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.