17 Months

She called me mamma, directly, for the first time.  I got all choked up. It was awesome.  I was holding her, helping her calm down from a tired crying fit so that she could fall asleep for a nap. She pointed at a photo of Tag and me on the wall and said, "poppa poppa poppa?" and I confirmed, yes, that's poppa!  Then she said, to my amazement, "momma?  mommeee?" and I agreed, "yes" (cue the tightened throat) "that's mamma, that's me." She then smiled broadly and pointed at my chest "mommeee!"  She quickly moved on to the other photos and pointed to one of herself, "bubeeee?  bubeeee?" and then pointed at her chest, giggling and smiling.  She calls herself baby. How cute is that?


hanging out at Jean's art opening



playing knock-knock with our artist friend Jean at her gallery opening

Went to our first Rock 'n Romp -- basically a monthly hippie music fest for toddlers / young children -- She of course loved it.  Anything with kids and music at the same time is nothing short of perfection in her book. Chased beach balls all over the lawn, stealing them from other children when she could and running away squealing with delight at her own savvy.  Played on some sit-n-spins in front of the stage as other kids ran all over the stage wearing fake moustaches and painted on butterflies.  Can't wait till she's older and can fully appreciate.  They serve beer and barbeque so we'll bring Tag with us next time.  He'll dig it.

We rode over to our friends Sandy and Katelyn's house to meet their new baby horse.  I never imagined I'd get to stand next to a foal who wasn't even a full day old yet, let alone get to introduce my baby girl to a freshly birthed baby horse.  Evelyn was totally into it and loved pointing to the "Mamma" and the "Baby."

visiting Risque and her brand new foal

beautiful Katelyn

only hours old, and moving around so nicely.  amazing.

She's become addicted to Sesame Street.  I'm not sure how good it is that I've allowed this to happen.  But everything I read about Sesame Street and Blues Clues validates them as fostering true learning.  Not just veg-out TV.  But she really does fixate on it.  She can't say "sesame street" so she sings the first part of the theme song, swaying her head from side to side, "Daaaaaaah Dah, Daaaaaaaah Dah."  It's adorable.  I try to participate when the show is on, like they encourage parents to do, but she generally prefers that I just sit there quietly, unless it's a song that we can dance to together.  She loves dancing.



enjoying her entertaining perch



Recruited Oma to help with a sewing project -- it turned into a 2-day, 6 hours each day, sewing FEST (careful if you get Sylvia started on a project with you...she has incredible endurance.  I once suggested we bake Christmas cookies and we ended up baking for 8 straight hours -- I surrendered, lying with my feet up on the couch, while she buzzed around the kitchen putting the finishing touches on everything).  Needless to say, she had Evey and I both sewing (!) and we cranked out more than 6 pair of summery pants and a tank top. It was fantastic.  Evey is such a climber and outdoor enthusiast that I wanted some light cotton pants to put under her summer dresses so her kness don't get all scraped up and her legs don't get burned on hot summertime playground equipment.  We picked out some colorful fabrics and now she's got the funkiest wardrobe around.  Love it.

 



Ev loves watching Oma work



Keeping step

I mentioned Evey's friend Hayden in the previous post and how she has moved along to the next classroom.  Hayden arrived at daycare about the same time as Evelyn, but she's a little older.  I think she's 2 or 3 months older.  Evelyn was 6 months old when we first put her into daycare and she transitioned very well.  Hayden was already deep into the attachment phase, so it was much harder for her to deal with being apart from her mom. Evey's familiarity became a comfort to her.  She and Evelyn are now steadfast buddies who greet each other with a hug. "Evey" was one of Hayden's first words.

I had noticed that Hayden's been missing from Ev's classroom for a few days.  When we bumped into Hayden and her mom at the Easter fest, her mom (I should know her name but I don't....we are called "Evey's Mom" and "Hayden's Mom" at school) told us she'd moved up to the older classroom.  It was a bit of a shock to me...so I inquired further.  Hayden is making great strides in her language ability -- she is speaking full sentences, knows her colors, can count to 10, and knows part of the alphabet.  She also, apparently, started announcing when she needs to go poo, so that has prompted the toilet vs diapers process.  Hayden, in other words, has launched into a whole new phase of development and no longer really belongs with the "babies."

It's funny what that information did to me.  I caught myself making comparisons and felt the rise of anxiety about what Evey is and isn't doing...whether I've been spending enough time working with her to learn shapes or colors... Is she behind?  Am I holding her back in some way?  Have I done something wrong???  And thankfully I caught myself before the mental conversation went any further.  Evelyn is an extremely happy, extremely social, extremely healthy child.  She is so engaging, and chatters away in her own little language, finding ways to get the message across to us.  Tag and I are in absolutely no hurry to rush her out of baby-ness.  We have faith that she will continue to evolve, just as she has up to this point, naturally and gracefully.  And I am not compelled to drill  her on colors or numbers....I want her to enjoy learning.  I will simply encourage her curiosity as best I can so that she might keep it longer than many children do, and if we're lucky, even on into adulthood.  Being new at this parenting-a-small-child thing causes me to question myself at every turn.  It's nice to step out of the "competition" ....  We'll be with little Hayden in the next level classroom soon enough  :o)