Christmas 2012

This Christmas was truly magical.  Evelyn was excited about the concept of Santa Claus, and starting to understand what his visit means in terms of Christmas morning excitement.  It was totally fun.  She got a bunch of gifts from Santa - including a doll house with all the cool furniture to fill the rooms up with.  I'm going to enjoy playing with her toys too!

Her favorite toy is the doctor kit - we all got check ups and (the best part) SHOTS. Super cute.

Opa enjoyed her gifts too -- the Dora guitar (thanks Uncle Paul) got a fun test drive from Opa.

December 2012 - The Big Three

Ev planned her entire birthday party: she invited her "heartsong friends"(Sammy, Abigail, Conner, Addison, Haidyn, Marshall and Adrian, and also her buds Lilly and Chloe. And bonus: Her old teachers from Heartsong, Nessa and Erin, also came. She wanted to do a "project" so I asked an art teacher friend for ideas and she came up with a great construction paper "stained glass window" craft.  Evelyn also wanted flower cupcakes, cheetos, pizza, and freeze dancing (how perfect is that?). Oh, and of course balloons. I have to say, it was a fantastic party. The weather was so nice, everyone headed into the backyard afterward for some spontaneous fun in the warm Memphis-in-December air. She has great friends.

Dearst, loving Erin

Awesome teacher (and play buddy), Nessa

 

Three is pretty amazing.  Evelyn can do so many things for herself now, and she's smart as a whip, so figuring things out doesn't take long, though she is pretty impatient with herself.

 

Tag has trained Evelyn well.  She can spot his preffered beer as we tool down the grocery aisle, stopping me to point it out.   Once, after a quick run through to pick up some essentials, E lectured me loudly as we left the market "but poppa needs more bicycle beer!" (aka Fat Tire). I can't say that she was wrong either - what was I thinking?

 

We like to meet friends up at the club on Thursday evenings for Italian Family Night.  They have a clown lady there, Miss Sally, who makes balloon animals and does face painting.  Ev loves it.

 

We love singing together. Any old song I can pull out of my memory from girl scout camp or sunday school ... one of our favorites is On Top of Spaghetti (sung to ....Old Smokey).  She's really quick to pick up songs, and the more animated the better.

 

Another love -- Costco visits -- especially the pizza and hot dogs from the cafe.  She's not quite brave enough to try out the samples that they offer around the store, but she loves the idea of accepting the little cup and spoon, so I end up eating everything.



November 2012

This one helps herself to hard-to-reach places now...

Auntie Laurie came to visit -- now it's impossible to live with her.  She and Auntie Laurie are like two peas.  And Laurie helps her do her hair and apply make up -- they chatter away upstairs like two sisters.  They are inseparable -- and Laurie has taught her to chant "I want to move to Connect-i-cut!"

Noodles are no match for Evelyn. She wont let me cut them into pieces anymore....She's a pro slurper.

 

Dress Up remains a favorite activity. But now there's makeup.  Not sure why she feels compelled to apply Groucho Marx eyebrows....LOL

The Feinstones took us to a Memphis Tigers basketball game (so fun). Evey's favorite part: the blue tongue snow cone effect.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving with the Sullivan's; had them over for Tag's awesome deep fried bird and got to play outside a bit thanks to mild weather.  Lilly and Jackson are the sweetest kids - we try to give Ev as much time as possible to play with them - they are like her siblings, and Darcy is, as Evey told me once "my mommy when I'm at Lilly's house."

Ev continues to develop her sense of personal preferences.  And she is getting more sophistocated with her opinion sharing. How does Evelyn file a complaint during early childhood class? The note on her lunchbox container read "Evelyn said she doesn't like this part of her lunch."

October Festivities (2012)

I love Memphis in October.  The weather is mild, there are festivals and pumpkin patches and hayrides, and my new favorite holiday - Halloween! Evelyn makes everything fun, and we were busy all month. 

Headed off to a pumpkin patch with Oma and Opa -- day was complete with train ride, hay ride, petting zoo, pony ride, corn bin, bouncy ring, feeding the fish, and of course pumpkin hunting.  Ended the day with a trip to her favorite lunch spot, "old mcdonald" (what she still calls McDonald's).  She has some stamina, that's for sure.

She told me she wanted to be a zebra for Halloween, so we went shopping one day in search of a zebra costume... she spotted a strawberry costume at Old Navy and changed up the whole plan.  "I want to be a strawberry!"  To be sure that was her final choice, I ask her to try it on first -- She was more than happy to, and modeled it sweetly in front of the dressing room mirror.  Sold!  Cutest strawberry on the planet.

She wore it to a dress-up music event, and Zoo Boo, and to a dance party at the club, and just twirling around the house...Loved it. Then Halloween came. Suddenly, she didn't want to be a strawberry anymore.  She decided that very evening to dress up as a "jasmine princess" (??).  Luckily, we just had to offer some minimal assistance with pulling on a shimmery skirt and blouse from her dress-up chest.  I applied some "princess makeup."  Her home-made glitter-glue and puffy sticker deco'd paper crown was the final finishing touch, and she was ready for action.

This was her first year for trick-or-treating.  Wasn't sure how it would go.  Turned out she had some serious marathon skills -- wanted to keep going and going -- "Porch Light!!" she'd yell and we'd pull the wagon up to the next house with a lit-up porch.  She was a bit shy about saying the magic trick-or-treat words, but a soft, shy "thank you" was always given.  She was amazed that she was being given candy.  She doesn't even really eat candy (lollipops are the exception), but loves to open up the packages and lick the chocolate off, or nibble the edges.  And leave the wrappers everywhere.

September 2012 (Big Girl Stuff)

Modeling Minnie Mouse's Bow

Evelyn is clear on How Things Are.... 

I reacted playfully to a story she was telling by kicking off a fake-cry when she told me, with patient authority, "Mammas don't cry.  Mammas are always happy."

Boys vs Girls:
The difference between boys and girls is always top of mind.  She's constantly reminding Tag that he is a boy, and she is a girl, and that Tag can't use her pink cup, or wear a dress, or sit in a particular spot...  And she's formed a small girl-club with me, parroting everything I say - especially when I make a comment to Tag:

"Tag, you need to wash this again, you missed a spot" I'll say.  Ev chimes in directly after, "Tag, you do it again!"

"Great dinner babe, thanks for cooking tonight."  Ev follows with, "Great dinner, Babe."

She hollers across the house for him with a loud "Tag!!!"  It's hilarious.

She rarely calls me Heidi, but has recently started calling me "Mom" which I don't like much (far too grown up for me...).

The tantrums are still with us, lurking behind corners...ready to spring...but they seem to have diminished in force slightly.  And we can even head them off at the pass sometimes.  We're all getting a little better with them, but Ev gets the most credit. She's really working on her self-control.  (I think the fits scare her a little bit...)

Dress Up (or off...): 
She was trying on dresses that my boss's family gave her (they have 4 older girls) and needed my help to button one of them.  She wore the dress for a couple minutes and decided she didn't like the way it felt and tried to lift it off over her head.  It wasn't cooperating, and she didn't feel like asking for help, so she struggled and argued with it, pulling at it around her shoulders and running around the dining room table shouting "I Juss Wan To Be Naked For Ever!!!!"

All Glammed Up in Mamma's Clothes

Big Girl School:
We took the plunge and made the switch to the new school.  The school she'll likely be in through middle school.  It's an awesome curriculum - I feel so lucky that we have access to it, let alone that it's just down the street.

Even so, I cried when I picked her up on her last day at daycare.  And made everybody else cry.  What a great place.  But girls grow up, and the teachers seemed to understand (and agree) that Ev is ready for a bigger challenge.  Ev talked about her old classroom, her old friends, her old teachers, for a couple weeks afterward.  Missing them, feeling their loss.  But she has not for one minute looked back.  She LOVES her new school (thank God) and the teachers there are very gentle and flexible in their approach with her.  Tag loves the school too, and appreciates the unique education that it offers. So things have worked out exceptionally well.  I'm very grateful.

August 2012 (Fits and Starts)

First Corn Dog

Picasso Al Fresco

She kept pushing my hands away - wanted to hang on "by myself"

Tag indulging her dress-up passion before school

Big Changes

We love her day care.  They have poured love into Evey since she started attending at six months old.  Her latest teachers in particular have become part of our family - both Erin and Janessa love Ev as if she were their own (which, in a way, she is).  All her classmates are her buds and we've gone to all kinds of birthday parties lately as they all turn 3.  Such a great bunch.

Well, August is the time of year when everybody shifts classrooms. All of Ev's classroom was moving up.  This was inevitable.  What we didn't expect though, was that Ev would move up one class, and all her friends would move up two.  Ev and Adrian were left behind because they were the youngest.  So Ev was suddenly in a new classroom, with new teachers (who were new to Heartsong...), and with a bunch of new kids who were still in diapers.  Hmm.

We gave it a try for a couple weeks...but those were bumpy weeks.  And I couldn't help but wonder, is this the right time to go ahead and make the change to the Montessori school that I knew I wanted her to attend...?  I mean, as long as there's big disruption going on anyway, and since Ev will basically plateau in learning at daycare (not to mention boredom...)...  But it was tricky.  I certainly didn't want to push her too soon.

Cue the Epic Fits

At about the same time, Ev started throwing Epic Mind Boggling Froth At The Mouth Fits.  Don't know if it was just coincidence... Don't know if it was triggered by the changes at school...or the last push of her molars...or simply fate doling out payback (ask my mom).  All I know is that one moment I was bringing home my sweet cheerful two year old from daycare, and the next instant she's throwing herself on the rug in an incosolable, writhing fit on a scale that I had never witnessed in my life before.  Over NOTHING.  I mean, I think it might have been because I didn't hear what she said and had to ask her to repeat it.  Or maybe it was because she didn't like where her shoes landed when she kicked them off.  I'm sayin' it was triggered by thin air.  And I was completely unprepared.  I tried to console her and simply let her know I was there (she wouldn't let me touch her).  If I walked away she would scream for me, but walk toward her and she screamed almost in pain.  I was in way over my head.  Took a while, that first one, but it did come to an end, and we cuddled in shared exhaustion, both a bit shocked by the whole thing.

The next one I remember (and will remember for eternity) was in the Target parking lot.  Actually, it started inside, but I had already finished shopping and even paying for a cart full of stuff.  She wanted a hot dog, and I knew we were edging close to a hunger episode, so we stopped at that snack bar they have near the front door.  Bought the dog, put the ketchup on it for her, and next thing I know, it's flying across the room, ketchup coating the table, chairs, floor, me, and my daughter is about to back-flip off the plastic chair onto the tile floor.  The guy with the nachos who had given us a friendly smile not 60 seconds ago, is suddenly desperate to shrink into his chair, never daring to even glance in my direction.  The screaming is so loud, I think the entire Target thinks someone is trying to murder my child.  I was oddly calm, retrieving the hot dog and wiping up ketchup while wrangling the bucking bronco on my hip...

We left quickly, Ev's screaming and writhing more frantic by the second.  I had to concentrate so I wouldn't laugh, even though it was pretty hysterical, because laughing really did not seem to be helpful to Ev in her state.  Not sure what she was actually conscious of, but it didn't seem respectful to laugh uncontrollably at your child (though I wasn't sure I recognized her).  In the same thought stream, when I had to set her down on the asphalt to unload the cart (I couldn't put her in the cart or she'd launch herself out of it, and I couldn't hold her safely with one arm), I actually wondered to myself if she was exhibiting signs of aspergers.  People (women) in the parking lot did one of two things as they passed by: 1) Completely and utterly ignored us, as if they heard nothing (impossible) or 2) Glanced over knowingly and offered me a small smile of sympathy.  Took about 20 minutes before I could get her into the vehicle safely.  How anyone can scream that intensely for that long and not loose their voice is beyond me.  I'm glad to say, that's the worst one on record.  So far.

July 2012

Making Brownies

Sweetest Face on the Planet

Curls Curls Curls

Big girl in the Kid Pool

XO

Always busy making "soup"

Just like mamma ... setting up office

June 2012 snap shots

The usual response when agreeing that we visited somewhere or did something: "Yes, we did, yestayay."

"Mamma, come potty wif me."  I follow her into the bathroom and, as instructed, sit on the little stool next to her potty.  "Mamma, tell me nodder dragon story."  And I proceed to make up another story about a dragon named evelyn...  (Poppa tells particularly fun dragon stories...though he doesn't fit well on the little step stool...)

"Mamma, I luf you.  We fam-a-lee, we juss peepo."

Trying to put her to bed one night, she put up a particularly insistent struggle.  She's fussing and trying to get her light-up turtle to work right but she's frustrated and it's not going well.  At one point, she sits up and says to me, "Ayúdame" and I think I must have just gaped at her.  "Ayúdame" she says again, "Help me."

"NO!!!  I WAN DO IT !!"

Shopping trip for a work dress.  Evey follows me around the store, browsing through the racks.  She observes a young girl, probably about 9 years old, shopping with her mom and pulling out various items saying "How 'bout this one?"  E's shopping gets even more deliberate at this point and she is so focused on her efforts that she no longer tags along behind me.  She's busy working her way steadily through the sale rack, carefully pulling out the hem of a shirt to evaluate and then moving on to the next, making small "Hmmm" sounds as she considers each color and texture...

Friday evening after a particularly grueling work week.  Ev is in rare form, boarding on delirium and molten meltdown.  Neither Tag or I have the energy to manage entertaining her at this level, so I announce that we're going to the mall where she can run around the indoor play area and we can simply sit and watch.  It's a success, and she runs around happily, further exhausting herself.  The ride home is hopeful....her eyes are drooping...her head is nodding....but she just doesn't quite fall into the sleep that we're so eager for.  We opt to drive a little further, taking Macon Road down past our house, strategically thinking that an extra 10 minutes is all we need.  Tag turns the radio on low, and we chat a bit; E is quiet in the back.  I keep stealing glances to check progress, but her eyes are still half open.  We get to the point where I usually turn back and head home, sealing the deal on a good start to slumber land....when we hear a tiny sound:  "roomer hazit"  and again "roomer hazit"  I realize then that Adele is on the radio and it's Ev's latest favorite sing-along.  She continues on, repeating the chorus, Tag giving me a look like 'are you serious???' and I'm choking back giggles trying not to encourage her but we fall apart and she zooms back into full consciousness, enjoying the effect she created.


Her favorite foods:  Noodles / Macaroni (I sneak pureed veggies into the sauce), yogurt, cottage cheese, pizza, "chick an nuggetz an fench fies an kecchup", ham/turkey, strawberries/kiwi/banana, and of course oatmeal.

June 2012

My cousin's wedding took place in Michigan - and the Sachs clan opted to use the opportunity for a mini-reunion.  We all flew/drove in from California, Massachusetts, Tennessee...and the up-and-coming generation quickly established themselves as the heart of the pack.  There is a whole new batch of young ones, and they had a ball together.  Evelyn is at an age that she can fully indulge in chases, hide and seek, dancing (endless dancing), and rolling around on the floor with the younger babies.  She had endless energy, propelled on by her charming older cousin Shane and the ever-lovely Lilly.  The DJ at the reception was playing all the right tunes to get E groovin' (and the light show was a cool bonus) -- she danced and danced and danced -- I had to literally drag her off the dance floor at the end of the very long evening.  Who could blame her?  The Sachs' love to boogie, and she was on the dance floor surrounded by great aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins, her Uncle Paul and "little Helen" ...it was precious precious precious...  She crashed that night at Oma & Opa's cabin, little feet blackened by hours of twirling and jumping on the parquet floor.

mooching candy from Shane

absolutely charmed by Mr. Shane, here with little Eli

party princess and her blackened dancing feet....

proud of her morning-after feet

water park with Helen !!

spending some quality time adoring the irrisistable Ruby

May 2012

are there words for this ?

walking the puppies at the park

popcorn, pjs and a movie with Lilly (perfect!)

lookit me mamma - I'm riding a cow !

Conversations:

Tag's driving E to school. Earlier that morning Evelyn had made it a point to strut around with her little tiara perched on her head, proclaiming that she was a princess. A lady up ahead in traffic decided to block the lane; Tag muttered out loud in frustration, "Just move over Bimbo."
A small voice piped up brightly from the backseat, "No I not. I a Princess !"

We pass a couple boys playing basketball. "They're having fun," I comment.
Evey observes, "They playing basset bawl." Then she adds, "Basset bawl for boys. Not for girls."
"Sure, girls play basket ball!" I offer.
"No they don't. Girls play GOLFS."

Rocking her upstairs before night-night time, she suddenly snuggles up tight and wraps her arms around my neck, settling her head onto my shoulder and says, sleepily, "Happy ever after..."

"Mamma, you my Baby Cakes."

I receive a movie text on my phone while off on girls weekend in Arizona. Playing the movie, all the girls gather around me with a collective "Awwww!!!" as Evey, dressed to the nines in costume jewelry and a "petty dess", blows me smacking kisses and says with a broad smile "Happy Maddas Day!!"

Having stopped wearing diapers cold-turkey the end of April, and only having had maybe 2 little accidents related to being distracted and just having too much fun, Evey had her first accident at school. Standing just feet from the potty, Evey bursts into tears. Miss Nessa runs up and reassures her, "It's okay, accidents happen."
"Not to me!!!!" Evey sobs.

Miss Nessa texts me, dying to share, noting that E has been running around yelling "Ready! Set! DIET! Bwwaahahahha!!" over and over.

Tag pointed out recently that E has a habit of standing back, observing something or considering something, hands firmly stacked on her little hips. He teased me about where she may have picked that up. I scoffed at him, "Whatever. I don't know what you're talking about." Later that evening, she and I were having a discussion about some random topic and I happened to note that both of us, standing directly across from each other, were mirror images. Hands firmly planted on our respective hips.

April 2012

Girl Kingdom. Her big thing is picking out her own "petty dess." Can't even get her to wear a skirt, unless of course she decides to wear it underneath a 'pretty dress.' She loves make up. She loves clomping around in mamma's shoes. She loves stringing on every bangle, bracelet, watch, ring, necklace she can find. And purses/bags remain a constant source of entertainment. She's also been known to try on bras and underwear that she finds in the laundry.

She started taking care of her baby dolls recently. She never really got into pretend play before, but now she'll shush them, rock them, feed them and shove them into a bed/stroller. That is, until she bores of them or they get in her way, in which case she slings them haphazardly across the room.

Our dear friend Laurie came for a visit from Connecticut. Laurie really got into the girl mode with E - she painted her toes, put make up on her, bows in her hair... E Ate It UP. Hilarious. She insisted for two days after Laurie left that she wanted to go to Connecticut (i wish i could capture her unique pronunciation of that).

Evey went to great pains to paint Tag's toenails. He wasn't clear on what would really happen, but he was game (such a good poppa) so she set up the paper towel and positioned his toes just as Laurie had done, and demanded that I open the nail polish. She was okay with clear polish, so I let her paint away, and it took until the second set of toes for Tag to realize that he really WAS getting his toe nails painted. (she did quite a lovely job actually).

Using the toilet has been an on and off activity for E the past few months, but lately it's become a bit more regular and her diapers have been staying fairly dry, particularly at night. Letting her run around the house with panties on (special Dora panties) seemed to help her think about using the potty. And also the fairly common "in the buff" mode. Tag told me one day that it was time, so we asked Ev if she wanted to start wearing panties to school. "Yes" was the solid answer, so on April 30th she went to school for the first time in panties, and that - was - that.

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March 2012

No visit to the zoo is complete without a painted face treatment.




Evey has a bit of a fixation on tattoos and face painting (clarification: Temporary tattoos....). She will sit absolutely still while someone applies an image to her skin. We went to family-night at the club and the face paint lady was there so E rushed over and presented her hand, then the other hand, then her face, her forearms, and when she started pulling up her pant leg we had to call her away and give the paint lady a break.




Uncle Paul was in town for a folk music convention so we met up for an Arcade downtown breakfast and trolley ride. Hard to get more awesome than that.




Its officially a curly hair explosion -- the hair doesn't seem to get longer...but the curls get wilder. It's fantastic.




Toddler birthday parties have redeemed themselves. One of E's school buds, Sammy, turned three and had the BEST party on record -- a gymnastics party. I wish I had photos. E was the littlest one - showed up and promptly peed through her diaper, so a fresh diaper went on (most of the kids are in panties already) but the pants stayed off and she ran out onto the tumbling platform to catch up with her peeps. She looked so little compared to everyone else. The instructors led these kids through an obstacle course, down a long trampoline, and into a pit of foam blocks. Ev was the first of all of them to run pell-mell down the long trampoline and leap off the end into the pit, no hands held out for help, not even a glance at the instructor - just Jumped! She will not stop talking about it, and keeps asking if she can "go to Sammy's birt-day pahtee 'gan."

She's always loved phones, but her pretend phone conversations have reached a new level of sophistication, with hand gestures, facial contortions, and lengthy babbling with significant pauses, followed by an abrupt "Good Bye." I could watch her all day.




Car washing with Keagan -- he's so patient with her -- she had an absolute ball mashing a drippy, soapy sponge against the car and dunking it back into a bubbly bucket. I think the car actually got clean after a while...