As you may or may not know – Evelyn has been falling asleep in our bed for about the last 3 weeks. That is where we read books – and we don’t really mind – we just move her to her bed when we go to bed…. Until she is in a big girl bed – it is kind of awkward to read books while she is in the crib – not nearly as cuddly :)
SO last night – I tuck her in, give her a kiss and shut the door. 2 hours later we go back in and the TV is on – and even funnier is the remote has been placed gingerly on the top of the headboard where we keep it. Now even I sometimes can’t get it to balance there – Keith is the one who puts it in its spot. But somehow – Miss Evelyn has managed to get up, turn the TV on, put the remote back and tuck herself in… oh and if you are curious she fell asleep watching Sports Center!!!
Check out Evelyn's 2 year stats on the right --- I didn't realize she grew 2 inches and gained 5 lbs in the last 6 months - must be all of Mommy's good cooking :)
Thanks to my favorite 'deal's' blog - http://chicksdigdeals.blogspot.com/ my good friend Leah and I found out about the 'Free Thursdays in March' at Morrill Hall. Always looking for a fun place to take the kids - we didn't hesitate to load them up and head to the UNL campus. The kids had a blast and there was SO much to see. All ages of kids can have fun there - so it was perfect for our multi-aged kiddos!
The kids did a pretty good job of walking and using their inside voices...until we turned into an empty hallway and they saw that as a sign to let loose - we let them go for about 30 seconds (all that energy was just building up inside I guess!)
Evelyn is wearing the light shirt and screaming 'rar' - dinosaur-style as she chases Will and Shelby...
Evelyn and I also took the opportunity of a Saturday morning with nothing to do - to check out the Lincoln Children's Museum (thanks Wassinger's for the pass!) What a difference a year makes! I think we have been there 3 or 4 times before - but this was the first time that she truly enjoyed it. We did EVERYTHING and had so much fun -- I can't wait to go back with Daddy!
Evelyn turned 2 on March 15th. For the first 2 weeks after she turned two - I would ask, 'How old are you?' she would get so excited - hold up 4 fingers and say, 'three!' -- umm not quite :) So then I say, 'noooooo' and she says, 'two!' We finally got it down and now when you ask she says 2 with gusto!
She really has seemed 'older' these past few weeks - it is truly unbelievable how her speech and motor skills seem to develop overnight. We could really tell a difference at about 22 months when her babble turned to words and her words turned to 2, 3 and even 7 word sentences! She definitely has 'mine' syndrome - she is very conscience of what is Evelyn's and what isn't and makes sure that you know if it is hers. At daycare I love talking with the other children when I pick up Evelyn - comment on their shoes or toy or whatever. She always makes sure the other child knows - this is MY mommy! She does a great job of sharing when prompted - but it doesn't come natural that is for sure!
We have definitely entered the land of 'Repeat' - she will repeat everything you say - and if noone is talking she repeats phrases to herself over and over. Especially if she knows something exciting is going to happen. If I tell her in the morning that we are going to Grandmas house to spend the night - she will babble throughout the day, 'Go Mama's house - stay night?' or if I tell her that we are out of grapes she will continue to tell me that, 'Gapes all gone - get more store.' You can literally hear her processing all of the thoughts and words out loud - it is awesome! We are working on counting - and letters. Her favorite number AND letter is 9! She hasn't really figured out that these are separate. Just this morning she was talking to herself in her crib and singing, 'A, B, C, 4' over and over... When she does count she usually goes, '1,2,3,9,5,7,8,9,10!' not quite in order but getting there. She loves to point out Daddy's truck and Mommy's car. Every day when we get home she insists on staying outside and says, 'no go side -stay here' - so every day I let her stand just outside the door until she is ready to come in (usually about 2 minutes) I think it is all about it being on her time line. She comes in when she is good and ready - not when silly Mommy thinks it is time! She also likes to talk about places she is going to go and who she is going to see.... 'Go church, see Father' 'Go school, see Shelby' 'Go home, see Gunner'!
We had her 2 year check-up. I am giving her an overall A- :) She waited so patiently in the waiting room (I brought her mini-dry erase board for entertainment) Then used the big kid scale for the first time with no problems - unfortunately she had to take off her shoes to do this - which sent her into a near-panic. She thought about throwing a fit - but instead bolted down the hallway of our HUGE Dr.'s office. I was in no mood to play 'chase' and walked as fast as I could after her - found her in the CONFERENCE room hiding behind a chair - I said, in my calmest almost-yelling-but-not-quite-voice, "Evelyn Elizabeth you are NOT getting a sticker!" she giggles and I grab her - SO mad. We finally made it back to the room and she was just as calm and cooperative as can be. I was so embarrassed - but you win some- you lose some at this age. We will definitely be discussing when it is appropriate to play 'chase' and when it isn't at length before we enter any public building from now on! We stripped down so she could get measured and the nurse went over Childcare 101 as they do at every appointment. Read my child books? OK. Keep her in the backseat in a carseat --really? Oh OK. Positive reinforcement -hmmm never thought of that - haha!
We had to keep her clothes off while we waited for the Dr. - she didn't understand - so I told her we had to show the Dr. her tummy - which seemed to work. We waited for what seemed like a 1/2 hour and passed the time by organizing the books (what a mess!) and playing pretend store and pretend wash our hands. Evelyn is starting to initiate these pretend situations - and it was really cute! 'More soap Mommy?' 'Yes, please - oh thank you!'
Finally the Dr. came in and she was all smiles and politeness. She showed off her vocabulary and even sat still while he did the overall check - it was more than impressive - I honestly could not believe it! When the nurse came in with the tray of needles - she got just a bit apprehensive - but did awesome when they did the finger prick and shot - the reward of a band-aid on her finger was the highlight of her day and she kept it on for almost 24 hours. She was so proud to show Daddy her 'owie' and she babied that finger all night - it was precious.
We didn't throw a big bash - but we did have a chance to see almost all of the Grandma's and Grandpa's and she love - LOVED - opening presents. She was, of course, totally spoiled by her grandparents - and has been having fun riding her big wheel, reading her new books, using her new chairs and coloring with her new markers. I have loved the new clothes - and we are so lucky to have such loving family :) I wasn't going to make a cake - Evelyn prefers cookies - but I had to make some for the St. Pat's church St. Patrick Day festival - so I made an extra one for Evelyn. I am more than a little embarrassed - as it turned out looking like a 4th grader make it - but it tasted good, so that is what counts right? If I had thought that it would be on video or Grandma would be taking a picture of it - I would have put a little more effort into it! Now I know I guess.... Click here to see all of the Birthday pics
I practiced blowing out candles with Evelyn that morning in her waffles - so thought she would do great when the big moment came.....as you can see in the video - she did NOT like having all of the attention on her and broke into tears during 'Happy Birthday' - it was terribly sad. But you will be happy to know that after everyone left we did a 're-do' and she did amazing!
Evelyn is constantly playing, creating, exploring and just plain having fun! Every day it seems she learns something new or figures out a new type of game to play.
Keith and I were in the office and she had come in to show us what she had been working on in the living room... here she is showing off her necklaces, bracelets and keychain. She likes to pretend it is a camera and asks Mommy and Daddy to say 'Cheese(burger)'
Here Evelyn is brushing her teeth in the living room. She always requests to have paste and water on her brush! She mostly still just sucks on it - but with prompting will brush back and forth and try to do the tops and the bottoms. We have an Elmo toothbrush - but she has insisted on using Mommy and Daddy's - so we finally got her her own 'big girl' toothbrush. I had to get one exactly like mine or she would still want to use mine!
After the great dress meltdown of Christmas 2009 - I have been working with Evelyn to get used to wearing dresses and she has done great and now likes looking extra pretty. I found this dress from her Grandma and Grandpa Placek from her 1st birthday - it is so cute and we never had a chance to wear it. I was sure it wouldn't fit since it is size 12 months -but luckily dresses always seem to run big and now that she is 2 I think it fits perfectly! She had a blast wearing it and twirling and dancing. She refused to take it off - so sat in her new chair and watched a movie in it - she wanted to wait until Daddy got home to show it off...
In this video Evelyn does the 'Chicken Dance' and also her favorite 'Lilo Song' Dance. Lilo and Stitch is her favorite movie. It is set in Hawaii and they have some great upbeat music. This is her signature dance and she breaks into it as soon as I start singing the song. She must have learned the Chicken Dance at school - she was flapping her 'wings' one day - so I started singing, and she knew all the moves! I kept the part in when I ask her to say 'movie' because I just love how she says it, 'mooooooie'. At the end of the video Evelyn steps behind the camera to make her directors debut!
Evelyn has started asking questions when she wants to do something - her choice of words isn't quite right - but she will say 'My walk' when she wants to walk instead of be carried or 'My milk' if she wants her milk. So the other night she says, 'My potty?' - basically asked to use the potty. So we sat down - and she did! I was quite the proud Mama and got very very excited praising her and even calling Daddy in to have a look! I still think we are a ways from formal potty training and am not really in a big hurry - but it was sure fun for the first time :)
After Evelyn started to like puzzles- I browsed the clearance book bin at HyVee for something cute for little kids that wasn't too hard for her to do. Well I came across what I thought would be a boring African safari animals book - but at least it had pieces to put in (and it was a steal $$$). I never would have guessed it would remain one of Evelyn's top things to play with for 3 months! She calls it 'Emu Book' - because Emu was the first one she could say! She is really getting to know all of the animals and can really pick them out - even outside of the book. If you see a snake or elephant or giraffe anywhere she gets super excited. I know most kids love animals and Evelyn is no exception - I think I just particularly love that some of these animals aren't your typical 'kiddo' ones. I don't think she knows horse or chicken - but she knows wombat - go figure!
I took this video last night - I don't think we have really even seen it since early in the new year - I was pleased to see that she had remembered most of the animals.
warning - the videography leaves ALOT to be desired - if you get motion sick easily I would wait for the still pics to be posted :)
Okay- the title is a little dramatic - but Evelyn has been refusing to wear dresses since she discovered she could have an opinion! We have 2 very important weddings approaching and have to be comfortable with dresses so Evelyn can be a flower girl! Hopefully making her used to them in her daily life will eliminate the novelty of wearing a dress on special occasions. My good friend Leah gave us a HUGE bag of clothes that her daughter (Evelyn's BFF) has outgrown. Luckily Shelby is a dress girl and there were some super cute ones for us to start wearing to school. I purchased some thick tights (that we call Big Girl Socks) and after just a small protest this morning Evelyn rocked her dress for the full day at school! Tomorrow I am going for it again - so hopefully will have another picture to post :)
I took this one right before we left for school - Evelyn was watching her most recent obsession 'The Backyardigans' she loves the 'night night song' (and I have to admit I do too!) She does this when they say 'hush'. Click this link to check it out if you like..... It has been stuck in my head for about 3 days - but I just don't get sick of it!
After Evelyn's Godmother, Kristina, gave us a Christmas Nativity Memory Game -- we have had a blast playing 'match' -- basically you turn all the cards face up and find the two that go together :) So I couldn't help but upgrade when we were at the store to a 76 card Memory Game. It is great that we can play match now - and then progress to memory in the future. We have tried memory with just a few cards - but Evelyn is still much better with them face up. The great part is learning to wait while everyone has a turn. In this video Evelyn helps me find a few - but usually I take my turn the same as she does! OH and I have to mention what you do when you are looking for the match... You can hold the card up to your head or you can put your finger on your chin and say, 'hmmmmmm' 'hmmmmmm' -TOO cute!
Soooooo - I totally didn't realize that I had neglected to post some of our favorite moments from Christmas 2009 - Enjoy :)
I decided to bake Christmas cookies at the last minute. So I sent Keith to the store for pre-made dough and frosting....cheating - I know! But I just wanted to have the 'fun' part of rolling the cookies and decorating. When Evelyn is older and can help, we will definitely make them from scratch like I remember doing with my mom! I was the primary baker, Daddy did frosting colors (all of ROYGBIV!) and Evelyn was in charge of sprinkles. We all took our jobs very seriously - and they turned out great!
Evelyn had a blast riding the rocking horse at Grandma and Grandpa Wassinger's house. I think this is the first time she has ridden unassisted....
I once again tried to do a home 'photo shoot' - this time with Evelyn by the tree in a cute little Christmas outfit. I was not about to attempt the dress again - so got this plaid skirt and snowman sweater for $4! We had little success - but a great time trying!
Evelyn is pretty sure she has mastered the art of eating like a big girl. She insists on BOTH a fork AND a spoon most nights. While she doesn't do a great job of getting 100% of the food in her mouth - she sure gives it her all and has really been branching out (food wise). In the past week she has eaten more veggies (non-pureed) than ever and even tried shrimp and scallops with just a little prompting. She had tilapia tonight - but i don't think it hurt that it was parmesan encrusted!!! I have been making an effort to actually cook dinner so Evelyn is able to try all of these new tastes, textures and flavors. I look forward to introducing her to more as I gain more confidence in the kitchen :)
Evelyn is talking up a storm these days.... one of her favorite phrases is, 'No, it's Owie's', which means, 'No, it's Evelyn's'. She says her name as Owie - so sometimes it is hard to tell if she is referring to herself in the 3rd person or if she has an actual owie!!! She also likes to say, 'No touch, Foshee (Frosty the Snowman), and Okay. She says Okay for yes. 'Evelyn - would you like some milk?' 'Okay!' - I prefer yes - but it is better than 'Ya' that she used to say all the time.
She has had quite a little cough, so has been taking some medicine which helps tremendously. She considers this quite the treat and does such a good job drinking out of the little cup and using two hands. She often wants more - so will drinks cups and cups of water by the teaspoon!
We have also discovered that we can turn the viewing screen of the camera around so Evelyn can watch herself being recorded. This is pretty distracting when I am trying to get her to focus - but she just LOVES to watch herself :)
One of our favorite things about our daycare is the fact that is run by an order of nuns. They pray regularly and even visit Jesus in the chapel. Evelyn initiates prayer before meals and loves to pray at night to thank Jesus for all of our blessings! She is getting the sign of the cross down pretty good - and does a great job of saying Amen! at the end of our prayers.
January is only halfway over - so I still think it is OK to post some pics from Christmas! We headed to Plattsmouth a day early because of a forecast of snow - and we sure were glad that we did! For the next few days it snowed and snowed and snowed - so much that we weren't even able to travel to DeWitt/Wilber to spend time with Keith's side of the family! Luckily we were able to see them the next weekend - but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. I guess we were so busy having fun that we forgot! I didn't take any of these pictures either - luckily Grandma Ruth and Aunt Erica were smart enough to capture some of our fun times for us!
I requested Grandma and Grandpa get this 'ball popper' for Evelyn. It says 6 months and up - but I think you have to be way older than that to play with it -- You can really see her focus and concentration in this pic!
We were so thankful that our friend Mena could stop by on Christmas Eve - she is like a Grandma to Andrew and I and I am just ecstatic that Evelyn is able to spend time with her as well :) She gave Evelyn a beautiful 'baby' that her daughter made and of course lots of hugs and kisses!
Santa made his annual trip to the Wassinger house. As you can see in the picture, Evelyn was super excited to see him and the next time the doorbell rang at Grandma's (a week later) her eyes got big and she looked at me and said, 'Santa!' and ran to the door!
We had so much quality family time - here is the four of us hanging out - Ev is putting chapstick on Mommy - probably right after she put it on Gunner!
Uncle Andrew and Keith demonstrating their awesome Wii Fit skills!
Evelyn's daycare had a Christmas pageant and it was SO cute. The big kids (2+ years) had elaborate costumes and even did some actions to the songs they sung. Evelyn wasn't quite ready for the performance and sat to the side. When I was playing back the video I had taken, she started doing the actions right along with big kids on the video! I think this is just amazing and had to catch it on video. This isn't her best BUT it has the least amount of me singing and looking awkwardly at the camera :) We looked up the song and had it playing on YouTube - it didn't have the actions just the music -she remembers the coreography all by herself :) At the end you can see how Evelyn gives kisses now - she allows me to kiss her and I get no love!
I couldn't resist the temptation to make a family Christmas card. I am not sending them out (we do Easter cards) but I did make a few for the Grandmas :)
I had the brilliant idea of enrolling Evelyn in swim lessons at the YMCA this year. We thought it would help her to be more comfortable around water. And, long story short, she pretty much hated it from beginning to end! While she did eventually warm up to the idea of being in the water she never quite accepted the fact that she needed to wear a swimsuit! When you would try to put it on - she would FREAK out...so after a while we just let her go in her swim diaper. Even this made her a little nervous - but I reassured her that there would be 'no suit' and that seemed to help. So whenever we would change into her swim diaper she would wimper, "no suit, no suit" the whole time :( Once she was in the water and distracted with toys she would do pretty good. I brought the camera on the last day and took the pics and video below.
Evelyn had her first Christmas Program at Daycare this year. And although she wasn't actively involved she did get to sit up front with the Sisters (and her good friend Shelby). All of the kids got to sit on Santa's lap. Evelyn did amazing - I was so surprised :) We will have to see if she remembers Santa when he stops by on Christmas Eve....
Evelyn took the liberty of putting herself 'center stage' while the big kids made a costume change during the Christmas Program... I only included this small snippet because she wasn't actually in the program - well until she decided to make herself a momentary star! (Warning: Cute tummy shot in video :) )
You know how everyone thinks their child is a genius??? Well it turns out Evelyn actually is :) Okay - maybe I am exaggerating just a teeny tiny bit- but we were excited today when Evelyn put her numbers puzzle together correctly for the first time. She had it out - and I looked over and all of the pieces were in the right spot! Luckily she performed just as well the second time through when I wanted to capture it on video....
