eva-isms: part 653

A few weeks ago Eva was playing and start walking around with a hobble and a limp. She started saying, “I’m Nana! I’m Nana!” I said, “Why, does Nana walk like that?” And she said “yes”. Then a few minutes later, she stopped and said, “Nana doesn’t walk like that. Think Great Grandma walks like that”. HA HA. Shh, Aunt Shelley, don’t tell Grandma she said that.

We were practicing letters the other day and she had a toy monkey. I said, “What letter is for M-m-m- MONKEY?” She looked at me like I had two heads and said, “Well, what is the monkey’s name?”

Her cousins visited for a few days last week and at one point, one of them dumped a bowl of plastic pizza toppings out in Eva’s room. She ran out and said, “Oh man, guys, someone has made a terrible mess in der!”

Sometimes (often) she is too smart for her own good. She was playing with her babies and making one of them sit down, stand up, lay down and so on. At one point, she sat her baby up and said “Good job, Baby. You are sitting up. Yay baby, you can get a chocolate.” She then came to me and asked for a chocolate. FOR HER BABY, OF COURSE.

She used to always call Tigger “Tigger the Pooh”. That has long since passed but it was so cute the other day when she saw Gwen wearing Piglet PJs and said, “Oh Gwennie! You’ve got a Winnie the Piglet!”

Evan took her to the grocery store the other night and on the way she asked if she would be able to get a treat while they were there. She said she thought she needed one. He asked her what kind of treat she thought she needed and she said, “Um, probably, I think probably one million Smarties”. And we’re talking Canadian chocolate smarties, by the way. Girlfriend knows where it’s at.

Similarly, last night we were talking about going back to school (she hasn’t been in two weeks due to stomach flu in our house and then March break). She was very excited and wanted to talk about what kind of snack she would get to take. She requested, “A bunch of crackers, a bunch of water and one hundred cheese strings”. Impressive snack.

She’s very into clarifying how many of things she wants. When she asks for a snack, say goldfish crackers, she will tell me she wants “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of dem”.

She gained favourite child status the other day when she came up to me and said “Mom, you are beautiful today.You look lovely”.

She lost this status a few days later when she said, “My tummy is so flat. It’s very flat. Mommy’s tummy is shaped like a circle”.

She had her first nightmare the other night. And, if it wasn’t so horrible and pitiful and didn’t mean 2 hours of up and down between screaming and crying and everything, it would have been kind of cute. She told me there was a dog in her bed. A scary puppy. Who was licking her finger and she screamed for me to take the dog out of her bed. She even remembered it the next morning and asked me to “look in her scary bed and see if that scary dog was still there”. Then at nap the next day, she asked me if that Puppy was going to lick her fingers again. Poor kid.

She is very into drawing. Mostly on her “magnet dude”. She drew something a while ago and asked me what it looked like. Whenever a kid draws something and asks you what it looks like, you know you’re in trouble. I told her it looked like a kitty. She said, “Uh, no mom. Dis isn’t a kitty. Look, it’s a highway”. Oh, silly me.

Ever since her ear infection and going to the ER Eva has been obsessed with all things Doctor/Sick related. I was telling Evan a story the other day and she picked up the word hospital so launched into a big long story …. “I had a tewwible pee pee so I had to go to the hospiple. I goed pee on a bucket and the nurse listened to my bo-bop (heartbeat, don’t ask) and I tried to go pee in the bath but it was so ouchy and it was a howwible sick”. Okay, kid.

On Sunday, I got her an “Easter egg” donut for after nap. Of course, she was convinced I told her that it was an “E-V-A” donut. Easter egg, E-V-A… I guess I can hear the similarity.

We had a shower together one morning while Gwen was sleeping. Then, she plays in the bath while I get ready. I hadn’t yet gotten dressed and she looked at me with total disgust and said “Uh, MOM? Can you put some clothes on your breastfeedings, please?” Sorry to offend, dear.

While I was sick with the stomach flu, I was pumping like crazy so my milk wouldn’t be affected. At one point, Eva climbed up on my bed and rubbed my back and said “Momma, you gotta be brave”. Of course, I know this is just from Barney but still. Melt my heart.

Eva asked for applesauce for a snack a while back and Evan went down to get a jar from the cellar. Unknowingly, he got apple butter instead of sauce – which has a much stronger flavour. He dished it up and she took one bite and said “No thank you. I don’t like dirty applesauce. I just want the reg-a-lure kind with the cracker from soup” (The cracker from soup is what she calls soda crackers).

 I love that she says “anything” instead of “nothing”. If she’s getting into something and I call, “Eva what are you doing?” Her response is always, “Anything, mom, anything!”

Bedtime prayers are my favourite. I love listening to the things she comes up with. Lots of times we do fill in the blank prayers because she’s not always in the mood to say the whole prayer herself (although we often hear her doing this after we leave the room)'. So, I will say, “Dear God, Thank you for… Help us to…” and so on and she will finish the sentences. One night last week she reduced me to a puddle of mush when I said “Dear God, Help…” and she said “Help God to be praised”. Amen, Little Girl.

A few mornings ago, I had just stumbled out of bed and she looked at me slyly and said, “Mom? Did you forget to make my pancakes? You better do that”. Ha. I guess we were having pancakes that day.

There is no greater gift in motherhood than watching my two babies love on each other. A few days ago, they were playing in the living room, on the carpet and Eva was doing “circle time”. She told Gwen to “yisten to Miss Eva” then she read her a story and sang a song … all while Gwen bounced and clapped along.

She is very into dressing herself lately. As well as choosing what she dresses herself. Hold me. I’m not prepared for this. The other day I set out her clothes and she said “No mom, that’s not my best dress. I need a lovelier one”.

She got a hangnail the other day although based on the reaction you’d be SURE she lost her foot. She was wailing and crying and even told us that she “had a wound”. It was an ordeal, seriously.

The other day I made a casserole that had mushroom soup in it, but no actual mushrooms. Eva pitched a fit when she found the tiniest little piece of a mushroom .Of course, we made her take a drink and swallow it down as we are trying to curb the whole spitting out things we don’t like behavior. When she finally did it she said “Sometimes I like mushrooms and going under water”. Interesting combo.

I love listening to the conversations she has with herself and her toys when playing independently. For example, “Oh this baby disobeyed. She’s crying but she touched fire (yes, but is still used in place of every conjunction in the world). Are you sorry baby? Now you will go to the family dance at the barn next week”. Um, okay, then.

We’ve been talking about Easter a lot lately and while we do the whole Easter bunny/Easter egg thing – we have been aiming to steer Eva’s focus away from that and towards the resurrection. I have a fabulous book that does this and so we have been reading it. We read it at the breakfast table the other day and at the end I asked her if she knew why Jesus rose from the dead and she said “Yeah. Cause Santa is at the mall and when it is Christmas time we will see ALL da Christmas houses”. Okay. So we’re getting there. Ha.