20 Things for 20 Months

Yesterday marked Evalyn’s 20 month-a-birthday and so I put together this little list of 20 things that describe her recently.

1. Eva absolutely loves singing. She is like me and makes up songs all the time. She’s starting to be able to sing most/all the words to a few of her favourite songs. Right now, the top choices are “Twinkle Twinkle”, “ABCs”, “Blue Skies and Rainbows”, “Here I am to Worship” along with a few of our made up faves. At nap and bedtime, she loves to sing along with me. Nothing, and I mean nothing, fills my heart like hearing her sing the words to some of the worship songs we’ve been singing to her since she was an infant. Nothing more precious.

2. Girlfriend loves worms. She constantly wants to dig in the garden for “woomies” and unfortunately, her father has tipped her off that the real worms aren’t in the garden but in the mud patches behind the garden, so she constantly wants to get in there and dig. When he helps her find worms, she loves to carry them around and squish them between her fingers. Disgusting, much?

3. She always talks in third person which I think is the cutest thing ever. “Eea do dis”, “Eea hung-y”, “Eea happy”. She also mixes up her pronouns and says you when she means me. She will often say, “Mommy help you!” when she needs help with something. It’s so cute that I don’t even bother correcting her.

4. After many torturous weeks, she finally likes swimming. She asks to go almost every day and sings about the swimming pool often. Although our lessons are over, we go to drop in lessons once a week and (hopefully) soon will be able to start swimming outdoors.

5. I love that we can have full out conversations with her now. She has a number of hilarious expressions that she incorporates into her daily life. Some of my favourites are: “Bunga bunga!” (cowabunga), “Aye yi yi”, “bess you” (bless you) and “Peace out girlsrann” (peace out girlfriend). Of course, there are many more but those top the list.

6. She adores being outside and would be happy if we never made her come in.

7. She still really loves babies. She is so interested in her 5.5 month old BFF and her dollies. She cleans their bums, feeds them bottles and food and has recently started breastfeeding. I’m actually surprised it took her so long since she’s watched C nurse W for so long, but it’s the cutest thing. I’m sure she’ll start doing it even more when her baby bro/sis arrives. I’m hoping her love for babies transfers to love for her sibling! I have a feeling my biggest problem will be that she loves him/her a little too much. When she holds Will, she pushes my hands away and says “Oss [off] Mama, oss”.

8. She loves telling and being told secrets. She gets me to whisper secrets in her ear all the time and when I ask for one in return, she puts her ear against my ear and whispers, “I yus you Mommy”. And then I die.

9. Lately, we have been having a great time with toddler eating. Knock on wood. We have most definitely had our ups and downs but lately, she has been eating well for us and not being overly picky. She has started to eat some meat again and is getting to the point where she can clearly tell us what she would/would not like to eat. Her fave things are yogurt, eggs, cheese, fruit, green vegetables, crackers and black beans. Of course, she’d be happy if we let her eat nothing but olives and pickles but we are terrible and make sure she has a more well rounded diet than that.

10. Evalyn now has all four eye teeth so we are just waiting on the 2 year molars. I guess they will probably show up sometime shortly after the baby is born, which will probably be awful but then we’ll be done done done with teething. Until the baby starts. Yikes.

11. Eva is looking bigger and older all the time, yet she is still fairly tiny. She is wearing 18-24 month clothes. Most of her summer wardrobe is 24 month, since much of it was bought ahead on clearance, and is swimming on her, but at least I know it will fit all season.

12. She still has a habit of pulling her hair and putting it in her mouth. It seems to go in spurts where it gets better and worse, but it seems to be one of her relaxation or comfort habits. It happens most often in the car and when she’s falling asleep. We’ve tried many things to discourage her from doing it, so hopefully she’ll grow out of it soon.

13. Evalyn loves her Daddy-o something fierce. The best time of the day is when he walks in the door at night. There is just something about Daddy. She loves to cuddle with him, play rough with him, and of course, do lots of “six it” (fixing) with him.

14. Evalyn counts to 20, sort of. She gets to 10 with no problem but often skips 11. The numbers between 15-18 all sound pretty similar, but she tries her best. She often tells herself, “good dob counting Eea” when she’s done. In fact, lately, she’s been telling herself “good dob” for many tasks.

15. The Little People Zoo is still, by far, her favourite indoor toy. Aside from her babies, I guess. It is the one toy that often keeps her attention for more than 30 seconds. She loves to put the animals in the swing, down the slide, in the jeep, and feed them the food that goes with it. I am very glad I invested in getting it for her.

16. Evalyn loves her friends and family. She talks, prays and sings about her grandparents, her aunts and uncles and her friends almost all the time. She loves to see them and sometimes will ask me, “ ______ [insert name of loved one] soon?”

17. She loves all animals, specifically dogs and cats. She is very bossy to the dogs still and thinks they should obey her every command. She loves to feed them, pet them and hug them. She also loves going to visit friends who have dogs/cats. At the zoo, she was so excited to see all the animals, although definitely freaked out when a giraffe bent down and licked her. She’d rather just watch the big animals from afar.

18. Eva thinks that bodily functions are about the funniest thing on earth. And, well, she’s right. If she passes wind, she often gets a funny smirk on her face and you can tell she’s trying her best to do it again. She says “Eea tooted. Cuze me!” and quite often blames other people/toys/animals/even her food for her own farts.

19. She is goofy and hilarious and is most definitely developing a crazy sense of humour. She loves to make a happy face, a sad face, a sour face and a crazy face. And she does these things simply to get a laugh out of people.

20. I fall in love with this little girl more and more each day. While I find it hard to believe she’s been in my arms for 20 months, I also feel like life never existed before her. She is my joy and my heart and each day brings new adventures, new fun and new laughs. She is my best little sidekick and I adore the little person that she is.