At thirteen months, Evelyn has made the transition from crawler to toddler... She definitely prefers walking now and gets right back up after a tumble to continue on her wobbly path toward the object of her interest.
It's startling to turn my head while working in the kitchen and find a tiny little person approaching me on two legs. She's usually grasping some interesting object (wire whisk, half-eaten cracker, long roll of wrapping paper...), stopping occassionally to hold it up high and study it, almost flopping backward in the process, but recovering and then staggering forward with a big two-toothed grin spread across her face. She has a row of swollen gums where four top teeth are still tormenting her, but the corner of one of them seems to have finally poked through. I am certain we will notice a difference in her mood when she gets relief from all this teething. She'll go from happy with occassional fussiness to happy in excess!
Evelyn is becoming more opinionated (making distinct choices and letting us know when we failed to meet her request) and more directly affectionate. I recently watched her softly lay her face against Tag's head (melted my heart). She leans forward to "kiss" you and giggles when you kiss her back. She'll reach under your shirt and "tickle" you with her tiny fingernails, laughing hysterically when you squirm and squeal (I am VERY ticklish).
Bathtime is a favorite activity for her - she loves sliding and slipping around in the tub and blowing bubbles in the water. I'm looking forward to watching her in the pool / at the beach this summer; she loves water.
She watched me cover my face in my hands once when I was laughing loudly at something, and now she throws her hands over her mouth when she believes something is hysterically funny. It gets me going and we both end up dissolved in laughter, smacking our hands over our faces and laughing some more.
The appetite she picked up in Michigan has remained; she eats all sorts of things, in mass quantity. Yesterday for breakfast she ate a huge bowl of oatmeal, an entire scrambled egg with cottage cheese, and a jar of fruit. It's strange how completely gratifying it is to watch a child eat. She's a very healthy girl. Tag and I watch her eat and think about how amazing God is.
Music continues to be a central focus for Evey. Loves music, rhythm. She'll stop whatever she's doing if she hears a good baseline in a television commercial, for example, and bee-bop up and down, smiling. In the car, she'll do this funny little wriggle up and down when she hears a rhythm she likes. I love that about her. All the musical exposure while she was in utero paid off.
Keagan was home for Christmas break and Evelyn enjoyed having an extended audience. They spent quality time together playing a favorite game: "talking" on the telephone!
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| hello? is that you keagan? |
I wish I could capture all the little moments, gestures, sounds that make life with Evelyn so entertaining and rewarding. Tag and I are absolutely and completely smitten. It's a fun life.
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| clearing out the pantry for the puppies.... |
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having a pantry party |
