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.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
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.
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| mooching candy from Shane |
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| absolutely charmed by Mr. Shane, here with little Eli |
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| party princess and her blackened dancing feet.... |
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| proud of her morning-after feet |
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| water park with Helen !! |
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| spending some quality time adoring the irrisistable Ruby |
Thursday, June 7, 2012
May 2012
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| are there words for this ? |
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| walking the puppies at the park |
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| popcorn, pjs and a movie with Lilly (perfect!) |
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| lookit me mamma - I'm riding a cow ! |
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.
Friday, May 4, 2012
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.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, March 25, 2012
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...
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...
February 2012
Girl Trip!!
Evey and I flew to Charleston to hang with Karen for a long weekend and had so much fun seeing K's new house, playing at the aquarium and exploring King street. Karen is the coolest - she spoiled E with attention, affection, and a trip to the Candy Store. It was hard to leave.
Karen got a total kick out of Evelyn's trash habit. E's a pretty serious garbage picker upper. I guess it's my fault. Made a few comments about how people should throw things in trash cans where they belong, and picked up a few random soda cups and plastic bags, and suddenly we can't walk through a parking lot (or in this case, along the sidewalk near Karens house) without Evey pointing at bits of trash and proclaiming with a stern frown, "Mamma! Doze Peoples!". Naturally we had to pick it up, Karen giggling uncontrollably.
E was great on the airplanes. Two flights there, and two flights back. She's a trooper man. Now she's always asking when she can go on another trip. Disappointed when she can't join me on a work trip that involves an airplane ride. I probably need to set her up with her own frequent flier account.
Some of her favorite activities involve mimicking adult behavior. If I let her get behind the wheel of my truck, it's about 20 minutes before she's willing to climb down and move on to something else. The next morning is always fun, trying to turn off windshield wipers, off road suspension settings and readjusting my mirrors...
While she doesn't have a whole lot of hair (that's my fault) she tries to keep up with her pony tailed friends and requests pig tails at school each day. I have the lovely task of trying to take them out without hurting her each night. Can't say I'm a fan, but Tag of course thinks they're the cutest thing ever.
Evey and I flew to Charleston to hang with Karen for a long weekend and had so much fun seeing K's new house, playing at the aquarium and exploring King street. Karen is the coolest - she spoiled E with attention, affection, and a trip to the Candy Store. It was hard to leave.
Karen got a total kick out of Evelyn's trash habit. E's a pretty serious garbage picker upper. I guess it's my fault. Made a few comments about how people should throw things in trash cans where they belong, and picked up a few random soda cups and plastic bags, and suddenly we can't walk through a parking lot (or in this case, along the sidewalk near Karens house) without Evey pointing at bits of trash and proclaiming with a stern frown, "Mamma! Doze Peoples!". Naturally we had to pick it up, Karen giggling uncontrollably.
E was great on the airplanes. Two flights there, and two flights back. She's a trooper man. Now she's always asking when she can go on another trip. Disappointed when she can't join me on a work trip that involves an airplane ride. I probably need to set her up with her own frequent flier account.
Some of her favorite activities involve mimicking adult behavior. If I let her get behind the wheel of my truck, it's about 20 minutes before she's willing to climb down and move on to something else. The next morning is always fun, trying to turn off windshield wipers, off road suspension settings and readjusting my mirrors...
While she doesn't have a whole lot of hair (that's my fault) she tries to keep up with her pony tailed friends and requests pig tails at school each day. I have the lovely task of trying to take them out without hurting her each night. Can't say I'm a fan, but Tag of course thinks they're the cutest thing ever.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
January 2012
Winters in Memphis are WAY better than summers for a toddler. Playgrounds are fun even when bundled in jackets and hats -- and this winter has been mild enough so far that often all we need is a sweater. On weekends we go exploring new playgrounds -- an hour or so in the fresh air, climbing and running and sliding and swinging, is all E needs to have a fabulous day. The Zoo is super fun in the winter -- the animals are active and the playground there is our favorite so far. Tons of kids makes it that much more fun. And having lunch there too is a special "picnic" treat. Evey and I took a solo trip there on a mild day (no jackets required!) and she basically ran/walked the whole morning on her own. That's new -- she typically wants to be carried after just a short stretch, but at the Zoo all she wanted to do was go go go on her own. Her nap that day was epic (!). Tag had the same experience when he took her there one afternoon (I was off on a business trip) and they had an absolute ball -- collapsing in happy exhaustion at the end of the day.
Evelyn is now sleeping each night upstairs in her own bedroom. After we got back from our Michigan trip, we instituted the new routine. She loved the idea of her Big Girl Bed and loved climbing in and out of it, and even snuggling down into it, but as soon as we made to leave, it was sheer panic and confusion. She did not understand, no matter how I explained, why this new set up made any sense at all. "...Noooo...Mamma's bed! Mamma's bed!..." Broke my heart into a thousand pieces because I didn't fully understand it either and all I wanted to do was curl up with her in her soft little bed. But instead I bit my lip and cried softly so she wouldn't know and stroked her head and patted her back until she fitfully fell asleep. She woke up about every 2 hours, so I ended up sleeping on the floor next to her so I could quickly reassure her that she wasn't alone and could quickly fall back to sleep. It was a rough two weeks. But gradually, she became more comfortable, and when I left for a trip Tag reported success with 9 and 10 hour sleep patterns. Phew!! I think we're out of the woods now. We have a routine: Pajamas on and head upstairs to brush teeth (she loves "Evey's Bathroom" and climbing up onto the pretty step-stool that Aunt Claudia gave her), snuggle together into her bed and read a couple books, music on and lights out with mamma or poppa sitting in the chair until she falls asleep...It's a gentle routine and Tag and I enjoy it. I miss her snuggling up next to me at night...but she really probably does get a better nights rest on her own...and so do I.
Vocabulary is exploding. I love her unique pronunciations and the fact that only Tag and I (and her teachers) understand what she's saying. Had fun teaching her to say Pineapple and Chiropractor. She knows a bunch of songs now and can pretty well rattle them off (in Evey speak, of course). "Dora" is one of her new favorite shows (ugh...I miss Sesame Street) and it's very interactive; she's always hollering back responses at the TV -- too cute. I will miss this stage.
Oma & Opa pitch in Big Time when I'm traveling, and Evey loves her special trips to their house. She and I dropped by their house the other afternoon. As I was gathering up stuff to head back home Evey looked over at me, busy with something in Oma's kitchen, "No mamma, Oma's house." So I glanced at my parents and they shrugged their shoulders and chuckled. "I'll bring her back over after a while" Opa said. So I left, not sure if Evey really understood that I would leave without her, saying "Bye Evey - momma's going home."
"Bye Mamma!!" was the response I got, without her even turning her head! Growing up too darn quick, that's what that is.
I love toddlers. Yeah, they're opinionated and they struggle with emotions a bit (especially when hungry/tired), but so do most of us. And toddlers are way more fun than a lot of adults. Especially E.
Evelyn is now sleeping each night upstairs in her own bedroom. After we got back from our Michigan trip, we instituted the new routine. She loved the idea of her Big Girl Bed and loved climbing in and out of it, and even snuggling down into it, but as soon as we made to leave, it was sheer panic and confusion. She did not understand, no matter how I explained, why this new set up made any sense at all. "...Noooo...Mamma's bed! Mamma's bed!..." Broke my heart into a thousand pieces because I didn't fully understand it either and all I wanted to do was curl up with her in her soft little bed. But instead I bit my lip and cried softly so she wouldn't know and stroked her head and patted her back until she fitfully fell asleep. She woke up about every 2 hours, so I ended up sleeping on the floor next to her so I could quickly reassure her that she wasn't alone and could quickly fall back to sleep. It was a rough two weeks. But gradually, she became more comfortable, and when I left for a trip Tag reported success with 9 and 10 hour sleep patterns. Phew!! I think we're out of the woods now. We have a routine: Pajamas on and head upstairs to brush teeth (she loves "Evey's Bathroom" and climbing up onto the pretty step-stool that Aunt Claudia gave her), snuggle together into her bed and read a couple books, music on and lights out with mamma or poppa sitting in the chair until she falls asleep...It's a gentle routine and Tag and I enjoy it. I miss her snuggling up next to me at night...but she really probably does get a better nights rest on her own...and so do I.
Vocabulary is exploding. I love her unique pronunciations and the fact that only Tag and I (and her teachers) understand what she's saying. Had fun teaching her to say Pineapple and Chiropractor. She knows a bunch of songs now and can pretty well rattle them off (in Evey speak, of course). "Dora" is one of her new favorite shows (ugh...I miss Sesame Street) and it's very interactive; she's always hollering back responses at the TV -- too cute. I will miss this stage.
Oma & Opa pitch in Big Time when I'm traveling, and Evey loves her special trips to their house. She and I dropped by their house the other afternoon. As I was gathering up stuff to head back home Evey looked over at me, busy with something in Oma's kitchen, "No mamma, Oma's house." So I glanced at my parents and they shrugged their shoulders and chuckled. "I'll bring her back over after a while" Opa said. So I left, not sure if Evey really understood that I would leave without her, saying "Bye Evey - momma's going home."
"Bye Mamma!!" was the response I got, without her even turning her head! Growing up too darn quick, that's what that is.
I love toddlers. Yeah, they're opinionated and they struggle with emotions a bit (especially when hungry/tired), but so do most of us. And toddlers are way more fun than a lot of adults. Especially E.
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