My Baby

No, not Cecilia. Evelyn is my first and will always be my baby : ) But, she turned three last month so it's getting harder and harder to see her as a baby-and at the same time it's getting harder and harder to see what a big girl she is becoming. The past year has seen so many changes for her, it's unbelievable to look back on last April and see how far she has come. But I'll try!

Physically she is still in roughly the 50 % for everything-an exact mix of me and Bard : ) And I've seen her gain a lot of confidence in this area over the last year as well. She was never strongest in her gross motor skills, but has lately really started to focus on these skills. Which unfortunately means she is climbing on things she shouldn't, giving me heart attacks and needing constant supervision. I think I would be happier if she went back to focusing on another area of development!

Except verbal skills. Anything but more talking! I remember when she first started talking, it was so cute. It's still cute, and if you spend any time with her, you will quickly realize that she has great verbal skills and can carry on advanced conversations. Can and does. Constantly. All day. All night. Yes-I hear her talking in her sleep. In many ways I'm proud of her-her verbal skills really are good, so I don't mean to complain. But it is so exhausting! She wants to talk about everything-she is very observant and asks questions over and over again. And over and over again! A lot of it goes along with being social, so she will ask questions that she knows the answer to-just to start a conversation again-which is very common for this age. We've taught her to say "Excuse me" if Bard and I are talking with each other. So pretty much every dinner time we hear, "Excuse me, what are you talking about? Can I talk too?" It is pretty funny. And I'm sure when she is a sullen teenager and I can't get more than one syllable out of her, I'll look back longingly on these conversations. But sometimes I just want to hear myself think!

Speaking of socially, she is still our little social butterfly. She has developed friendships with two little girls in particular at her preschool. Last night we were picking flowers for her teachers and she had to pick her friends flowers too and then was chanting their names as we walked into school. So cute! It's fun to see her friendships develop and wonder about all the people she will be friends with over the coming years.

One thing we are watching her with in regards to social behavior, is imitating naughty behavior. She is quick to notice other children around her making the wrong choice and will then follow them. I've lived enough years on this planet to know that will not serve her well! So we talk about what her friends did and making her own choice - the right one. I'm sure this is a conversation that we will be having for years to come.

Lately Cecilia has been going down for a nap right when Evelyn wakes up, and typically sleeps the rest of the afternoon, so it's Mama and Evelyn time. She is very into artwork and has spent hours coloring, playing with play dough, stamps, painting, etc. This has been really fun-to see her develop the skills to draw circles, start to color pictures, and be interested in creating objects that she sees around her. Unfortunately I am not an artist so when she asks me to draw things like giraffes, she just might be disappointed : )

But, when she asks me to help her write letters, that I can do! Yep, she is learning to read and write! She knows all the sounds of her letters-actually has for months-and is very interested in how to spell words, tracing her letters, and sounding them out. Although she certainly doesn't have it down yet-last week she took her foam letters and placed several in a row and then said to me, "Q2E73K. What's that spell Mama?" It's very fun : )

Most of the time, this is a super fun stage. She is so engaging and says the most hilarious things. A few days ago she asked me if Miss Susan (my midwife for Cici) could get more babies for us and when I said no she said there were 4 more in my tummy. No. I have not had fertility treatments! It's so fun to experience life through her because everything is fun and exciting. It's definitely exhausting-for the past 6 months she has decided to fight nap and bed time, making each one a battle, almost every single day. And she will go for negative attention if she is not getting positive attention. And don't get me started on how difficult it is to get her to eat any meal in under an hour! But despite how draining it is, there is a certain sweet simplicity that I know will be lost as she gets older and we fight less about how much broccoli she needs to eat and more about where she is eating and who she is eating with. Tonight we took a family walk after dinner and she delighted in every moment; wanting to race with her dada, jump over sidewalk cracks, check on baby Sissy, and be swung through the air as we both held her hands. Everything was magical, the magic of being three.