lot. She was obviously worried about David. So, last night, when we left the hospital and did not take David with us, Eva was NOT a happy girl. It took her a long time to go to sleep and she kept asking "Where Baba?" I would tell her that Baba was at the hospital and he will come home tomorrow. Eva then informed me that he had an "owey" and he had "ice" and a "mote" (remote). Those were the things that Eva found significant about the hospital and worthy to remember. She was more whiney than usual this morning when she realized Baba still wasn't home... I guess she thought when I said he'ld come home tomorrow, that meant he would be there when she woke up tomorrow. She was not happy with any of us because he wasn't there. When we went to the hospital early this morning to get David, her entire mood changed. She was more than thrilled when David got in the car with us and came home. I thought it was cute though, the first thing she said to Baba when we came into his room. "Ice?"

Over a month ago, Granny accidently hit Eva in the head with her door. She didn't realize Eva was trailing so close behind her when she started to shut the door to her room. It didn't cause a bump or anything... it really wasn't that bad, but Eva played it up good. For two weeks after the incident, she kept reminding Granny that "door, owey." Then she would smile as Granny apologized yet again. After the first couple of weeks, she quit doing it and we all assumed she had forgotten. Well, last Sunday, we were all in the car and Granny was riding in the back seat with Eva. Eva, having missed her nap, was crabby and hit Granny. Granny told and Eva got into trouble for hitting and got chastised by Baba. Eva did not like that, according to her view, Granny got her into trouble. So, she leaned herself towards Granny in her car seat, looked her in her eye and said, "Door, owey." Apparantly, she thought Granny owed her one for hurting her with the door and how dare she get her into trouble... she should feel guilty, darn it. If she didn't feel properly guilty, Eva was going to remind her about it. Already, not even two years old, my daughter is trying to impose guilt to get her way... she's too young!

Baba, the sofa...

Eva used her keys to unlock the appliances...

Finally, some pictures!

We asked her what her puppy's temperature was, and she told us it was "one." Despite the fact that One is her favorite number, that is one cold puppy!

If it belongs to baba and is too big for Eva, it is a guarentee she'll have it on.

Family Life

So... last week I caught Eva's flu, and between everything else, just didn't have time to come and post. I will try to remember all my Eva stories from last week.

I like to watch Texas Hold'em tournaments on TV. I don't play poker, nor am I a gambler, but I admit that there is something about Texas Hold'em that intrigues me. I think it's the human element and the great players who can predict their opponents and read them. In addition, it is something that I can listen to and not have to watch while I am grading papers. In any case, I have the TIVO record them and then watch/listen to them while grading or doing something else. A couple of weeks ago, I had enough of "The Wiggles." (What is about them that turns my daughter into a groupie?... her eyes go half shut, her mouth slacks opens, her head lulls and she dances along with a look of complete adoration on her little face, the only thing missing is the lighter) I remember David coming downstairs, and commenting on the fact that I was watching poker. I told him that I was tired of the wiggles and so I turned something else on and it was the only thing recorded that I wanted to watch. Eva heard this exchange... I didn't think anything of it at the time. So, on the Friday before last, Granny was watching Eva. She still was recovering from being sick and stayed home from daycare. They had been watching the Wiggles over and over (yes, TIVO also records them) for hours. Finally, Eva came up to Granny and said, "Poker." Granny couldn't believe what she just heard. She asked Eva, "You want to watch poker?!" Eva just repeated "poker." So, Granny turned on a tournament and asked Eva, "This is what you want to watch?" Eva replied, "no." Granny asked her, "You want to watch the Wiggles?" Eva replied even more emphatically, "NO." Apparantly Eva had figured out that when you're tired of the Wiggles, you're suppose to turn on poker. Granny put on the Little Einsteins instead. Eva hears what we says and understands just enough to get it all wrong. In any case, my nearly 2 year old daughter thinks that she likes poker.

Last week, I was pretty much out of it, so I don't remember much. I can say that Eva has been talking more, she really does talk constantly. There is a significant change in her that I noticed last week and which has come about since she was sick. Eva has been spontaneously hugging and kissing and cuddling. All that week she was sick, I held her and it was the only thing that made her feel better. Somewhere along the way, she figured out that it is good and normal to hug mommy. This month will be 9 months that we've had her and finally she is responding fully and without inhibition to affection towards David and I. Every child is different and attaches at different rates and responds differently towards disruption and abandonment. Eva is one who takes her time to trust and she's had to learn to give and receive affection... and to think, it was the flu that helped her get there, plus a lot of time and patience that I've poured into her.

David and I have been struggling with Eva hitting us. Whenever she gets angry or frustrated or irrational (not enough sleep), she responds by hitting. I believe she got put on the "naughty spot" half a dozen times yesterday for hitting. And what's worse is that she understands she's not suppose to do it, and then gets angry and does it anyway. This morning she told me, "Hitting, No No, Time Out." I told her, "That's right, Hitting is a no no and if you hit you will have to go on time out." To which, she responded by raising her hand in preparation to hit me. I raised my eyebrow and she lowered her hand. I've been consistent and have punished her every single time she hits...Eva is very good at sitting in time out, she will sit there and proceed to repeatedly tell everyone and everything that she's in "time out." We ignore her, because it is suppose to be punishment. She always says she's sorry afterwards and needs reassurance, so I know the punishment was effective. Yet, the next time she gets angry she hits again. I am not used to being this plagued with doubts and worries that I'm handling a situation correctly, being a mother is really a lot more challenging emotionally than being a Chemistry Instructor. On the other hand, she has to learn to control her temper and I just keep telling myself it will be easier for her to learn it now than when hormones are raging through her body during her teenage years. I also have to believe I'm not the only mother in this world who has faced this challenge. I think I'm going to try adding a reward system for not hitting in addition to the punishment. In the meantime, I wonder how I'm suppose to get through the next year... she doesn't turn two until April.

The Flu

So, despite giving my daughter the flu shot, she got the flu anyway. I've been extremely busy doing nothing but holding a miserable little girl all week and haven't had a chance to post. Eva has had a high fever (over 100 degree), has been vomiting and has a runny nose, a sore throat and chest congestion. As a result, she has gotten very little sleep, is irrational and CRABBY. I literally have spent every night this week sitting up and holding her while she sleeps. She will cry for hours at a time, and she doesn't want anyone but me. Everytime she sees my mom, she starts exclaimng "no" at her and she gets upset if Granny looks at her or speaks to her. I think she is afraid that I'll let Granny watch her (I did last Friday when Daycare was closed because of the flu) and she wants to make sure we all know that Mommy is suppose to be the only one to watch her. Although, I had to come into work on Wednesday, so David stayed home with her that day. That was okay, except she was really bad Wed. evening.

I took her to the Doctor on Monday and she was very upset about that. She hates the nurse. There is no way around coming to that conclusion, and I feel very sorry for the nurse because she is a nice young woman who obviously loves children. When the nurse asked Eva how she was, she told her "Bye bye." She asked Eva if she felt all right, and Eva responding by picking up her coat, handing it to me and saying, "On Mommy. Go home." She screams as soon as she sees the nurse and stops immediately after the nurse leaves. She does seem to like her Doctor--it helps that he's a male and that he's never jabbed her with a needle. The nurse thinks that she will forget. I don't know, Granny accidently hit Eva in the head with the door to her room two weeks ago, and Eva still reminds her of it every day... that is when she is talking to Granny. She tells her "Granny, door hit, owey." Eva has a good memory.

In any case, the Doctor said there wasn't much we could do for the flu, just to give her tylanol or motrin. Only, I can't get her to take her medicine. If it put it (liquid suspension) in her mouth, she spits it out. If I force her to swallow it, she becomes upset and throws it up (every time!). We even tried getting her the chewable tablets and telling her that it was candy. She wasn't fooled. We tried other flavors, it didn't matter. We tried putting it in her juice. That worked, once, before she figured it out and insisted on drinking only "un-tainted" water. I could have refused her the water, I suppose, but that sort of defeats the purpose of keeping her hydrated. I've had even less sleep than she has this week and now I think I have her flu... today has been a hard day. Okay, this has been a hard week. Albeit, Eva is doing much better. She slept good last night and she is letting Granny watch her today for the first time since getting sick.

As bad as this has been on the two of us, I can't help but realize how great it has been for attachment and bonding on both our sides. It's another experience that has been intense and that has been shared between us, another link in the chain that binds us together as mother and daughter. I feel even closer to her, and even more protective and even more in love with my crabby little girl.

Chinese New Years

Happy New Years!

Join us by celebrating and eating some Chinese food this weekend. Send a toast in Eva's direction.

(Chinese New Years is Sunday, Feb 18th this year. So, New Years Eve is Saturday.)

Boss Girl

Aunt Kathy's comment to the last post reminded me of another Eva story. This Sunday I worked in the Toddler Nursery during church and it gave me the opportunity to watch how Eva interacts with other children her age. I had 10 of them in there, and Eva bossed every one of them around. If anyone got into a scuffle, she immediately marched over to them, stroked their arm and said "nice." (We make her do that to the kitty cats when she plays too rough with them.) Then whenever someone climbed up the slide, she immediately marched over to it and patted the slide and told them "here." Apparantly she figured they wouldn't know how to go down the slide without her instruction. She told each one, at some point, that they needed to sit, "Nit down!" and where they needed to sit and for how long. In addition, she "knew" what toys each one of them wanted to play with and kept giving them the toy she thought they should have, and removing from them the toy she thought another child should play with. David was hopeful that we could teach her how to temper it... I really don't know, though... I've never been that successful at tempering my bossiness, nor did my Father ever learn that trick, nor my older sister, nor my younger sister, I can go on. Personally, I think she just fits right in the family.

Time with Eva

This weekend was great for just spending time with Eva. She amazes me every single day and well, I am a fan of my little girl.

My nephew sent us a flat version of himself "Flat Kenny" so that we could take it around the area and take pictures of him with differen things. We'll send it back to him with information and the teacher can use it to teach his/her students about the United States. In any case, it's very cold here and we live in a very isolated part of the country. We've been working hard to think of things to do with Flat Kenny. So, Saturday, we drove down to Itasca State Park and took a picture of Flat Kenny next to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Eva went with us and was absolutely delighted with the adventure. Granny waited in the car, and when we got back to the car, Eva told Granny all about the trip. She told her about walking down to the water and looking at the water and mommy taking pictures. It was adorable how much fun she had at telling her story. We also took Flat Kenny to Bemidji and took a picture of him with the statue of Paul Bunyun and Babe the Blue Ox.

When we got back into the car, Eva saw that her window had turned foggy. She touched it with her finger and then informed Granny that it was smokey. We didn't even know that she knew that word. Mrs. J told me this morning that her son says it a lot. Nonetheless, we were all impressed at her vocabulary.

Yesterday, Eva found her basket of clean clothes. She held up one of her sweaters and told me it was cute ("Toot"). She also told Granny that her hair was cute after she combed it herself and she informed me that Ginger's cat brush was used to make Ginger cute. I made a fire in the fireplace also yesterday, and Eva made Granny come and look at what was "happening, Granny." I love that she can completely carry on a conversation and communicate with words what she is thinking. I had to correct Eva for something early in the day yesterday... and in the evening, she repeated her offense with BaBa. When he also corrected her, she said, "member Baba, Mommy no." She told him that she remembered, Mommy said it was a no no.

So, Eva has some kind of fascination with the remote, and to my delight, she thinks it belongs in my sole possession (not baba's). So, whenever she finds the remote, she refuses to give it to anyone but me, and I must be holding it at all times. In fact, yesterday, I was upstairs working on my computer when I hear a voice beside me saying, "mommy, mommy." I look to see my daugther handing me the remote. She found it downstairs and immediately proceeded upstairs so that she could give it to me. I don't know how I was suppose to change the channel through the floor and three rooms, but apparantly, that fact was not as important as the fact that it was in my possession.

In any case, I am impressed at how smart she is and how good she is at remembering vocabulary and communicating with us. Actually, she never stops talking at home. I can already foresee some huge phone bills in a few more years.

Eva Girl

Growing girl...

Eva's mommy has been very busy lately, so it's nice to be able to sit down and think and write about Eva. for a while.

At the End of January, Eva turned 21 months old, and there must be a developmental stage that occurs around this time. In the last week even, she has made leaps and bounds in her development. First, her art... Eva loves to color and suddenly 4 days ago, she started to actually color for real. She still doesn't color in the lines or anything, but she will use 5 or 6 colors now and she colors the entire page. She is even creating patterns in her color. Second, her vocabulary...Eva can get out one of her picture books and tell me the name of everything in them. She can count to 3, although the number 1 is her favorite, she knows about 3 colors and she can sing from A to the letter D in the alphabet song. Also, she is enunciating the complete two syllables of words like "button" and "broken." Before, she only said the first syllable. Eva will also tell me, whenever she sees my bible, "Bible, Jesus talk." She is consciously using and initiating correct vocabulary to communicate with us, instead of just repeating words we have said. Eva really likes to talk, A LOT!

Granny taught Eva the Happy Happy Home song... it goes like this, "With Eva in the family, Happy Happy Home, Happy Happy Home, Happy Happy Home. With Eva in the family, Happy Happy Home, Happy Happy Home, Happy Happy Home. " Then you just repeat it with different names of the family. It's a very basic and simple song, but Eva will sing along with it and will sing every word...except on the verse about Mommy in the family. Then she just repeats "mommy" over and over again. But, all the other verses she will sing with. She likes to sing, and to listen to music. She really likes to watch the colors on the computer that Windows Media Player shows with the music. She will spend a long time watching the patterns and colors and swaying with the music. Although, I played her a traditional Chinese instrumental song and she got all upset with me and kept demanding more music. I told her it was music and she said, "NO." So I put on a different song with a rock and roll beat, she actually clapped her hands and looked up at me during her dancing and said, "Yea... music."

Tuesday night, Eva came up to me and said "Bed, Nighty Night." I asked her, "Eva, are you tired, do you want to go to bed?" Her eyes got big... she realized what she had just said, and emphatically insisted, "NO." However less than five minutes later she started crying about everything, was obviously very tired and got put to bed anyway. I should have just took her up to bed when she first suggested it instead of asking her if she wanted to go.

So, Eva and I have pretty much settled into our routine. There are days that Eva does nothing but challenge everything I say and other days that all she does is want to hug and cuddle. I really wish there were more of the later, but there aren't and that makes me appreciate the ones I get. I've decided to pick my battles on things that we ensue in a power struggle over. If she doesn't want to wear her mittens (at 15 below zero) I have not been making her. I carry them with us, and when her hands get cold she asks to put them on. I told her I wouldn't force her to have things put in her hair because I didn't like that it upset her so much. I don't want to violate her sense of self and space. So, I just have let her play with her hair things and get used to them. Yesterday, she came up to me with two miss-matched barettes and asked me to put them in her hair. So, I did. I didn't stress over it being neat and perfect... so that way it didn't hurt. She kept them in all day. It is progress. and better yet it is initiated by Eva.

In four more days it is the anniversary of the day we met Eva... it will be 8 months. My little girl is growing fast.

Cold weather...